THE OOLOGIST 



121 



May 11th when I returned for the eggs, 

 I had much trouble finding it. It 

 was built in Avoods that were thicker, 

 lower and more swampy than the pre- 

 vious ones, though like them it was 

 within thirty feet of a cleared wood- 

 land path; in fact, of six nests discov- 

 ered, not one has been more than one 

 hundred feet from the edge of an open- 

 ing or path. The eggs were incubated 

 about four days, as were four others I 

 took from the fork of an alder about 

 three feet up, in the locality where the 

 first two were discovered. I found a 

 completed nest on a slope about a 

 quarter of a mile away in ai^similar sit- 

 uation save that two saplings support- 

 ed it, and on my way back found an- 

 other which afforded some interesting 

 points for observation. This nest had 

 been built since the 2d and unlike any of 

 the others,it was pensile, being supported 

 by the V-shaped fork of an alder at the 

 height of four feet. The end of the sap- 

 ling which supported it is inclined up- 

 ward at an angle of about thirty degrees 

 and was one of a small clump about 

 one hundred feet from the edge of the 

 woods. It had been raining consider- 

 ably on this day, and the nest had a 

 large green cottonwood leaf arched 

 a,nd firmly fixed over it, excluding the 

 water completely, but whether it came 

 there through accident or through de- 

 sign I am unable to state. This nest 

 was built by one of the pairs of birds 

 whose eggs I had taken on the 2d, and 

 as I do not like to take two sets 

 from the same birds in a season I let 

 them breed in peace. 



The nests are invariably composed of 

 a foundation of thin, half-decayed, dry 

 leaves, grasses, bound with bark-strips 

 from the cypress and spider-webs or 

 caterpillar silk, and lined with the 

 horse hair-like, di-y Spanish moss. 



The walls of the nest are tolerably 

 thick, and the fii'st nest found had 

 dead leaves to a thickness of two and a 

 half inches as a foundation. Every nest 



discovered this season contained four 

 eggs, a description of which may prove 

 interesting. The gi'ound color of all is 

 a pale, creamy white and seems to be 

 characteristic. The markings, how- 

 ever, vary considerably. 



In one set they are clear and well de- 

 fined, consisting of spots and specks of 

 two or three shades of brown and pur- 

 plish lilac sparsely distributed over the 

 entire surface, two of the eggs exhibit- 

 ing spots that are almost black. The 

 markings are more numerous and slight- 

 ly Confluent at the larger end.butin only 

 one do they form a wreath. In the 

 next set the markings appear less dis- 

 tinct and much paler, being inclined to 

 streakiness at the lai'ger .end, around 

 which are large blotches of j)ale, thin 

 brown pigment. 



Two other sets are of similar char- 

 acter, while a fifth, the handsomest of 

 all, shows different characteristics; the 

 ground is of a richer cream. The 

 markings are larger and take the form 

 of scrawls and splotches, the larger 

 spots being shaded to a lighter tinge at 

 the edges, and some of the purple shell 

 marks showing tints of brown. The 

 markings in this set are scattered, one 

 egg having a side heavily marked, an- 

 other an end, but in all the larger end 

 gets the majority of color. The sets I 

 have are fairly constant in size, and the 

 average is about .69x.52, and though 

 some are as large as .73, nearly all are 

 around .52 in short diameter. 



My observations on the Hooded War- 

 bler are confined wholly to the spring 

 months as from May to August the 

 mosquitoes and deer flies effectually 

 drive one from our woods, hence I have 

 no personal observations as to their fur- 

 ther habits and time of departure. 

 Allen Bruce Blackmore, 



New Orleans, La. 



