1885.] Brewster o?i Swatnsori's Warbler. >J C 



The chief difficulty is to find him, for if on the ground his color- 

 ing harmonizes so well with that of the general surface that the 

 keenest eye may overlook him, while he is not apt to start unless 

 almost trodden on. Like most thicket-haunting birds, however, 

 he is intensely curious, and by concealing yourself and producing 

 a shrill screeping or chirping you may often call him directly to 

 you. More than once has this plan been successful when I had 

 no idea that the bird was near. On one such occasion the victim 

 proved a female, which had unmistakably just laid her full set of 

 eggs. I had barely begun to 'screep' on the edge of a small 

 cane-brake bordering a brook, and surrounded by comparatively 

 open ground swept clear of undergrowth, and the usual debris, 

 by a recent fire, when there was a glimmer of wings and the War- 

 bler appeared, alighting on the stem of a cane. Upon shooting 

 and examining her I discovered that she was incubating. As it 

 was near noon of a very sultry day, and birds of all kinds closely 

 hidden, I felt sure that she had come directly from the nest. This 

 conviction became almost a certainty when, a few paces further 

 on, I flushed and secured her mate. Needless to say, the 

 remainder of the day was devoted to searching that thicket. 

 But although it covered only a few square rods of surface, the 

 nest could not be found. Speculations as to its position are idle, 

 but there seemed to be only two available sites — the stems of the 

 canes and the ground. 



The date of this episode was May 3, which probably repre- 

 sents about the beginning of the breeding season. Mr. Wayne 

 met with a brood of three young June 9, and another of four June 

 11. Specimens of both broods are before me. Thev are in first 

 .plumage and were evidently only a few days from the nest, but 

 sufficiently feathered to fly well. All the young taken after this 

 date were in autumnal plumage, which seems to be very quickly 

 put on.* They frequented the same places as the spring birds 

 and had essentially similar habits, though, according to Mr. 

 Wayne, they were shyer, or at least more timid. 



* In his 'Forest and Stream' article Dr. Coues quotes Mr. Wayne as saying : "The 

 first brood is abroad late in June, that is on the way [wing?] ; it usually numbers four. 

 The second brood is abroad early in August." The inaccuracy of the first statement 

 will appear on comparing it with the dates above given; the assumption that the bird 

 regularly rears two broods in a season is, in my opinion, equally unwarranted by the 

 evidence at hand. 



