320 



AMERICAN ORNITHOLOGY. 



chattered and scolded a great deal over my presence. Undoubtedly 

 you would also be interested in a number of other neighbors who had 

 taken up their homes within one hundred yards of that of these Vireos. 

 In a tangle of blackberry vines just beside the path where it enters the 

 woods was a Catbirds nest occupied by four greenish eggs. These birds 

 were always the first to greet me when I came. Their notes of warn- 

 ing were generally followed by a resonant thrilling whistle and I knew 

 that the Wood Thrush was still there. His nest was located in the 

 alders overhanging the bed of a small brook. 



Fig. V 



THIS OUGHT TO KEEP THEM QUIET. 



[Taken June ig. Bright sunlight, i-ioo Sec, f. 8.J 



A few yards farther on was the nest of a pretty Chestnut-sided Warb- 

 ler. It was artfully hidden in the top of a small oak bush about three 

 feet from the ground. She was not timid in the least and nearly al" 

 ways as I went by I would lift the leaf that hid her from view to catch 

 a glimpse of the bright little eyes watching me from under a crown of 

 gold. Sometimes she would even allow me to stroke her back. Half 

 a dozen White-breasted Nuthatches were playfully chasing one another 

 up and down and around the tree trunks. They were mostly young 

 birds who had recently graduated from their nest, which was in a hol- 

 low branch of the chestnut tree directly over the Vireo. Down in the 



