474 



Bird - Lore 



the first week in June. I took notes on one 

 nest that had fresh eggs, and found it took 

 fifteen days for them to hatch. I have 

 found the old birds wandering off into the 

 pine-woods after the nesting season, but 

 never more than a mile or two from the 

 salt water. 



Black-Whiskered Vireo 



I have looked for the nest of this bird 

 for several years. Early last June, while 

 on a hunt for Gray Kingbirds, I was pad- 

 dling along the edge of the mangroves 

 when I heard the note of a Vireo. At first 

 it sounded like the Red-eyed, but on listen- 

 ing closer I placed it as the Black-whisk- 

 ered. I stopped the boat, waited a few 

 minutes, and presently located the author 

 in the top of a mangrove ten feet ahead of 

 me. I paddled on softly until I was directly 

 under it, and there before my eyes, about 

 five feet above the water, was the nest, 

 with the female sitting on it and looking 



at me. It was not over two feet from my 

 face, yet she stayed on the nest until I 

 put forth my hand to touch her. The nest 

 was empty, but evidently completed. I 

 was happy, as it does one good to find some- 

 thing as uncommon as the nest of this bird, 

 and for the first time. On my way back 

 from the two-hours' paddle, I again looked 

 in the nest, and found one egg, pinkish 

 white, and speckled sparsely at the larger 

 end with reddish brown. I visited this 

 nest every day, but the bird laid an egg 

 only every other day until she had three, 

 then waited two whole days before begin- 

 ning incubation. The nest was pensile, 

 like all Vireos' nests, but not nearly so 

 deep as most, and made entirely of dry 

 seaweed, with a few pieces of palmetto 

 fiber and one small feather woven in the 

 side; it was lined nicely with fine, dry 

 grass, and one or two pine-needles. I 

 could stay there only a few days after the 

 full set was laid. This nest was about 

 twenty miles south of the bird's most 



NEST AND EGGS OF THE SWALLOW-TAILED KITE 



