166 Contributions from the Charleston Museum. 



woods which contain the Spanish moss that one might search 

 for it in a pine forest of five hundred acres without seeing a single 

 individual, if the Spanish moss is absent. 



The Yellow-throated Warbler is a very early breeder. The 

 birds are mated by March 11, and nest building commences by 

 the 16th or 18th of the month, unless the weather is cold and 

 rainy, when it may be delayed until the first week in April. The 

 spring of 1895 was very backward, and the first nest, which con- 

 tained four fresh eggs, was not taken until April 20. In 1897, 

 however, the season was far advanced and the first nest, which 

 also contained four fresh eggs, was taken on April 2, while another, 

 which contained five fresh eggs, was taken April 4. 



The nest of this warbler is almost invariably built in festoons 

 of Spanish moss. I have seen but two exceptions to this rule. 

 One of these nests was built in a short-leaf pine, forty-five feet 

 from the ground, and on the end of a limb fifteen feet from the 

 body of the tree. It was entirely concealed in a mass of dead 

 pine needles and contained four fresh eggs on April 21. It is 

 now in the collection of Mr. William Brewster. The other nest 

 was built in a short-leaf pine, fifty feet from the ground, and on 

 the end of a limb twenty feet from the trunk. It was entirely 

 concealed among pine burs and needles, and contained four heav- 

 ily incubated eggs. It was taken on April 19, 1905, and is now 

 in the collection of Col. John Eliot Thayer. 



The nest, which is built by the female alone, is constructed 

 of fine strips of bark and grasses, and is either lined profusely 

 with feathers or with the flowers of the moss, and is indeed a 

 beautiful structure. It is begun by weaving the moss together 

 into a basket-like shape, to which the silk of caterpillars is fastened, 

 in order to make the material adhere. The nest is always built 

 at the extremity of a drooping limb, and ranges from ten to one 

 hundred and twenty feet above the ground. This bird appears 

 to prefer to nest in live oak trees. Four or five eggs are laid, 

 and these are white or grayish white, speckled, spotted, and blotch- 

 ed with reddish brown, gray, and lavender markings. They 

 measure ,69X.53. Two broods are raised, and I saw the young 

 fully fledged on April 22, 1884. 



This species is a very early migrant. The young leave the 

 woods in which they were bred and resort to scattered trees near 

 dwelling houses on plantations by the middle of June, and migrate 

 towards the latter part of the month. 



