90 



THE OOLOGIST. 



Double Nest of Catbird. Toronto, Ont. 



Photo by L. B. Brown. 



Nesting of the Northern Yellow-throat 



in Muskoka, Ont., during the 



Summer of 1905. 



Rising early one morning June 11th 

 1905 as the sun was showing up in 

 the east, I took a short walk in the 

 woods intending to pass the morning 

 with my friends, the birds. Many 

 Redstarts flitted about among the 

 lower brances of the trees like bits 

 of flame color as though they would 

 set the trees on fire. Over my head 

 came the tap, tap of a woodpecker on 

 a hollow limb of a tree and on glanc- 

 ing up saw that it was a Red-headed 

 Woodpecker busy at work searching 

 for the insects that might be hidden 

 there in the wood, once it flew into 

 the air after a passing insect in the 



manner of a fly-catcher, bringing the 

 insect back to the tree in his beak, 

 where he killed and swallowed it. 

 Many other birds were there such as 

 the Red-eyed Vireo, Least Flycatcher, 

 Scarlet Tanager, Wilson's Thrush, etc. 

 I left the woods, and began crossing 

 a meadow with a small brook run- 

 ning through the center with willow 

 bushes and long coarse grass grow- 

 ing on both sides. As I walked along 

 the edge of the brook I heard the 

 Northern Yellow-throat's familiar 

 song of witchity, witchity, witch. It 

 was not long before I saw a male yel- 

 low-throat flitting here and there 

 among the willow bushes like a bit of 

 sunshine peering out through his 

 black mask. He was soon joined by 

 his mate who began to scold me. I 



