362 SAUNDERS, Hlubits of the Cerulean Warbler. oon 
after its separation from the parent limb, which was one and one 
fourth inches in diameter before the crotch. It is composed of 
grass and weed stems and a few bark strips and lacks the hcir 
lining entirely, being sparsely lined with some small, red-bro .n 
fruit stems. On the outside there is very little of the silvery 
covering of the others, but a small twig, encircling the nest for 
half its circumference and thoroughly well bound into it, gives it 
a far greater air of substantiality than have the others. The 
leaves of this twig and its branchlets so completely hid the nest 
from view that there were but two points from which it could be 
seen at all well. It measures 1# inches high by 2% wide outside, 
and on the inside § by 12 wide. It contained five eggs, one of 
them a Cowbird’s. They appear larger than the other sets, pos- 
sibly on account of their ground color being creamy white instead 
of bluish white; but the average measurement of .67 x .53 
shows the difference to be trifling. The largest egg is .67 x .54 
and the smallest .66 & .53. They are spotted more regularly 
than the others, over the whole surface, but yet have a well-marked 
ring. The spots are of a lighter brown with a sprinkling of lilac 
and the eggs closely resemble some sets of the Redstart, while 
the former sets bore a greater resemblance to the eggs of the 
Yellow Warbler, only that the spots are more brownish than in 
that species. 
A feature that interested me very much was the extreme shal- 
lowness of the nests; all the other Warblers with which I am 
acquainted building a comparatively deep nest, and the query 
arises, Does the bird build a shallow nest because it places it 
on a substantial limb, or does it place it on a substantial limb 
because its nests are shallow? ‘The attachment of the nest, also, 
is exceedingly frail, and I am inclined to think that few of these 
nests would remain in position long after the young had left. 
Of the eight nests found this year, two were in oaks, two in 
maples, and four in basswoods, showing a marked leaning toward 
the latter tree. The only other nest found near London was 
noted by Mr. Robert Elliott of Brymeston in 1899, in an elm, 
about fifty-five feet from the ground and ten feet out from the 
trunk, where such a prudent climber as I am, had no desire to 
take it. 
