382 



THE OOLOGIST. 



It is fair to allow that the require- 

 ments of the species during the nesting 

 season cause the birds to change their 

 location, as we are not disposed to ad- 

 mit that birds vary their selection with- 

 out reason. Nevertheless l-epeated .in- 

 stances in the experience of others as 

 well as in the case of my own records, 

 iadicate that the Chestnut-sided some- 

 times fails to visit a neighborhood 

 where it was formerly abundant, aud 

 from no reason that can be discovered 

 by careful study. Careful observations 

 have fully demonstrated that the settle- 

 ment of a locality tends to increase the 

 number of species of birds, and in those 

 sections not too thickly inhabitated by 

 man it is safe to estimate that one-half 

 more species of birds are now found 

 than were present before the locality 

 was invaded by settlers. As a rule, so 

 far as my experience goes, the Chestnut- 

 sided selects partial clearings for its 

 summer home, or where clearings have 

 been on low land and the weeds, vines 

 and underbrush have sprung up on old 

 burns and slashings, In situations of 

 this nature I have found the species 

 abundant in three counties in the Low- 

 er Peninsula south of 44 degrees north 

 latitude. A further clearing of the 

 land and its cultivation of course re- 

 sults in the removal of the birds, but 

 the species strangely enough sometimes 

 leaves a section, admirably adapted to 

 their wants, and -without a reason as 

 yet discovered. Often recorded as a 

 migrant and passing to the North, by 

 young observers, when a little careful 

 inquiry would show that it is a summer 

 resident in the neighborhood. 



My earliest date of arrival is April 

 25th and one season it was not recorded 

 until May 12th, but I feel confident 

 that the birds are always within our 

 state boundaries by May 1st and per- 

 haps earlier, These late notes are gen- 

 erally not exact and result from care- 

 lessness or lack of sharp eyes on the 

 part of the recorder. 



Soon after arrival the simple vet 

 characteristic song is heard, and is 

 daily offered until about the middle of 

 July after which they are silent except- 

 ing for their call notes, until well toward 

 the close of August at which time the 

 song is occasionally heard. But at this 

 second period of song there is seldom or 

 never a prolonged musical effort and 

 the notes are not uttered with the 

 heartiness of the vernal utterance. 



The more common song is: die die 

 die die die we, we we o we Then again 

 the following syllables represent the 

 notes: choo a dioo a die die o wee o wee 

 wee rapidly uttered. Still another song 

 not as often heard, and difficult to ex- 

 press in syllables, goes something like 

 this, tsis tsis tsis chee ah. The first part 

 tsis is sometimes only given once, and 

 again five or six times, while the last 

 part of song is varied in key. 



It is fair to consider this bird essenti- 

 ally a bush warbler as it confines itself 

 to low trees and bushes, and is rarely 

 found in tall trees excepting during mi- 

 grations. While nesting it is more 

 commonly found about thickets and 

 bramble patches, often near the edges 

 of streams or lakes and ponds and gen- 

 erally on or near low dark soil; still I 

 have found it breeding in hazel thickets 

 on high and sandy tracts. Generally 

 the species prefer the edges of elm and 

 ash forests for its nesting grounds and 

 most of the nests coming to my -notice 

 were in partial clearings where the 

 raspberry and blackberry bushes formed 

 thick clumps. 



In favorable seasons a good many 

 nests were discovered and I recall two 

 years when at least thirty nests were 

 found, all in situations as described 

 above. My first nest was discovered in 

 Kalamazoo Co., on May 20, 1874. It 

 contained four fresh eggs. This was an 

 early find and I never took another 

 complete set so early in the month. 

 For five years the birds nested regular- 

 ly in my locality, but not a nest has 



