360 



ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN. 



time a mystery, but when it was old enougli 

 to care for itself the secret was discovered, as 

 the parents built a second nest deep within one 

 of the old crowns of a palm tree. 



At the present time a half dozen species of 

 doves and pigeons are sitting on their eggs, 

 while the young of bluebirds and robins are 

 already hatched. There are seven robins' 

 nests m one cage, a fact which leaves little 

 doubt as to their happiness and contentment. 

 Although these birds were all nestlings when 

 placed in the collection last year yet their 

 first attempts at nest-building, far from being 

 awkward or abortive, have resulted in well- 

 thatched, mud-lined structures, strong and 

 well built. Common as is our robin, its entire 

 history is far from thoroughly worked out, 

 and here, where the nest-building, laying and 

 incubation is all accomplished within a yard 

 of the cage wires, a wonderful opportunity is 

 afforded for careful observation at close range. 

 Pans of mud are provided and the robins mas- 

 be seen filling their beaks with this soft black 

 building material, carrying it to the half- 

 finished nest and molding it into shape with 

 beak and breast. 



On cold days the parent sits so close that 

 only her head and tail are visible .ibove the 

 rim of the nest, while on hot days she half 

 stands with partly lifted wings, as a shield 

 against the intense heat of mid-day. 



In another cage a grackle is sitting on a 

 great bristling mass of straw and twigs, 

 whose outside gives no hint of the smooth 

 interior which holds the beautifully marked 

 eggs. A European wood pigeon has the 

 flimsiest nest of all, merely a handfid of 

 straws, laid one over the other in a crotch. 

 How her two white eggs manage to stay on is 

 a miracle. A yellow-billed cuckoo sitting on 

 three eggs is an interesting sight, as this bird 

 has never before been known to lay in cap- 

 tivity. In another corner of the cage are six 

 others which she has laid. A white peahen is 

 incubating a half dozen eggs, and rarest of 

 all, a pair of trumpeter swans has built a nest 

 on an island in the Beaver Pond. These birds 

 are all but extinct, and if they succeed in rear- 

 ing young it will be a notable event. 



AMERICAN WOOD WARBLERS IN 

 THE LARGE BIRD-HOUSE. 



THE American wood warblers, (Miiiotil- 

 tidae), are perhaps the most interesting 

 of our smaller native birds. There are 

 about 155 species all told, ranging from 

 Alaska and Labrador south to Argentina. Of 



these, fifty-five species and nineteen sub- 

 species are found within the borders of the 

 United States. Every spring our woods and 

 groves are thronged with these brilliant- 

 plumaged little birds, whose colors reveal a 

 great variety in hue and in pattern. In spite 

 of their name, they do not take high rank as 

 vocalists, their warbling, as a rule, being mo- 

 notonous and of limited nuisical range. 



Some species linger through the summer 

 and nest with us, but the majority push on to 

 the coniferous forests of the northern States 

 and Canada. In the fall they return south- 

 ward, some in entirely altered attire, the young 

 birds frequently exhibiting still another pat- 

 tern of colors. They thus tax to the utmost 

 the skill of the amateur ornithologist, delight- 

 ing him with their colors and simple ditties, 

 and yet confusing him by their very numbers. 

 Every aid to their identification is welcome. 

 Mr. Frank M. Chapman has recently published 

 a book, illustrated with many colored plates, 

 devoted solely to this Family of birds, which 

 will be of great value when used with the 

 field-glass and notebook. 



But better than either books or pictures can 

 be, are the living birds themselves ; and in the 

 Large Bird-House of the Zoological Park 

 there is, without doubt, the finest collection of 

 live American warblers which has ever been 

 gathered together. These birds ere all insect 

 feeders, and as such, are most difficult to keep 

 in health in confinement. It is safe to say 

 that the ordinary canary lover could not keep 

 one of these birds alive for forty-eight hours. 

 By means of most careful study of the habits 

 and food of the birds, and by continually ex- 

 perimenting with diet, and ways and means 

 for accustoming these delicate little birds to 

 their new conditions of life. Keepers Stacey 

 and Durbin have assembled and established 

 a collection of no less than eighteen species. 

 These include all of the common, and also 

 some of the rarest, forms found near New 

 York City, either as summer residents or as 

 transient migratory visitors in spring and fall. 

 The warblers which have been in the col- 

 lection for two or more years have passed 

 through their annual moult on time, and as 

 thoroughly as if in a state of freedom ; so there 

 seems no reason why they should not all live 

 out their span of life — indeed, a much longer 

 span than would be theirs if exposed to the 

 vicissitudes of their wild life. 



So varied are the eighteen species that all 

 of the interesting adaptations of the Family 

 are represented, radiations from the typical 

 wood warbler, arboreal, seeking food under 



