JOURNAI, OF MAINE ORNITHOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 63 



and attracted my attention by its brilliant rendering of the double 

 song. 



June 13th, 1908, while walking through an open growth of vir- 

 gin gray birch, on a hillside above a swale, I flushed a Black and 

 White Warbler, A careful search revealed the nest among the 

 roots of a clump of gray birches ; the tree trunks, curving out from 

 the roots, afforded the protection of a roof. The bird flew up into a 

 tree calling sptz! sptz! sptz! sptz! The sound resembled the noise 

 made by a drop of syrup sputtering on a hot stove. There were 

 four cream-white eggs in the nest, much larger than most Warbler 

 eggs, wreathed with reddish-brown dots about the larger end. The 

 entrance to the nest was small, the cavity so shaded I could see the 

 eggs with difl5culty. 



The following day I went to the nest quietly. It was some time 

 before I could place it again, it was so well concealed. The bird 

 remained motionless. It took considerable effort on my part to 

 compel the lady to vacate. She finally darted away, about a yard 

 beyond me, then spread wings and tail and with open beak ran 

 towards me. The spread wings and tail formed the base of an acute 

 triangle, the pointed beak, the apex. The intense black and white 

 stripes running from the very slender, pointed beak, the open beak, 

 the snapping eyes, the fearless demeanor, gave the little creature an 

 almost venomous appearance as she rushed towards me, hissing 

 angrily. 



Eight days later, June 21st, when the young were breaking 

 from the shell, she repeated the scene. 



On the fourth day the eyes of the young were partly open. The 

 birds were very dark brown. 



The morning of the ninth day, the nestlings being eight days 

 old, the te-tee-te-tee-te-tee of young birds filled the woods. The nest 

 was empty, but the old birds came and scolded me roundly when I 

 attempted to take the nest. (I have never known the birds to lin- 

 ger around a nest that has been despoiled of young.) It was made 

 of dead leaves, mostly skeletonized, lined with inner bark fibre, pine 

 needles, and the hair of an animal, I think the raccoon. 



