March 1887.] 



AND OOLOGIST. 



43 



which is used year after yt'fH"- On the Farra- 

 loues thej^ are found breeding in coniniunities 

 of not more than five or six nests, which are 

 mostly built on slielving crags of a precipitious 

 clift. To secure the eggs it is often necessary 

 to make use of a long stick with a scoop attach- 

 ed. When the eggs are stolen the cormorant 

 continues to sit on the nest, and soon lays 

 another set of eggs. The other two species of 

 Cormorants build a loosely constructed nest of 

 dry weeds and sea-weed and breed in colonies. 



Brandt's Cormorant lays from three to seven 

 eggs and is l)y far tiie commonest Cormorant on 

 the island. 1 visited a large rookery of this 

 species which contained over four hundred nests 

 built two or three feet apart. 



The Western Gulls hovering overhead, took 

 advantage of the flight of the Cormorants from 

 their nests (a vvondei-ful sight) to fly down and 

 devour the small fish scattered around which 

 they seemed to prefer to the eggs, though they 

 spitefully broke a mmd)er before the Cormorants 

 returned. I do not think that the latter inter- 

 fere with the eggs of their species but I have 

 often watched tliem fighting over the weeds 

 which composed their nests. New nests are 

 sometimes torn to pieces and carried ofF by the 

 Cormorants to surrounding nests. This, per- 

 haps explains w hy they are so often seen cov- 

 ering nests in which no eggs have been laid. 

 Happily for the Cormorant their eggs are not 

 considered edible, and so are undisturbed ex- 

 cept by the few egg-collectors who visit the 

 island. 



I was told bjf the light-keeper lliat three or 

 four species of hawks visit these islands every 

 j'car to feed on the Guillemots. I was shown 

 an old Jiaven's nest built of sticks in an inacces- 

 sible place where young had been raised the 

 year before. 



Nesting of the Kentucky Warbler. 



BY THOMAS A. JACKSON, AVEST CHESTER, I'A, 



The Kentucky AN'arbler {Oporornis form<isas) 

 in this part of Pennsylvania is a frequent sum- 

 mer resident, and indeed in some localities, may 

 almost be considered a connuon bird. Its ar- 

 rival early in May is at once announced by the 

 clear nmsical notes of the male, heard in the 

 dense, swampy thickets or low lying marshy 

 pieces of woodland which it delights to affect. 



The birds at this time are not shy and suspi- 

 cious like most of our warblers, but the males 

 will sing, oblivious of your presence, until you 



can approach within easy view of his golden 

 breast. 



To find the nest and eggs of this beautiful 

 bird has always been an object of great ambi- 

 tion to me, and though a number of them have 

 been taken in this vicinity from time to time, 

 never until the season of 1886 has it been my 

 good fortune to discover them ujj'self. 



On the biMght spring-like afternoon of June 

 1st, 1886, I left the train at Glen Mills, a little 

 station in Delaware County, and plunged into 

 the heavy timber growth, that covers the north 

 side of a steep, long hill that rises rapidly from 

 Chester Creek to its summit, several hundred 

 yards in extent, and fi'oni the top of which 

 spreads out one of the finest views of hill and 

 valley in this beautiful county. 



From amid the rich black loam and beds of 

 withered leaves numerous spiings arise, and 

 trickle down among the dense masses of fern 

 and moss, and other vegetable growths that are 

 more often found in swamps than on high 

 woodlands; and in places immense rocks are 

 piled up, giving an air of wildness to the spot. 

 I had advanced but a few paces in my laborious 

 search up the steep hill side, when [ heard the 

 musical note of a Kentucky Warbler some dis- 

 tance ahead, and inspired by the welcome sound, 

 I proceeded toward the spot from whence it 

 came. 



Meanwhile the bird had become silent, but 

 after a few minutes of careful search, inspect- 

 ing every foot of ground as I proceeded, a bird 

 flew almost from my feet, alighting on a bush 

 some twenty feet away, uttering its sharp im- 

 patient chirp, — unmistakably a female Ken- 

 tucky Warbler. Looking towards the ground, 

 there, without concealment of any kind, more 

 than that afforded by a few weeds and saplings, 

 lay my long coveted prize — six eggs in a bulky 

 nest, — elevated somewhat from the ground by 

 the mass of dried leaves at its base. It was not 

 even defiled by an egg of that skulking impos- 

 tor, the Cow-bird. 



Securing the nest and the eggs, in which in- 

 cubation was a few days advanced, I considered 

 myself well repaid, although later in the day, 

 on the same day, I found a nest and six eggs of 

 the Worm-eating Warbler {Helminthothprus 

 vermivonts), though so nearly hatched that 

 they were hardly capable of preservation. 



There are some peculiarities about this set of 

 eggs of the Kentucky Warbler, that render them 

 quite difterent from any I have seen. In shape 

 they are long, and they taper to a comparative- 

 ly sharp point; the greatest diameter being 

 quite near the larger end. As will be seen by 



