'64 



THE OOLOGIST. 



al interest in a great many of those dis- 

 sections, and, in all probability, was 

 often at MacGillivray's side wliile they 

 were being made, — not as a mere look 

 er-on, but to follow him with that keen 

 intelligence during their progress which 

 characterized his every undertaking in 

 the science he loved so well, and in 

 which he has made a name as enduring 

 as the great truths in the foundation 

 upon which modern ornithology itself 

 is reared. 



Notes OD the Blackburnian "Warbler. 



With the possible exception of the 

 English Sparrow {Passer domesdcus), 

 not one of our birds can be called ill 

 looking. The Song Sparrow {Melospi- 

 za fasciata) is of the same general col- 

 oring, but the coarseness and plebeian 

 vigorousness, as one might say, of the 

 European is entirely lacking,'SO that WI. 

 fascicda is really a very handsome little 

 bird. 



Among the fishes, the perch is un- 

 questionably handsome, but it has noi 

 tlie gracefulness, and beauty in form 

 and color, of the trout. In just such a 

 way the Sparrow is not the equal of the 

 Warbler. To the latter family nature 

 has been exceptionally partial in her 

 allotments of apparel, for scarcely one 

 of its members can be classed other- 

 wise than as a gem. But perhaps the 

 most beautiful is the Blackburnian, or 

 Blackburn's Warbler. In color it close- 

 ly resembles the Black and White War- 

 bler {Mniotilta varia) except for the 

 orange on the top. sides and Jront of 

 the head, and on the throat (where it- is 

 richest), and breast. 



During migration, it arrives in Mass- 

 achusetts early in May and returns in 

 September, when it leaves the taller 

 trees to haunt the birches and cedars in 

 company with the Myrtle Warblers 

 (Z>. coronata). It is an irregular bird, 

 being very scarce in some seasons and 

 very plentiful in others. 



From what I can learn, its extreme 

 breeding range is from North Carolina 

 northward, and westward to the plains. 

 Audubon'mentions seeing it in Juue,on 

 the Magdalen Islands, in the Gulf of St. 

 Lawrence; both Brewer and Minot 

 found its nest in Massachusetts;Merriam 

 mentions it breeding in Connecticut; 

 Cairns calls it a rare summer visitor in 

 North Carolina, from which I conclude 

 that it may breed there; and J. W. 

 Pi'eston took its nest and eggs from the 

 wilds of Minnesota. In New England 

 it is most common in the three north- 

 ern states where it remains to breed, 

 although many go still farther north. 

 In the three -southern New England 

 states it must be considered as an ex- 

 tremely rare summer resident. 



In New Hampshire and Maine it is 

 by no means a rare breeder, the diffi- 

 culty lying in the location of the nest. 

 What I consider as a fairly typical spec- 

 imen was found by my brother and my- 

 self in southern New Hampshire, on 

 June 8, 1890 We had been ti'outing, 

 and having battled for several hours 

 with myriads of blackflies and 'mosqui- 

 toes, and a decided scarcity of trout, 

 were glad to come upon a small, coun- 

 ti'y cemetery, through the center of 

 which ran a line of perhaps a dozen 

 giant hemlocks. Hardly were we seat- 

 ed than thu notes of a bird, unknown 

 to us at the time, fell upon our ears. 

 Every eastern ornithologist knows the 

 song of the Black and White Warbler, 

 and I can best desciibe that of tlip 

 Blackburnian by calling it the exact re- 

 verse of M. varia. A short search dis- 

 closed the singer in the topmost branches 

 of a sugar maple, but apparently not 

 liking our looks, he at once disappeared 

 over the tree tops accompanied by. his 

 mate. A careful survey of the grove 

 revealed nothing but a bunch on the 

 end of a limb some sixty ieet from the 

 ground (this always seems remarkable 

 to me, as shortly after we found a num- 

 ber of other nests). As the sky could 



