THE OOLOGIST 



375 



Nesting of the Wormeating Warbler in 

 Philadelphia County, Pa. 



The only locality in Philadelphia 

 County where the Worm-eating Warb- 

 ler (Helmitherus vermivorous) breeds 

 is along the extensive wooded ravines 

 of the Wissahickon Valley in Fairmont 

 Park, and it is by no means a common 

 bird in this restricted region. 



I have read about nests being 

 found here in the note books of the 

 late Harry K. Jamison, now in pos- 

 session of my friend, R. C. Harlow, 

 and have often viewed a nest and two 

 eggs in the Delaware Valley Ornithol- 

 ogical Club collection which were col- 

 lected on June 11, 1893, by Mark L. 

 C. Wilde at Roxborough, but until this 

 year I never hunted for its nest, al- 

 though 1 have been frequently on the 

 creek during the nesting season, but 

 always busy in searching for other 

 avian rarities. 



However, June 4, 1912, found me at 

 Chestnut Hill, in the Wissahickon Val- 

 ley prepared to spend the whole day, 

 if necessary, in looking for the nest 

 of the Worm-eater, but it didn't re- 

 quire much searching for me to find 

 the nest. I had found the most desir- 

 able looking nesting place and ap- 

 proached it from the edge of the 

 woods, and was just about ready to 

 start a systematic search for the nest 

 when a bird ran out from under my 

 foot, which I instantly recognized as 

 the Worm-eater. And glancing down, 

 saw the cunningly hid nest and noticed 

 that it held eggs; but didn't just then 

 examine it, as the behavior of the 

 bird attracted my attention. She had 

 run off the nest like an Ovenbird — 

 which she greatly resembled in her 

 maneuvers, etc., and feigned lame- 

 ness and tried hard to entice me away 

 from her nest, all the time running 

 about within a yard of me. After 

 watching her a while, I anxiously ex- 

 amined the eggs which I found to be 



four in number, and as I suspected by 

 the bird's behavior, far advanced in 

 incubation, one addled. However I 

 collected the nest and have the set 

 in my cabinet; and although they are 

 second class specimens (except the 

 sterile egg) I value them highly, as 

 Worm-eater's eggs from this county 

 are decided rarities in local collec- 

 tions. 



The nest was placed at the base of a 

 laurel sprout about fifteen inches high, 

 on the ground under a drift of dead 

 leaves, amid thin undergrowth in a 

 mixed woods (mostly of hemlocks) 

 half way up on a steep hillside over 

 a hundred feet long. It was arched 

 over by the thick mass of dead 

 leaves and was well made, quite bulky, 

 of dead leaves, many partly decayed 

 and skeletonized, and lined thickly 

 with red stems of a species of moss. 

 It measured four inches in outside 

 width and 2y 2 inches in inside diame- 

 ter; it was 2y 2 inches thick and 1% 

 inches deep inside, and was nicely 

 cupped and well defined. 



On the same day I collected my only 

 set of five eggs of the Yellow breasted 

 Chat, incubation advanced, although I 

 have a record of five young Chats. 



Richard F. Miller. 

 Philadelphia, Pa. 



A Bluff Not Made Good. 



We are in possession of a letter 

 dated September 19th, 1912, forward 

 ed to us by one of our readers, sign- 

 ed by a would-be well-known Oologist 

 which contains among other things 

 the following: 



"You say that you 'have been in- 

 formed as to my methods of dealing.' 

 If you have been told my methods are 

 dishonorable your informants are 

 LIARS, every single one of them. 

 Moreover, I warn you distinctly that 

 if I ever learn of your using the U. S. 

 mails to defame my character I shall 



