JOURNAL OF MAINE ORNITHOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



33 



them with as little feeling as does the 

 small school-boy, who takes them be- 

 cause Charlie and the other boys are 

 getting a c'lectiou. Hut the true friend 

 and lover of the birds, does have a great 

 deal of feeling and pity for the birds, as 

 he watches them go repeatedly to the 

 site of their nest and seem to wonder 

 what has become of the nest so deai' to 

 them. He has a much deeper feeling of 

 pity for them, than does the one who 

 asks these questions with so much seem- 

 ing pity, but forgets it so soon, perhaps 

 changing their thoughts as to what sort 

 of a bird they shall v\ ear on thtir hat. 

 (Here let me say that these birds sought 

 a new site in a clump not far awa}' from 

 the old one and reared their four little 

 ones unmolested, and as I watched them 

 building the new nest, I promised them 

 not to interfere with their family cares 

 and they ^^eenied as happy as before and 

 had, no doubt, quite forgotten the un- 

 pleasant experience.) To resume, the 

 nest was twelve feet from the ground 

 and composed of fine spruce and hem- 

 lock twigs, neatly woven with fine strips 

 of white birch bark and a few fine strips 

 of the inner bark of the basswood, mix- 

 ed here and there with fine bits of some 

 woolly cocoon, and a few cobwebs. 

 Then layers of fine grasses, interwoven 

 with quite a quantity of thistledown for 

 a lining, and a few long hairs for an 

 inner lining. 



The eggs, five in number, were fresh, 

 with a white ground quite thickly sprin- 

 kled with brown and lilac spots, with 

 here and there a few black specks, form- 

 ing a wreath about the large end. They 

 somewhat resemble the eggs of Dendroi- 

 ca pensylvanica, tho' there is consider- 

 able variation in color and markings of 

 D. virens, as well as in D. pensylvanica. 



Genei'ally when one finds the Magnolia 

 Warbler (Dendroica maculosa) nesting, 

 you will find D. virens bi'eeding in the 

 near vicinity. 1 have examined quite a 

 number of nests in Franklin County, 

 and in Cumberland Co , (Cape P^liza- 

 beth being a favorite resort). They are 

 quite deeply cup-shaped, and are placed 

 from three feet to thirty-five feet from 

 the ground, always in an evergreen, and 

 often contain feathers, and in shape and 

 appearance, resemble the nest of 

 Dendroica pensylvanica, or Setophaga 

 ruticilla, most of any of our Warblers, 

 though the nest is quite distinctive when 

 one becomes familiar with it. The eggs 

 are generally four in number. I know 

 of but one instance of the Cowbird 

 (Molothrus atei') imposing its egg on 

 this Warbler. In this case, one egg had 

 been laid when the intruder dropped its 

 egg in the nest. They left it and built 

 another not many rods away, and laid 

 four eggs, unmolested by the Cowbirds, 

 but May 30th the nest and set was col- 

 lected and is now in the collection of 

 0. W. Knight. 



The nests are very hard to locate in 

 the taller trees, but are much easier 

 found in a more open clearing with 

 patches of spruce, fir, and hemlock, 

 where one can follow the birds more 

 easily. It is generally placed in a fork 

 of a limb near the trunk, but sometimes 

 is placed out on the bi'anches, so well 

 concealed among the branches, that one 

 has to part them to see the nest. I be- 

 lieve it is a more common breeder 

 throughout our State than is sometimes 

 supposed, but by reason of its nests 

 being so well concealed, and the time it 

 usually takes to locate it, it is easily 

 overlooked. 



Portland, Me., July 8th, 1899. 



