178 MouSLEY, Birds of Hatley, Quebec. [April 



94. Dendroica sestiva aestiva (Gmelin). Yellow Warbler. — 

 Irregular summer visitant; May 9 to Aug. 17. Average date of arrival 

 (for four years) May 14. Eggs: May 31 to June 30. It seems strange to 

 have to apply the term irregular to such a common and generally distrib- 

 uted warbler, nevertheless the following facts seem to justify the epithet. 

 During the summer of 1911 only one pair of birds were seen and afterwards 

 found nesting. In 1912 not a single one was observed, and the year follow- 

 ing only one male was seen, and one nest located. In 1914 five males and 

 three females were seen and three nests located, and the same number 

 were found during the present year, one of which contained the Cowbird's 

 egg already refened to. This nest was five feet up in a small fir and when 

 found on June 27 contained the Cowbird's egg, and four of the owner, one 

 of which had been built over liy the Warbler, no doubt in mistake for the 

 Cowbird's. On this date I removed the egg of the Cowbird, and also raised 

 up the built over one of the Warbler, and concluded as the female had 

 begun to sit she would go on doing so. Judge of my surprise when visiting 

 the nest three days later to find that the Warbler had not only laid another 

 egg, but had replaced the one in the hole I had removed it from, and had 

 also embedded another at the side of it, and was sitting on three eggs only, 

 surely a unique occurrence. I have the nest which is a perfect two storied 

 one, and shows the two holes in which the owner's eggs fit, and when there 

 only the tops are visible. The height of the eight nests found varies from 

 three to twelve feet above the ground, two contained a full set of five eggs, 

 one three, and the remainder four, the average dimensons being, outside 

 diameter 2f ins., inside If ins.; outside depth 2| ins., inside If ins. In 

 the " Ottawa Naturalist " for November, 1904, Mr. L. M. Terrill writing 

 of the status of this bird at Bury some 35 miles northeast of here, says: 

 " The Yellow Warbler, one of the most common summer residents in Mon- 

 treal was notable by its absence, as I did not see a single specimen either as 

 summer resident or migrant." Mr. Terrill's experience seems to bear out 

 my own, and would appear to indicate that in this southeast corner of the 

 Province, the bird is not nearly so plentiful as it is at Montreal and else- 

 where, where large river valleys exist. 



95. Dendroica caerulescens caerulescens (Gmehn). Black- 

 throated Blue Warbler. — Rare summer visitant; May 14 to Sept. 10. 

 Average date of departm-e (for two years) Sept. 6. It was not until the 

 fall of 1914 that I became acquainted with this handsome and sleekly 

 groomed bird. At that time only two examples were observed, but during 

 the present year (which I have already remarked has been a great warbler 

 one) several were seen from May to September, including a singing male 

 on June 23, together with a female, which latter was flushed from some 

 dense underbrush nearby, but no nest could be found, although from the 

 actions of the birds, I am sure it could not have been so far off. On the 

 above data I have ventured to include it as a rare breeding visitant more 

 common during migration times. 



96. Dendroica coronata (Linnaeus). Myrtle Warbler. — Rare 



