7Q2 Brewster, Breeding of Bachman's Warbler. lOct 



NOTES ON THE BREEDING OF BACHMAN'S WAR- 

 BLER, HELMINTHOPHILA B A CH MA Nl I (AUD.), 

 NEAR CHARLESTON, SOUTH CAROLINA, 

 WITH A DESCRIPTION OF THE 

 FIRST PLUMAGE OF THE 

 SPECIES. 



BY WILLIAM BREWSTER. 



I am indebted to Mr. Arthur T. Wayne for the privilege of 

 announcing an interesting and important discovery that he has 

 just made, viz., that Bachman's Warbler breeds,*at least locally 

 and sparingly, in the coast region of South Carolina. Mr. 

 Wayne's experience may be best given in his own words. Under 

 date of May 14, 1905, he writes as follows: "I have at last 

 found a breeding ground of Bachman's Warbler. Yesterday I 

 took two young in first plumage which the parents were feed- 

 ing .... I saw two pairs of old birds and heard another adult 

 male singing. These Warblers during the breeding season are 

 very hard to detect. They are extremely active, rarely remaining 

 still for more than a few seconds at a time, and are found in 5 low 

 bottom lands where there is plenty of water .... They must breed 

 only about ten days later than the Yellow-throated Warbler, for 

 the young taken on the 13th could fly with ease." 



In a second letter dated May 22. 1905, Mr. Wayne adds: 

 "The locality in which I found the small colony of Bachman's 

 Warblers is distant about fourteen miles from where I live 

 [Mount Pleasant, South Carolina]. The country is very swampy 

 and was originally a rice field, but is now covered with a dense 

 forest of deciduous trees with innumerable patches of low bushes 

 and blackberry brambles. . Flanking this forest is an enormous 

 back water (reservoir), from the bottom of which have grown 

 millions of buttonwood bushes. Bachman's Warbler appears to 

 be very partial to these buttonwood bushes which grow in the 

 water. I shot a male on May 14 of last year that kept con- 

 stantly over the water among the buttonwood bushes. The song 

 period appears to be of very short duration. I visited the place 

 again last Saturday [May 20] and heard but one male singing." 



