°i8q7 J WiDMANN, Home of Bachmans Warbler. ^OC 



THE SUMMER HOME OF BACHMAN'S WARBLER NO 

 LONGER UNKNOWN. 



A Common Breeder in the St. Francis River Region of South- 

 eastern Missouri and Northeastern Arkansas. 



BY O. WIDMANN. 



The first intimation of the breeding of Bachman's Warbler in 

 the St. Francis region was had last year, when on May 7 and May 



9 singing males were taken (Auk, XIII, 264). At that time no 

 attempt was made to find the nest, though the condition of the 

 testes showed that procreation was either going on, or not far 

 distant. 



May 8, 1897, I visited the same place again with the intention 

 of settling the question, if possible. I had no trouble in finding 

 several singing males on the day of my arrival at Kolb Island, 

 Dunklin Co., Mo., on the Paragould and Southeastern railroad, 



10 miles east of Paragould, Greene Co., Ark. An old male with 

 deep black throat patch, extending over the breast and almost 

 reaching to the bill, was evidently laboring under a severe spell 

 of excitement and rattled off its little ditty with hardly any pauses 

 at all. When singing he raised his head slightly, opened his bill 

 as wide as he could, shook his wings violently, and his whole 

 frame quivered as if in great ecstasy. 



Next morning I visited him again and found him already in 

 song at 5 A. M, In order to become perfectly acquainted with his 

 song, to watch his movements, to see his mate, and possibly to get 

 a clew where to look for the nest, I remained with him nearly the 

 whole day, that is, from 5 to 7 and 8 to 12 a. m. and 3 to 5 p. m., 

 when a heavy rainstorm came up. During these eight hours the 

 bird kept singing nearly all the time at the rate of ten times a 

 minute with the regularity of clockwork, and its sharp, rattling 

 notes reminded me strongly of an alarm-clock. In this regard 

 it recalls one of the performances of Parula, whose rattle is of 

 the same length and quality, except that it has a certain rise 

 at the end, by which it is easily distinguished. To my ear the 

 Bachman's song comes nearest to that of the Worm-eating Warbler, 



