BULLETIN No. 35 31 



in its mouth that certainly indicated nest building. 1 had mis- 

 trusted from the young of two years before that they must nest 

 very early but I had hardly expected to find them building when 

 the bulk of the Warblers had only just arrived and many, 

 strictly migratory species in our vicinity, would linger here for 

 two weeks longer. This was not far from the place where the 

 family of young was found in the summer of 1897 and I re- 

 mained in the vicinity for some time but the bird had seen me 

 and was extremely shy and nervous so I left and later in the 

 day returned, but the steady sprinkle which had continued all 

 day developed into a heavy rain and 1 was compelled to leave 

 with nothing more gained. 



Three days later 1 returned to the spot, had myself seemly 

 hidden in the hazel brush with not long to wait when the bird 

 returned — again with nesting material in her bill, and after a 

 few anxious "chips" settled directly into a grassy sod in the 

 centre of a small clump of hazel brush. She was there but a 

 second and when she had left I was looking into the nest, al- 

 most completed and already containing one egg. Hastily with- 

 drawing, it was not until the 22nd that I visited the birds again, 

 accompanied by an expert in nest photography. The bird was 

 found on the nest, which contained six eggs. This one, the female, 

 was taken, the nest photographed and the watch for the mate 

 began. So far but one Blue-wing had been seen at the nest at 

 a time although the continued "chip, chip" of the mate, the ex- 

 act call of the one killed had been heard many times when the 

 female was in sight. In about a half hour he appeared in the im- 

 mediate vicinity of the nest and at once showed his great ner- 

 vousness and anxiety at finding us so near — but on picking him 

 up after he was killed imagine my surprise at finding him noth- 

 ing more or less than a Nashville Warbler {Helminthophila 

 rubricapilla. It proved to be a male with enormously developed 

 testes and no one with any experience with nesting birds could 

 doubt for a moment, had they seen the actions of this bird at 

 the nest, that he vvas any other than the mate of the female Blue- 

 wing, and the male parent to the set of eggs. I believed it the 

 moment I picked him up, but remained until late in the after- 

 noon, until nearly dark for some other to appear, but neither 



