110 



OROTTHOLOGIST 



rYol. 12-No. 7 



Nesting of the "Worm-eating \Varbler. 



BY SAMUEL B. LADD, WEST CHESTER, PENN. 



After having devoted all my spare time the 

 past season to my favorite Hebninthutherusvermi- 

 vo7-iis, Worm-eating Warbler, and having been 

 even more successful than I had anticipated, I 

 shall be glad :ind feel recompensed, if, in giv- 

 ing my fellow collectors a few points, I can 

 assist them in taking their eggs in the future. 



First, I found it a great help in tramping last 

 fall over localities where these birds would be 

 likely to breed, and noting places where old 

 nests were found; the lining of the nests ren- 

 dering their identity, as the birds when not dis- 

 tui'bed would probably return to the same 

 ground. 'I'hen I began looking for and watch- 

 ing them this spiing, (about May 1st, is early 

 enough) and when I found them apparently 

 satisfied with their position, and not moving 

 about uneasily in the tree tops, I was almost 

 invariably right in my conjectures. The pe- 

 culiar trill of the male is of little assistance, 

 but the chirp of the female often will be, after 

 their full complement is laid, and lead you to 

 their home. 1 have found eighteen nests con- 

 taining eggs and six nests with young this sea- 

 son, from May 24th to June 15th. inclusive. 



1 have observed that these birds are not con- 

 fined necessarily to hill-sides, as was heretofoi-e 

 supposed, as I have taken three sets on level 

 ground and in lather open jjlaces, with little 

 shade. The experience of Mr. Thomas H. Jack- 

 son of this place, who has taken ten nests this 

 year, corroborates this fact. I have found that 

 without exceiJtion their nests are lined with 

 Polytridiian or hair-moss. Sometimes tine 

 grass and horse-hair aie used as part of tlie 

 lining. The body or outside of the nests are 

 composed of leaves only, and they were placed 

 at the footX)f either a sapling or small bush on 

 the ground. 



The eggs make a beautiful series, owing to 

 their variation in markings, size and shape; 

 some being very faintly marked with light red- 

 dish spots, mostly around the larger end, while 

 some are very heavily blotched with lavender 

 or a rich chestnut. The size ranges from .7.5 to 

 .62 in length by .58 to .50 of an inch in width. 

 Their shape varies from equal ended to quite 

 pointed. Tlie most lemarkable set 1 have taken 

 was on June 11th. After a hard and unsuccess- 

 ful day's tramp, I heard a female Worm-eater 

 chirping in an unusual place, and merely 

 walked that way from habit, as T did not ex- 

 pect to find their nest in a spot with so little 



shelter. However, after sitting on a stump 

 near the bird for some time, and not caring to 

 have her wake the neighborhood with her cries, 

 as she did not seem to be inclined to lead me to 

 her nest, I hunted the ground pretty thorough- 

 ly, and soon found the nest in an open space 

 where one would scarcely think it worth the 

 time to look. It contained a young Cowbird 

 nearly full fledged, also a Cowbird's egg, which 

 contained a partly formed but decaying embryo, 

 with five eggs of the Worm-eating Warbler, 

 which might well be called a dwarf set. They 

 are perfect in their shape and in their colora- 

 tion and size of markings ; in fact, perfect, ex- 

 cept that they contained no yolk. Their meas- 

 urements were respectively, .40 x .36 ; .46 x .36 ; 

 .45 X .37 ; .42 x .30, and .42 x 36. 



One would naturally wonder how so large a 

 Cowbird could stay in this nest without break- 

 ing these eggs, but their shells wei-e as thick 

 as the average Worm-eater. The skin of the 

 young Cowbird is now before me ; it measures 

 in length 5 3-4 in. Extent 6 1-4 in. 



It was remarkable how tenaciously this little 

 female fought in defense of the miserable young 

 Cowbird. She would actually light on my back, 

 flap her wings and snap her beak while I was 

 taking possession of her little fosterling and 

 nest of curios. Regarding the nuniber of eggs 

 laid by the Worm-eating Warbler, my 1887 

 series reads as follows : three sets of six each, 

 ten sets of five each, and five sets of four each. 



Nesting of the Red-bellied Hawk in 



Cooke Co., Texas. ■ 



BY EDWIN C. DAVIS, GAINESVILLE, TEXAS. 



The l?ed-bellied Hawk (Butco Uneatusclegans), 

 is not a common resident of Cooke County, nor 

 could it be called a rare one. 



They generally select for their bleeding places 

 the tall pecan and oak trees bordering our larger 

 water courses, and also the tall oaks growing in 

 heavily wooded " flats " or bogs. 



I have found nests in the course of construc- 

 tion, and in fact ready for the eggs by the 5th 

 of March; but as yet have never taken a full 

 clutch of eggs earlier than the 18th of the same 

 month. The nest is usually placed in the top- 

 most ci'otch of the tree, where two or three 

 laige branches form. The construction is simp- 

 ly a large platform of sticks, built over with 

 smaller sticks and grape vine bark formed into 

 the nest. It is in almost every case lined with 

 green leaves of the mistletoe ; but as yet I have 



