384 Stanwood, Nests of the Magnolia Warbler. [oct. 



Geothlypis trichas. Northern Yellow-throat. — Fairly common 

 in the swampa and heavy timber. Specimens from Portageville and St. 

 Francis River are referable to the northern form. 



Telmatodytes palustris iliacus. Prairie Marsh Wren. — Rather 

 scarce in the marshes along St. Francis River and on Cushion Lake, but 

 perhaps not all had arrived from the South. Two specimens were taken 

 at the above localities. 



A SERIES OF NESTS OF THE MAGNOLIA WARBLER. 



BY CORDELIA J. STANWOOD. 



The warblers were late in 1907. The cold, backward spring 

 was behind time in unfolding catkin and leaf whereon the insect 

 hosts prey, and the warblers who live on the insect life keep pace 

 with the resurrection and birth of moth and butterfly, mosquito 

 and aphis, caterpillar and beetle. It was the 17th of May before 

 I heard the weechy, wee-chy, wee-chy; or the loee-o, wee-o, wee-chy; 

 or the wee-chy, wee-chy, wee-chy-tee of the Magnolia Warbler, and 

 all of a week later before I saw one. After that they came in 

 flocks, those gorgeous, floating flowers from their winter homes in 

 Panama and Mexico. 



The Magnolia is one of the most beautiful of the birds that 

 comes to nest in the cool north. W^hile migrating the bird is 

 noticeably restless, even for a warbler, keeping well hidden within 

 the evergreens where it feeds much of the time, although it makes 

 frequent excursions to the larches, gray birches and other trees of 

 the swamp and its surrounding woodlands. 



On the 13th day of June, I took my luncheon for a day in the 

 woods, not that I was going far, but the days are all too short 

 when birds are migrating and nesting, and I was bent on hunting 

 birds' nests. Towards noon my efforts were rewarded by finding 

 the nest of a Magnolia Warbler nearly completed. Two days 

 later, I came upon a second nest of the same bird, and six days 

 later a third. On the 15th day of July, I just missed placing a 

 fourth. By accident, I discovered the empty nest later. 



