The Oologists' Record, March i,- ig22. ii 



in-Western Ontario, and New York State. Only occasionally 4o 

 we come across some straggler. Of these I will first mention the 

 Orange-crowned Wai'bler, a rare bird, whose breeding has not been 

 previously recorded in this district. Some of my friends seem 

 sceptical about this, but having watched the birds more persistentlj' 

 and for a longer period than most of them, I can certify the presence 

 of this rare species. 



Near the road leading from Belleville through Madoc to North 

 Hastings lies a cedar and tamarac swamp, close beside a height of 

 land a thousand feet above the sea level. This is a unique spot 

 for warblers ; its centre being the dried or drained bed of a small 

 lake, grown up around its edges with cedar, black spruce, and 

 tamarac, and surrounded by a hardwood bush growing amongst 

 the granite rocks. I used to visit this spot several times each 

 spring, and noted the Nashville Warbler as quite common ; a 

 pair or two of the Orange-crowned Warbler seen in the year 1907, 

 a cold and backward season ; and, in 1908, the Bay-breasted 

 Warbler migrating as late as the loth June ; the Mourning, 

 Chestnut-sided. Black-throated Blue Warbler, and several others. 



Besides the birds, the swamp is an interesting place for the 

 botanist, for some rare orchids flourish there. I found four of the 

 five varieties of the Ontario cypripediums, including the " Rams- 

 head," which few have found growing in its native habitat, among 

 the tamaracs ; also the Coral Root {Corallariza striala) ; Orchis 

 rotundifolia ; several Habenarias ; and others. 



To return to the Orange-crowned Warbler. In 1907, on the 

 2nd of June, I was walking through the small tamaracs. The 

 ground there is damp and springy, with hummocks of moss and 

 marsh fern, and in places bunches of the Osmtmda, its new shoots 

 just showing. A small bird started up near me, and threshed 

 its way, mouse-like, amongst the undergrowth of ferns and moss- 

 After a brief search I found the nest well concealed in the side of 

 one of these hummocks. It contained four eggs, and incubation 

 had commenced. These eggs are quite distinguishable from those 

 of the Nashville Warbler. They are creamy white, with a wreath 

 of faint reddish specks around the larger end. The rest of the egg is 

 almost unmarked and is slightly larger than that of the Nashville 

 Warbler, though the nests of both birds have a similar appearance. 

 After a while the bird I flushed from its nest was joined by its 

 mate, and they hopped about in the tamaracs. In spite of mosquitoes 



