'64 



THE OOLOGIST. 



al interest in a great many of those dis- 

 sections, and, in all probability, was 

 ■often at MacGillivray's side while they 

 were being made, — not as a mere look 

 er-on, but to follow him with that keen 

 intelligence during their progress which 

 ■ characterized his every undertaking in 

 'the science he loved so well, and in 

 ■which he has made a name as enduring 

 as the great truths in the foundation 

 upon which modern ornithology itself 

 -is reared. 



:Notes OD the Blackburnian Warbler- 



With the possible exception of the 

 'English Sparrow {Passer domesdcus), 

 not one of our birds can be called ill 

 looking. The Song Sparrow {Melospi- 

 zafasciata) is of the same general col- 

 oring, but the coarseness and plebeian 

 vigorousness, as one might say, of the 

 European is entirely lacking,'So that M. 

 fasciata is really a very handsome little 

 bird. 



Among the fishes, the perch is un- 

 questionably handsome, but it has not 

 the gracefulness, and beauty • in form 

 and color, of the trout. In just such a 

 way the Sparrow is not the equal of the 

 Warbler. To the latter family nature 

 has been exceptionally partial in her 

 allotments of apparel, for scarcely one 

 of its members can be classed other- 

 wise than as a gem. But perhaps the 

 most beautiful is the Blackburnian, or 

 Blackburn's Warbler. In color it close- 

 ly resembles the Black and White War- 

 bler (Mniotilta varia) except for the 

 orange on the top, sides and front of 

 the head, and on the throat (where it is 

 richest), and breast. 



During migration, it arrives in Mass- 

 achusetts early in May and returns in 

 September, when it leaves the taller 

 trees to haunt the birches and cedars in 

 company with the Myrtle Warblers 

 {!). coronata). It is an irregular bird, 

 being very scarce in some seasons and 

 very plentiful in others. 



From what I can 'learn, its extreme 

 breeding range is from North Carolina 

 northward, and westward to the plains. 

 Audubon mentions seeing it in June,on 

 the Magdalen Islands, in the Gulf of St. 

 Lawrence: both Brewer and Minot 

 found its nest in Massachusetts;Merriam 

 mentions it bi'eeding in Connecticut; 

 Cairns calls it a rare summer visitor in 

 North Carolina, from which I conclude 

 that it may breed there; and J. W. 

 Preston took its nest and eggs from the 

 wilds of Minnesota. In New England 

 it is most common in the three north- 

 ern states where it remains to breed, 

 although many go still farther north. 

 In the three •southern New England 

 states it must be considered as an ex- 

 tremely rare summer resident. 



In New Hampshire and Maine it is 

 by no means a rare breeder, the diffi- 

 culty lying in the location of the nest. 

 What I consider as a fairly typical spec- 

 imen was found by my brother and my- 

 self in southern New Hampshire, on 

 June 8, 1890. We had been trouting, 

 and having battled for several hours 

 with myriads of blackflies and mosqui- 

 toes, and a decided scarcity of trout, 

 were glad to come upon a small, coun- 

 try cemetery, through the center of 

 which ran a line of perhaps a dozen 

 giant hemlocks. Hardlj' were we seat- 

 ed than the notes of a bird, unknown 

 to us at the time, fell upon our ears. 

 Every eastern ornithologist knows the 

 song of the Black and White Warbler, 

 and I can best describe that of the 

 Blackburnian by calling it the exact re- 

 verse of M. varia. A short search dis- 

 closed the singer in the topmost branches 

 of a sugar maple, but apparently not 

 liking our looks, he at once disapi)eared 

 over the tree tops accompanied by his 

 mate. A careful survey of the grove 

 revealed nothing but a bunch on the 

 end of a limb some sixty feet from the 

 ground (this always seems remarkable 

 to me, as shortly after we found a num- 

 ber of other nests). As the sky could 



