278 



THE OOLOGIST. 



unknown song will prove to come from 

 a common bird which we have known 

 for years. 



As usual, the first nest discovered, 

 May 27, '76, was found by accident on a 

 hill in a beech and maple woods about 

 two miles north of Kalamazoo. The 

 nest was in a small beech bush and 

 was placed in a trifid fork at about 

 thirty inches above the ground. There 

 was an abundance of undergrowth all 

 about and the place was retired and 

 seldom visited. 



I knew at once that the find was new 

 to me, and as I had not seen the old 

 bird leave the nest, took my bearings 

 and left the two treasures, with one of 

 the Cowbird, to return for a full set 

 and complete identification later. 



Two days afterward the spot was 

 again visited and the crawl to the nest 

 through the bushes was so carefully 

 made that I was permitted to view the 

 female setting and also to see the male 

 near. 



As there were still but two Warbler 

 eggs they were appropriated. The 

 nest was largely composed of bleached 

 maple leaves of the previous year. 

 These leaves, showing almost white on 

 the sides and bottom, gave a very 

 pleasing appearance to the structure. 

 The interior was lined "ith fine roots 

 and grape vine bark. Altogether it 

 was a very clever piece of bird archi- 

 tecture and was compact, and more- 

 over was quite unique, as I have seen 

 no other nests which closely resembled 

 it. Across the top it measured slightly 

 over four inches, four high externally, 

 while the internal measurements were 

 two and a half inches each. 



On May 311 found another nest and 

 also two others on June 6th and 9th of 

 the same year, 1876. Two of the nests 

 contained three slightly incubated eggs 

 each. One nest held a single egg 

 which I was foolish enough to take 

 with the nest, thinking that the locality 

 was too distant to revisit, and that the 



species had become abundant for all 

 time. 



The first and second nests were 

 found in the same patch of woods. I 

 also found another, a fifth nest vacant 

 in these woods, and waited a week and 

 then beheld a Baltimore Oriole's egg 

 in it. * A fifth nest was discovered in 

 a spruce bush, Lindera benzoin, in a low 

 piece of wet woods of basswood, ash 

 and elm. The structure was entirely 

 different from the others, all of which 

 were placed in beech or maple bushes 

 from two to four feet up and in beech 

 and rnaple forests. 



The eggs which I took varied in 

 length from .71 to .74 and in smallest 

 diameter from .58 to .58 of an inch. 

 The eggs are white with a greater or 

 less number of spots of red principally 

 at the larger end where they often form 

 a ring, but sometimes scantily over the 

 entire surface. In some eggs there are 

 small olackish dots in the wreaths of 

 the larger ends, 



In the years '77 to '85 I found this 

 species common and musical in May 

 and June in various parts of the state 

 but was generally engaged with other 

 birds so that I did not find time to look 

 up the nests. The species is abundant 

 in St. John, Ottawa, Kent, Van Buren 

 and Montcalm counties. 



This Warbler has very agreeable 

 notes, and the song is so well marked, 

 that when noted by an observer of bird 

 notes, he has no trouble iu identifying 

 the songster. If a Hooded Warbler 

 is heard singing there will be no un- 

 certainty in predicting that there is or 

 will be a nest m that immediate neigh- 

 borhood. 



The birds are never taken in fields 

 and rarely seen in half- wooded places. 

 Their choice seems to be heavy forests 

 with a thick growth of bushes. During 

 migration I have shot this Warbler in 



* This singular find occurred a day or so 

 after a severe storm. Perhaps the Oriole lost 

 its o wn nest and made use of this empty one. 



