° 'igi9 J Mouslky, The Singing Tree. 343 



Of course there are many birds that actually sing on the nest 

 itself, such as Purple Finches, Rose-breasted Grosbeaks and some 

 of the Vireos, to say nothing of others which, like the Tree Swallows, 

 do so on and at the entrance to the nesting boxes, as well as Barn 

 Swallows, which sing as they fly in and out of the barn and on the 

 rafters. Many others again, such as Kingbirds for example, make 

 use of the nesting tree to constantly perch in, whilst others will be 

 found singing from it also. 



Now in order to illustrate my 'modus operandi,' I propose to 

 give an account of the finding this season (1918) of a Blackburnian 

 Warbler's (Dendroica fusca) nest, as well as the one of the Bay- 

 breasted Warbler (Dendroica castanea) already referred to. As 

 regards the former, the male had been noted during the migration 

 time as always occupying a certain little belt of spruce and fir trees, 

 on the outskirts of a large wood, and close to a country cross road, 

 and as he was still there after the bulk of the migrants had gone, 

 I came to the conclusion that it was about time to pay special 

 attention to him. 



I therefore on June 10 repaired to the site, having already noted 

 one particular tree that he seemed to favor most for his vocal 

 performances. From this tree I measured out twenty yards to the 

 north, south, east and west of it, marking the spots with rough 

 stakes, hoping sooner or later (it is more often than not the latter) 

 to discover the nest within the magic circle. After having done this 

 the next thing I always do is to inspect the ground carefully within 

 the area of the stakes, in order to find out what likely spots (one gets 

 to know these by experience) are dominated by the 'singing tree.' 

 In this particular instance the most likely one seemed to lie to the 

 north, although I rather favored one to the east, from having 

 previously seen the male take that direction on several occasions 

 when leaving the singing tree. However, one can never be sure, 

 and the only way is to watch the male's every movement. This I 

 proceeded to do for the next two hours, with very little result, as 

 he merely kept flitting round about the magic circle whilst ever 

 and anon singing from a few special trees. However, the critical 

 moment came at last, as a downward swoop, so to speak, of his, into 

 a spruce tree to the north brought out the female. I at once made 

 for this tree, mentally congratulating myself that the nest was as 



