142 SYLVICOLID^ : AMERICAN WARBLERS. 



"The nest is usually coarser than that of the Yellow 

 Bird i^D. cBsiiva)^ and contains fewer woolly mate- 

 rials. It is often composed outwardly of narrow strips 

 of thin bark or dried grasses, mixed with a few bits of 

 plant-down, and inwardly of very fine straw, which is 

 lined with hairs. Such is the description of two nests 

 before me. The nests are commonly placed from two 

 to eight feet above the ground, in a low bush, shrub, 

 or sapling, and are either built in a fork or otherwise 

 secured (but are never pensile). The situations gen- 

 erally chosen are the 'scrub-lands,' or open woods in 

 low grounds which contain bushes, vines, etc. Near 

 Boston they are usually finished, and contain four or 

 five fresh eggs, about the first of June. The eggs 

 average .68X.50 of an inch, and are generally white 

 with purplish, or reddish-brown spots and blotches, 

 which are sometimes confluent. These markings are 

 either scattered over the ^^^1 more thickly at the larger 

 end than the other, or are grouped in a ring about the 

 crown." {Minot, B. N. E., 1877, p. 106.) 



According to Dr. Brewer, the Chestnut-side gener- 

 ally builds in low, swampy places, apart from culti- 

 vated grounds. A number of nests were found in bar- 

 berry bushes about East Lynn, by Mr. G. O. Welch. 

 These varied from 3 to 4 inches in diameter by 2 J to 3^^ 

 in depth, and were mostly made of bark-strips, strength- 

 ened with grass-stems, lined with cottony substances 

 and hair, and secured to the supporting twigs by silken 

 threads from the cocoons of insects. Nests found in 

 Vermont by Mr. C. S. Paine are described as built in 

 the forks of low bushes, 3 to 5 feet from the ground ; all 

 of the many specimens examined being similar in struct- 

 ure and position. (Hist. N. A. B., i, 1874, p. 247^) 



