302 



THE OOLOGIST 



The following birds are rapidly de- 

 creasing: Shore birds of the order 

 Limicolae, Ruffed Grouse and Bob- 

 whites. 



The Cerulean Warbler Nesting in 

 Greene Co., Pennsylvania. 



One dark rainy day early in May, 

 while afield in search of nests of the 

 Blue gray Gnatcatchers, I came to the 

 edge of a small quadrilateral wood 

 which covered part of the ridge of a 

 high hill, as I entered the North-east 

 corner of the wood the peculiar notes 

 of these birds could be heard in the 

 tops of some tall white oak trees near- 

 by. 



They flitted away, and I tried to fol- 

 low two of them but found it quite a 

 difficult task and soon lost sight of 

 them. Returning to the place where 

 they were first seen, I waited a few 

 moments, and caught sight of a small 

 bluish gray bird with building mater- 

 ial in its bill, flitting about through 

 the oaks. It went to a long horizontal 

 limb about 40 feet up in a medium 

 sized white oak tree which stood just 

 inside the wood, and began weaving 

 the bits of building material about the 

 limb. 



Returning to the same place May 

 24th no Gnatcatchers were seen nor 

 could I see the nest, which is general- 

 ly visible from the ground. 



However I went up the tree and as 

 I approached the limb a nest could 

 be plainly seen, but a strange one it 

 was, — much like a Redstart's, but the 

 bird was no Redstart. She sat close- 

 ly, and only left the nest when I put 

 a long branch with a nest fork on its 

 end, out to collect the nest, then I 

 saw that it was a Cerulean Warbler. 



Upon securing the nest I found it to 

 contain four eggs of the Warbler and 

 one of the Cowbird, which afterward 

 proved to be slightly incubated. 



The female bird soon returned ac- 



companied by the bright blue male, 

 who made considerable fuss at finding 

 his home gone. 



This was the first nest of the Ceru- 

 lean Warbler found in this part of the 

 state, so it is needless to say that I 

 was much pleased with it. This nest 

 is found recorded by Jacobs in Champ- 

 man's "Warblers of North America." 



Since discovering the above nest I 

 have, at several different times seen 

 the Warblers as late as May 30th and 

 found nests which were blown out dur- 

 ing storms. 



Undoubtedly a few pairs of these 

 Warblers remain with us every spring 

 but owing to their habit of staying in 

 the tree tops they are very seldom 

 seen. S. S. Dickey. 



Waynesburg, Pennsylvania. 



The Kentucky Warbler. 



Of all our native birds none bring 

 back more delightful memories than 

 do the Kentucky Warblers. Many 

 hours spent on wooded hillsides or 

 dark ravines present themselves and 

 make pleasant, dreary winter evenings 

 when the woods and fields are cold 

 and bare. 



Some nests were built on weedy 

 flats, high up on wooded hillsides, 

 while others were found on level 

 patches at the bottoms of deep hol- 

 lows. 



After their arrival from the South 

 the Kentucky Warbler spends some 

 time flitting about the woods chirping 

 and feeding before commencing the 

 serious work of nest building. About 

 the 15th of May they usually start to 

 construct their cozy nest. Leaves, 

 weeds, stalks, horse hair and other 

 minor material are carried to the base 

 of a bunch of weeds, May apple stalks, 

 or sapling growing on a level space, 

 generally near a patch or an open 

 place in the woods, although a few 



