128 THE OOLOGIST 
rushes and reeds floating on the water, 
but are very well made when compar- 
ed with the unsteady structures erect- 
ed by Grebes. From five to fifteen 
eggs are laid. 
One nest found by a friend contain- 
ed an egg just like the others, but no 
larger than an English Sparrow’s egg. 
ALEX. WALKER. 
LS aaa 
The American Redstart. 
The American Redstart in Northern 
New Jersey is a common summer resi- 
dent, arriving about May 5th and re 
maining with us until “October 1st. 
Shortly after their arrival from the 
south the pairs mate and commence 
building homes and it is quite common 
to find a number of their nests each 
year. After the breeding and nesting 
seasons are over and the young are 
able to care for themselves, this min- 
ute flycatching warbler may be found 
at most any time pirouetting among 
the branches of the lower shrubs and 
trees or darting in pursuit of a pass- 
ing insect and returning to its for- 
mer perch to again take up its ever 
restless search for subsistence. 
Their nesting sites, in this locality, 
it has been my experience to find in 
the lower growths of the elms, sassa- 
fras, and alders. At times they will 
locate in the higher trees, but not very - 
often as they usually prefer the lower 
half of the trees. 
May 20, 1908, one pair of these bright 
colored little warblers commenced 
building a nest in an elm sapling along 
the main thoroughfare of Bloomfield, 
N. J. This nest when completed 
three days later, was a beautiful, cup- 
shaped structure consisting principal- 
ly of slender twigs and dried grasses 
overlain with plant down and spider 
webs and lined with horsehair and 
plant down, and was cradled near the 
27 (NN) \ NANO 
trunk of the sapling on a horizontal 
branch. 
The first egg was laid on the sec- 
ond day after completion and an egg 
each day was deposited for four days. 
thereafter. On the morning of the 
seventh day, the nest was visited and 
found to contain but four Redstart 
and an egg of the parasitic Cowbird. 
The other egg had apparently been 
broken and the shell carried off by 
the parents, aS nothing remained: but 
some slight yolk stains. The egg of 
the Cowbird I removed and left the 
little mother only her own eggs to care 
for. The male was found on the nest 
on the eighth and twelfth days and at 
other times a Short distance off gaily 
Singing and séarching for food for his 
patient little mate which he often 
visited with some dainty morsel. 
On the fifteenth day the eggs hatch- 
ed and for a week after, the parents 
kept the youngsters well supplied with 
food. At this time the male fell prey 
to a hause cat and the female was left 
alone to satisfy the ever increasing 
hunger cf her offspring. 
On the twelfth day after hatching, 
the young left the nest. All of these 
were but partly feathered at this 
time, but by the twentieth day after 
birth began to look out for themselves 
with their mother. 
One of the youngsters developed a 
number of white feathers during its 
early life, but by the middle of July 
these had disappeared and its normal 
plumage had appeared. The brood re-- 
mained in the vicinity until August 
second, when they disappeared and 
were not seen again. 
This is the only nest I ever located 
at Bloomfield N. J., but have found 
numerous families from time to time 
throughout the northern half of the 
state in the more rural districts. 
LOUIS S. KOHLER. 
Bloomfield, N. J. 
