26 Allen 07i Nest and Eggs of the Cerulean Warbler. 



inches; outside diameter, 2.50 inches ; depth inside, 1.40; external 

 depth, 1.75. The eggs vaiy little in size or color, and mainly in 

 respect to the size of the blotches. The ground-color is dull creamy- 

 white, thickly covered with rather heavy blotches of reddish-brown. 

 In one egg the blotches are coarse and cover the greater part of the 

 surfoce ; in another the markings are finer, quite evenly diffused, 

 and of a lighter tint ; in the other two about two thirds of the sur- 

 face is covered by the markings. The eggs measure .60 X .47 of an 

 inch. 



The Museum has also two other nests of this species. One was 

 taken, with one egg, at Drummondsville, Ontario, in June, 1873, 

 and, with the egg, was soon after described by Dr. Brewer (Hist. 

 N. Amer. Birds, Vol. Ill, p. 505). The other nest was taken 

 at Mount Carmel, 111., May 16, 1878, by Mi*. AVilliam Bryant of 

 Boston. It contained four eggs, which are now in his collec- 

 tion. The nest described by Dr. Brewer differs from the Penfield 

 nest in no essential point, except that it is rather slighter, and 

 has a more nearly continuous covering of lichens, with which are 

 mixed small pieces of hornet's nest. The bottom of the nest shows 

 that it was built in the fork of a small branch. The Mount Carmel 

 nest differs from the others in having somewhat thicker walls, thus 

 giving to the structure gi'eater bulk and firmness. Like the others, 

 it is partly covered externally with lichens, which enclose some of 

 the smaller twigs amidst which it is fixed to the upper surface of a 

 small branch. These nests agree as closely in their general struc- 

 ture, as well as in the material of their composition, as three nests 

 of the same species are often found to do, and differ quite widely 

 from the nests of any other species of the genus known to me. The 

 Penfield and Mount Carmel nests were placed respectively twenty 

 and twenty-five feet from the ground, and the Drummondsville nest 

 at a height of fifty feet. 



Audubon describes the nest of the Cerulean Warbler as placed in 

 the forks of a low tree or bush, and as being partly pensile, and the 

 eggs as being pure white, with a few reddish spots about the larger 

 end. In the light of present information, Audubon's description is 

 evidently erroneous in nearly every particular. The only other de- 

 scription of the nest and eggs of this species is that given by Dr. 

 Brewer, as already stated. 



Dr. Brewer describes the egg as somewhat similar in its general 

 appearance to the eggs of the Yellow Warbler [D. cestiva), but as be- 



