114 



THE OOLOGIST 



ing through a small swamp on the 

 banks ,of a small winding stream 

 where the skunk's cabbage, wild hel- 

 lebore and catbriers grew most lux- 

 uriantly, I came upon a pair of these 

 birds quietly stealing about among the 

 low vegetation. Owing to their rest- 

 lessness and anxiety, I became con- 

 vinced within a few moments that 

 they were attempting to conceal their 

 little home from my notice. I search- 

 ed very industriously for a long time 

 in the neighborhood but could not 

 find any trace of their domicile. On 

 the eleventh and twelfth I again vis- 

 ited the swamp in hopes that I might 

 find the nest, but on these days my 

 searchings were as on the first day, 

 quite in vain. On the morning of the 

 thirteenth as I noiselessly approached 

 the spot, I passed a clump of catbriers 

 about ten feet from the brook and 

 close by my feet a flash of dingy yel- 

 low fluttered by and on looking down 

 beheld the long sought for nest in this 

 clump about four inches from the 

 ground. It was rather a bulky mass 

 of plant fibers, grasses and weeds, 

 deeply cupped and lined with fine 

 grasses and a few horsehairs and con- 

 tained two white eggs with reddish - 

 brown and gray especially at the larg- 

 er ends. The set when completed on 

 the 16th contained four eggs quite 

 uniform in appearance. 



During the period of incubation the 

 female very jealously guarded her 

 treasures and would allow me to ap- 

 proach within four feet of her be- 

 fore she would leave the nest ana on 

 coming closer would slide off and re- 

 main in the close vicinity uttering an 

 alarm note similar to that of the Yel- 

 low Warbler. The male very rarely 

 came near the nest until the eggs 

 hatched on the 29th and then for the 

 first four days very attentively as- 

 sisted the female in caring for the 

 youngsters. On the fifth day he dis- 



appeared and was not again seen iit 

 the neighborhood of the nest. 



The mother bird very successfully 

 reared her brood until the tenth day. 

 At this time on visiting the nest found 

 that one of the youngsters had been 

 killed by some animal, apparently, as 

 all that reamined of its little body was 

 the feet and head and a few blood- 

 stains about the nest. The other three 

 had not been molested and on the 

 15th of June they left the nest and 

 for a week after were seen daily un- 

 der the guidance of the patient lit- 

 tle mother among the vegetation bord- 

 ering on the brook. At the age of 

 25 days one of the youngsters caught 

 its bill in a crack in a hickory log 

 and in his struggles to release him- 

 self broke the upper mandible of his 

 beak close off at the nostrils. For 

 three days after the accident he was 

 about but in a weak and emaciated, 

 condition and then disappeared. The 

 other two however, grew daily and 

 were about the swamp for a month 

 and a half with the mother bird. 



The adult birds continued to sing 

 until the moulting season and then 

 became quite silent and as the sum 

 mer declined into autumn were occa- 

 sionally seen in the vicinity of the 

 nest and at other times quietly steal- 

 ing about in the undergrowths. 



On the 29th of September they went 

 south and during this spring returned 

 to the same neighborhood and at the 

 present time are caring for a family 

 of five about a week old. I say the 

 same pair because of certain marks 

 of distinction which both of the birds 

 have. These are, in the male, the loss 

 of the middle toe nail on the left foot, 

 and in the female a frizzled appear- 

 ance of the feathers which is quite 

 different from the usual plumage of 

 these birds. 



Louis S. Kohler. 



