° 1910 J Stanwood, Nests of the Magnolia Warbler. 387 



Although the nests of the MagnoHa Warbler were so similar, 

 I had actually to see the bird sitting on three distinct types of 

 nest before I could believe that all the structures were made by the 

 same species. The third and fourth types were sufficiently similar 

 to be identified. 



In 1908, I had the opportunity to make a careful study of four 

 more Magnolia homes. May the 13th, the birds had just begun to 

 place the lining in a nest about two feet up in a low spruce. 

 Both birds brought cinquefoil and black plant fibre to the nest, and 

 entered it to put the materials in place. The female seemed to do 

 most of the work. She pressed the material into place with her 

 breast, moving around gradually, so as to make the sides uniform. 

 When the birds detected my presence, which was almost immedi- 

 ately, they always ceased coming to the nest for a time. The 

 rainy weather seriously interfered with work on this nest. The 

 last material was added six days after the nest was started. 



Three days after the nest was completed, on June 5, the bird laid 

 one egg about half as large as the ordinary Magnolia egg. That 

 would indicate that she was a young bird and this her first nest. 

 On the evening of the twelfth day of incubation, an excessively 

 hot day, there were two young birds in the nest. Probably one 

 young bird died from the hot sun rays pouring down upon it while 

 the parent bird was procuring food; the small egg remained un- 

 hatched. Of the two nestlings, one was much stronger and larger 

 than the other. 



On the third day, the eyes of the nestlings were beginning to 

 open, and the feather tracts were indicated by dark brownish blue 

 spaces. On the fifth day the wing quills were three fourths of an 

 inch long, and the body well covered with pin feathers. 



On the seventh day the wings of the young Magnolias were a 

 mixture of yellow-green, black, and blue-gra3^ with buffy wing- 

 bars. The head and back were dark brown, the breast heavily 

 striped with grayish brown, and the belly was yellowish. On the 

 morning of the tenth day, June 30, the nest was empty. I visited 

 this nest every day for thirty-one days. If my frequent visits did 

 not hasten the exit of the young birds from the nest, it would be 

 strange. 



June 3, 1908, I came upon two Magnolias just starting a nest in 



