ORNITHOLOGIST 



— AND- 



00L0GI8T. 



Nesting of the Kentucky W^arbler in 

 Chester and Delaware Coun- 

 ties, Penn. 



Havinfj been quite fortunate in finding nests 

 of this Warbler (Gcotltlypls formofia) during 

 the past season I tliouglit that my experiences 

 might be of interest to tlie readers of tlie 

 O. & O. 



Another year's collecting leads me to think 

 that my assertion, that the Kentucky War- 

 bler probably bred more commonly in these 

 two counties than anywhere else, was correct. 



To a practised person the nest of this bird is 

 not very difficult to find, unless it should be 

 placed on a hillside. 



They begin to breed often about the 18th of 

 May. Some nests found by me this year must 

 have had their full complement of eggs by the 

 •2()th of May. Then on the other hand my last 

 set was taken on the 18th of June, and my 

 brother took a set of four fresh eggs on the 

 '2r)th of June, and a nest was found on the 15th 

 of July with young birds, so there is often a 

 difference of a month between the incubation 

 of different pairs. 



On the 21st of May I found my first nest this 

 year. It was just finished, and I secured a 

 tine set of five eggs exactly one week later 

 (the 28th) from it. 



It was placed at the bottom and between 

 the forks of a spicewood bush and was a very 

 bulky ne.st. The 9 '^^'^s i^<*t on tfie nest, and 

 I presume liad just laid one of the eggs that 

 morning. It was not more than ten yards 

 from the edge of the woods. When I was 

 packing up the eggs and nest there was no 

 sign of the birds around, but when I again 

 passed the spot about tifteen minutes later 

 I>oth birds were making a great noise. 



The second nest was found on the 2.")th of 

 May. and contained two eggs of the warbler 

 and one of that i)est, the Cowbird. I had been 



looking for this nest for about two or three 

 hours before I succeeded in finding it. The 

 birds had been making a great deal of noise, 

 and had been jumping up every few minutes 

 from a clump of swamp cabbage. As there 

 was a great deal of this plant in the woods 

 and the wood was a large one, it can easily 

 be seen that it was no easy matter to find 

 that nest. At last I happened to glance down 

 at a certain clump which contained the nest, 

 but was somewhat disgusted to find it only had 

 two eggs and one Cowbird. However, I 

 secured four eggs of the warbler and the Cow- 

 bird's egg from it on the 2Sth. The 9 flushed 

 very close and did not go more than ten feet 

 from the nest while I was packing it up. 



The thiid nest was also found on the 28th of 

 May and contained four fresh eggs. This was 

 also near the edge of a wood, not being more 

 than six feet from the fence. This one, like 

 nearly all the others, was at the foot and be- 

 tween the forks of a spicewood bush. A 

 peculiarity about this nest was that it was 

 lined with white horse-hair, instead of the 

 black rootlets and horse-hair one almost in- 

 variably finds in nests of this sijecies. This 

 last nest was the third I liad found that day 

 and in a joking sort of way I said to my 

 brother, " I am going out now to make it 

 four." 



I walked to the nearest woods and had 

 hardly gotten inside of it when I found another 

 nest, this time with five eggs, which were 

 incubated a few days. This one was situated 

 in about the last place I ever expected to find 

 a Kentucky Warbler's nest. It was not more 

 than twenty-five yartls from a public road 

 where there is a great deal of travel, and it 

 was not nearly as well hidden as usual, as you 

 could almost see the nest from tlie road. 



On tlie 80th of May my father, my brother 

 and myself started out for a day's trip. My 

 brother found a fine set of five, but unfortu- 

 nately thev were nearlv hatched and it was 



Copyright, 18J0, by Frank B. Webster. 



