86 



THE OOLOGIST 



SOME BLACKBURNIAN NESTS 



Of all the birds in our woods here 

 the Warblers have always been the 

 most interesting to me. Possibly this 

 is because they are quite well repre- 

 sented here, and because some of the 

 more northern breeders that only nest 

 in a' small part of our state are found 

 here in summer. 



There are so many different ones, 

 and so much difference in song, color 

 and nesting habits that they have al- 

 ways been great favorites of mine and 

 1 have spent much time looking them 

 up. 



Altogether 1 have found 18 species 

 breeding here and of these that nest 

 regularly I have found the Black- 

 burnian about the very hardest to lo- 

 cate. 



I am convinced that the reason for 

 this is that this Warb'er as a rule is 

 a high nester, and unless the birds 

 are discovered in the act of nest build- 

 ing, only those nes.s that happen to 

 be built lower than usual are apt to 

 be seen. 



I have spent many days looking for 

 nests in v/cods where the Blackburnlsn 

 could be heard singing, usually quite 

 high up and could find numerous nests 

 cf the Magnolia Warblers, also Tana- 

 gers and frequently B2ack-throated 

 G:een but the Blackburnian has al- 

 ways been a very hard proposition. 



The first nest I ever saw was found 

 in early July by watching the old birds 

 feeding the four ycung that it con- 

 tained. This nest was 30 feet up .md 

 5 feet out on a' limb of a hemlock. The 

 nest was saddled on the limb a^u at 

 that point the limb was li/^ inches 

 thick. 



The next nest was found in a large 

 tract of mostly virgin timber. This 

 nest was in a rather small liemlock 

 and was 20 feet from the ground and 5 

 feet from the trunk. Eggs 4. The 



third nest was 40 feet up in a' large 

 hemlock and way out on a long limb. 

 Female at home on 3 eggs. 



Nest No. 4 was also in a hemlock. It 

 was 20 feet up and 8 feet out. It held 

 2 eggs when found but was robbed by 

 a squirrel or Jay later on. No. 5 was 

 2.5 feet up and 8 feet out, on a limb of 

 a good sized hemlock. Limb 2 inches 

 thick at place on which nest was 

 saddled. Eggs 4. No. 6 was dis- 

 covered by watching the female build- 

 ing. She gathered most of her ma- 

 terial from the ground, sometimes go- 

 ing some distance. The male accom- 

 panied her on many trips but did not 

 help any. This nest was fully 60 feet 

 from the ground in a large chestnut, 

 although there was plenty of hemlock 

 obout 20 feet up and 8 feet from the 

 trunk. Eggs 4. The last nest that I 

 Itave seen of this Warbler was 40 feet 

 up in a large hemlock and 10 feet from 

 the trunk. Finding that nest was a 

 piece of luck as it was well hidden by 

 a smaller hemlock growing up under- 

 neath and was hardly noticeable from 

 the ground. This nest held a fine set 

 of 5. The dates varied from May 26th 

 to June 6th with the exception of the 

 first nest found with large young and 

 one found June 25th But this last 

 was during a late season when all 

 birds were late in arriving and late 

 nesting. These nests were saddled on 

 limbs of hemlocks with the exception 

 of the high one found in a cheslnut. 

 They were saddled on limbs on an 

 average 2 inches thick and at a place 

 where several little twigs or small 

 branches grew out to which the nests 

 were also fastened. 



The nests resembled Magnolias, if 

 anything, a little looser and bulkier. 

 They were built mostly of dead hem- 

 lock twigs and more or less decorated, 

 especially with cobwebs. 



The eggs thougli when fresh were al- 

 together different from the Magnolias, 



