BIRDS OF THE CAMBRIDGE REGION. 331 



gion. It will be noticed, however, that during twenty-four — or two thirds — of 

 the total thirty-six years which the records cover, the beautiful bird was not 

 noted at all, and that during eleven out of the twelve years when it was observed 

 only a single individual was seen each season. These facts appear to me to 

 warrant the conclusion that the species is really one of the very rarest of the 

 Warblers which visit us with any degree of regularity, especially if we also con- 

 sider ( I ) that it is one of the most strikingly colored and easily identified of them 

 all ; (2) that it is a rather loud and very persistent singer ; and (3) that, when 

 with us, it is given to frequenting isolated trees near houses. 



202. Dendroica aestiva (Gmel.). 

 Yellow Warbler. Golden \V,\rbler. Summer Yellow-bird. 



Abundant summer resident. 



seasonal occurrence. 



April 23, 1897, si.K heard, Fresh Pond Swamps, A. S. Oilman and E. M. Davis. 



May I — September 15. 

 September 29, 1893, one seen. Fresh Pond Swamps, W. Faxon. 

 November 28, 1891, one male (?) ' taken, Cambridge, S. W. Denton. 



NESTING D.\TES. 



May 23 — 30. 



Although the pretty little Yellow Warbler is one of our most familiar and 

 abundant summer birds it is by no means to be seen everywhere in the Cam- 

 bridge Region. It seldom occurs at any season in remote or e.xtensive upland 

 woods, and almost never in those which are largely composed of evergreen trees, 

 but it sometimes frequents barberry or other bushes growing in retired rocky pas- 

 tures and along country roadsides, while in several localities it is found rather 

 commonly in thickets bordering brooks, ponds and meadows. Since time imme- 

 morial it has literally swarmed in the Fresh Pond Swamps, where I have known 

 as many as a dozen nests to be found in the course of a single morning. It is 

 also very generally and rather plentifully distributed in summer throughout most 

 of the farming districts, where it nests in apple and pear orchards ; in barberry or 

 other bushes growing along old walls and fences ; and in fruit trees or ornamen- 

 tal shrubbery close to houses. It still breeds in or near the town centers of 



' No. 48,649, collection of William Brewster. 



