THE OOLOGIST. 



43 



ground on the horizontal fork of a 

 rather slender elm branch and seven 

 feet from the main trunk. The tree 

 was in a small opening beside a nar- 

 row wagon trail and the nest, except 

 for some interior decoration, was com- 

 pleted. In placing her lichens and 

 spider silk, the female often fluttered 

 in the air like a hummingbird at a 

 flower and before leaving invariably 

 hopped into the nest and turned 

 around several times to test the fit 

 or smooth down the rough places. She 

 then flew to a neighboring tree and 

 worked through the branches in 

 search of food, some times making a 

 complete circuit of all the trees sur- 

 rounding the nesting site, but not 

 again approaching it or exhibiting any 

 knowledge of its existence, even while 

 I was up the tree. Her departure was 

 always sudden and without warning, 

 and away she would dart until lost 

 to view. The male did not appear 

 during the two hours I was there but, 

 most of the time, his music could be 

 heard in the distance. This was not 

 a motive of precaution on his part as 

 I learned from observation of late 

 pairs, that when the female is incu- 

 bating he remains near her and comes 

 to the nest every half hour or so. 

 The above nest was poorly fastened 

 and a wind storm blew it down before 

 any eggs were deposited. 



Nest 7, June 8, 1905.— The labor and 

 time consumed in finding Nest 6 de- 

 cided me to fall back to the old re- 

 liable way of systematically search- 

 ing every tree in the woods, for not 

 only will you find all the nests of 

 this Warbler but many nests of other 

 birds that would otherwise be over- 

 looked, the Vireos, in particular. Nest 

 7 was not only in the same tree, but 

 on the identical crotch as Number 4. 

 The fresh eggs it contained, however, 

 were not laid by the same bird as the 

 previous set. They are larger, of dif- 

 ferent shape and finely spotted over 



the whole surface while the markings 

 on the other set are confined to a 

 wreath of blotches near the larger 

 end and the eggs possess a more pro- 

 nounced tint of the bluish ground 

 color. The bird was not at home 

 when this nest was discovered and 

 did not return until I had reached 

 the ground with the whole outfit. She 

 could not understand her loss and hop- 

 ped on and off the crotch, frequently 

 uttering a sharp "chip" and settling 

 down as if the nest was still there. 



Nest 8, June 8, 1905. — After packing 

 Number 7, I went to the tree that 

 held Number 5, last year, and found 

 a new nest with the bird on. This 

 was on the lowest limb and four feet 

 from the main trunk. It contained 

 four eggs about six days advanced in 

 incubation. The two sets from this 

 tree were undoubtedly from the same 

 bird. 



Nest 9, June 8, 1905.— A large tree 

 had fallen and, striking a log tangle, 

 its roots had torn loose and were 

 hoisted about ten feet above the 

 ground. I walked up the trunk to 

 this point and could get a fine view, 

 being higher than most of the sur- 

 rounding young tree and bush growth. 

 I first noticed a Wood Thrush and 

 Scarlet Tanager on their respective 

 nests and then caugh sight of what 

 looked like a knot on the horizontal 

 branch of a red oak just sixty feet 

 above the ground and fifteen feet 

 from the extreme top of the tree. This 

 was fully 150 yards away but by look- 

 ing steadily I soon perceived the tail 

 of a Cerulean against the background 

 of sky. Upon ascending the tree, I 

 found the nest placed on the main fork 

 and five feet from the trunk. It con- 

 tained five eggs about one-half incu- 

 bated. The female did not leave un- 

 til I shook the limb. 



Nest 10, June 11, 1905— All the fore- 

 going nests, from' 1 to 9 inclusive, 

 were found in the same piece of woods. 



