SWAINSON'S WARBLER 



47 



was excited OA^er some disturbance in the shrubbery, perhaps the 

 presence of a snake. 



"Although a rarely fervent and ecstatic songster, our little friend 

 is also a fitful and uncertain one. You may wait for hours near his 

 retreat even in early morning or late afternoon, without hearing a 

 note. But when the inspiration comes he floods the woods with 

 music, one song often following another so quickly that there is 

 scarce a pause for breath between. In this manner I have known 

 him sing for fully twenty minutes, although ordinarily me entire 

 performance occupies less than half that time. Such outbursts may 

 occur at almost any hour, even at noontide, and I have heard them 

 in the gloomiest of weather, when the woods were shrouded in mist 

 and rain." (Brewster.^) 



Nesting Site. — "The nests are generally built in canes, but I 

 have also found them in small bushes, and, in one instance, in a climb- 

 ing vine by the side of a large public road. The height from the 

 ground varies from two to eight feet, but they are always near or 

 over a pond of water." (Wayne.^) 



Perry*,*' has found nests in scrub palmettos, myrtle, and gall 

 bushes not always over nor even near running water, but as often on 

 high, dry land. 



Nest. — "The nest is a remarkable affair — very large, made of 

 M'ater-soaked leaves of the sweet gum, water oak, holly and cane, 

 lined with needles of the pine trees and a little dry moss. The stems 

 of the leaves point upwards, and the nest can easily be mistaken for 

 a bunch of old leaves lodged in the top of a cane." ( Wayne. ^) 



Eggs. — 3 or 4, very rarely 4. Ground color white, creamy white 

 and bluish white, unmarked, little or no gloss; in shape very blunted 

 at small end. Size; average, .75X.59 ; extremes, .79X.57, .72X.59, 

 .77X.61, .75X.55- ^Fig. 8.) 



Nesting Dates. — Charleston, S. C, May 7-Jwly 6 (Wayne.) 



Biographical References 



(i) N. C. Brown, A List of Birds Observed in Central Alabama. Bull. 

 Nutt. Orn. Club, III, 1878, 172. (2) William Brewster, Swainson's Warbler 

 [in So. Car.], Auk, II, 1885, 65. (3) A. T. Wayne, Nesting of Swainson's 

 Warbler in South Carolina, Orn. and 061., XI, 1886, 187. (4) T. D. Perry, 

 Nesting of Swainson's Warbler [near Savannah, Ga.], Orn. and Ool., XI, 1886. 

 188. (5) C. W. Beckham, Additions to the Avifauna of Bayou Sara, La., Auk, 

 IV, 1887, 305. (6) T. D. Perry, Some Additional Notes on Swainson's Warb- 

 ler, Orn. and 061., XII, 1887, 141. (7) J. P. N[orris], A Series of Eggs of 

 Swainson's Warbler, Orn. and 061., XIII, 1888, 185. 



