100 



THE dOLOGIST. 



of this species in the latter half of May, 

 aucl while the sites of all these nests 

 were on the banks of river and tiuvia- 

 tile lakes, no site found was in water 

 or over water? All of these nests were 

 in stubs and tree-trnnks on the dry 

 ridges between the river and the 

 swamp lying alongside, in most cases 

 on ground the Warblers had never seen 

 overflowed this year, and in other in- 

 stances as near as live feet to the edge 

 of the water.' Then ihe heights of the 

 sites surprised me. From what I had 

 read of the nesting habits of this spe- 

 cies (I had never visited the haunts of 

 this Warbler during the breeding pe- 

 riod) I had inferred that most of the 

 sites were very low, and so nearly of 

 the same height that a rise of the water 

 for a very few^ inches would destroy 

 many nests. My notes, however, re- 

 cord only two nests below five feet 

 from the ground, and in the majority 

 of instances the sites were about nine 

 feet fi'om the ground, the actual 

 heights being found and recorded in ray 

 notebook. The distances from the 

 ground A'aried from four feet eight 

 inches to fourteen feet. If the stub or 

 trunk inclined, the cavity was always 

 on the under side, this, however, being 

 the work of the Downy Woodpecker or 

 Chickadee which excavated the cav^tJ^ 

 Most of the nests were in I'eceutly 

 excavated, unused cavities, begun by 

 the Iniilders in the preceding fall and 

 linished during the winter and early 

 spring. They were always in rotten 

 wood, so decayed that the surrounding 

 parts could be easily torn away with 

 the fingers, though one nest, the one 

 fourteen feet from the ground, could 

 only be exposed by cutting away the 

 wood with a hatchet. The cavities 

 were usually made obliquely'Mnto the 

 trunk, so that the nest was placed just 

 within the bark or behind a thin layer 

 of w ood. The entran ce wa s ordinarily 

 aThole about one inch and a half in di- 



ameter, its appearance suggesting a 

 probable Chickadee's nest. 



The usual depth of the cavity was be- 

 tween live and seven inches, the most 

 of them being nearer the less number, 

 and the cavities averaged about three 

 inches in diameter, though the cavity 

 was commonly longer than wide, three 

 and a half l\y two and a half being the 

 usual measurements. Very few nests 

 were found in cavities having rough or 

 irregular or liroken entrances, the 

 small subcircular entrance above de- 

 scribed being the favorite in the re- 

 gions we visited. In one instance, 

 while the entrance to the cavity was 

 unimpaired, the cavity was so split that 

 the bird sitting on her eggs could be 

 plainly seen as I approached the nest. 



In another instance, the bird had 

 built her nest in the upper part of a 

 long slit in the stump, the nest being 

 held in place by irregularities on the 

 inside and there being nothing to hide 

 the structure from observation. With 

 these two exceptions, the sites were all 

 as above described, though some wri- 

 ters state that the rough and irregular 

 cavities are the favored nesting sites 



It is especially in its nidification that 

 the dry season most' affects this War- 

 bler. Their nests have been praised 

 for their beauty, and 1 confess that I 

 was disappointed when I tore open the 

 cavity containing the fii'st nest of this 

 Warbler I had ever found, and saw 

 only a Himsy aflair of dark and dried 

 material. The prettiest part of the 

 nests, was the foundation,, which was 

 ordinarily composed of small pieces of 

 dark green tree-moss, varying to a 

 thickness not exceeding two inches, 

 depending on the size of the cavity. 

 On this moss Avas laid a layer of fibrous 

 I'oots, skeleton leaves, dried leaves and 

 weed -stems, averaging less than an 

 inch in thickness. The nest was fin- 

 ished with line dried grass and a few 

 horsehairs. In some instances the moss 

 w^as almost entirely lacking, and ia 



