338 MEMOIRS OF THE NUTTALL ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB. 



208. Dendroica castanea (VVils.). 

 Bay-breasted Warbler. Bay-breast. 



Transient visitor in late May and early autumn, ordinarily of rather rare occurrence. 



SEASONAL OCCURRENCE. 



May II, 1900, one seen, Cambridge, W. Brewster, 



May 15 — 25. 

 May 28, 1872, one ad. female ^ taken, Watertovvn, W. Brewster. 



August 23, 1884, one im. female taken, Watertown, W. Brewster. 



September 12 — 28. 

 September 30, 1871, one im. taken, Maple Swamp, H. W. Henshaw. 



Bay-breasted Warblers visit the Cambridge Region quite regularly at their 

 seasons of migration, but seldom at all numerously. During the spring flight 

 northward, which passes late in May, they usually occur singly and in dense 

 woods, especially such as consist largely of white pines, hemlocks or other conif- 

 erous trees. A remarkable exception to this rule happened in 1872. On May 

 26 of this year several birds were seen in the heart of Cambridge, and on the 

 following morning I found upwards of forty, most of them females, feeding in 

 the tops of some large oaks which, at that time, covered the crest and sides of a 

 hill just to the westward of Mount Auburn. Five or six females lingered in 

 these woods over the 29th, but no birds of either sex were noted here afterwards 

 dining that season. Bay-breasted Warblers were again observed in consider- 

 able numbers in Cambridge and its immediate neighborhood on May 21 and 22, 

 1882, when Mr. H. M. Spelman took several specimens in the hemlock grove 

 at Fresh Pond. 



As may be gathered from what I have just written, the Bay-breasted 

 Warbler is a decidedly rare visitor to the more densely populated parts of our 

 city, where, as far as I can learn, it has been noted only in spring. If I 

 remember rightly (my notes, unfortunately, are not definite regarding this 

 particular point) two or three birds were seen in the elms along Brattle Street, 

 and as many more among some pines at the rear of the Longfellow estate, on 

 May 26, 1872. During the incursion which happened in 1882, Mr. C. F. 

 Batchelder took a male in some willows bordering on Vassall Lane (near where 



1 No. 2355, collection of William Brewster. 



