164 



THE NIDIOLOGIST 



A Persistent Brown Thrasher. 



MAY 21, 1893, 1 found a nest of the 

 Brown Thrasher {Harporhyiichiis rii- 

 fus) placed in a thicket of green brier. 

 I'he bird was very tame and would not vacate 

 her place on the nest until I caught hold of her 

 tail and gave it a pull, then she only hopped 

 off about six inches and stood watching me 

 while I packed three eggs that were in the nest 

 into my box. 



By this time she was back again in her orig- 

 inal place, and on putting her off to take a de- 

 scription of the nest I found a fourth egg. This 

 •was not there when I took the others, as I 

 looked into the nest and saw that it contained 

 but the three eggs. 



I supposed I had a set of fresh eggs until, 

 on attempting to clean them, 1 found all to be 

 badly incubated : 



Can anyone explain this occurrence ? 



Baltimore, Md. Wm. H. Fisher. 



[.\s there is no law anywhere laid down which per- 

 mits birds to lay an egg already incubated, we would 

 .conclude that Mr. Fisher must have mistaken the 

 .number of eggs he saw. — Ed.] 



The Magnolia Warbler. 



THIS beautiful Warbler arrives here the 

 first week in May, and for about three 

 weeks is quite plentiful both in the hills 

 and in the valleys. About the last week in May 

 they disappear from the lowland, and those that 

 intend to breed begin nest-building, and after 

 the first week in June are usually incubating. 



They do not breed here very plentifully as 

 this is rather too far south, but I usually find 

 three or four nests each spring, and find more 

 birds in the winter. The great majority of 

 nests which I have examined were built about 

 ten to twelve feet up in the tops of small hem- 

 locks, though (juite often they build out on 

 the branches ot larger trees. The highest nest 

 from which I have taken eggs was thirty-five 

 feet, and the lowest was twenty inches from the 

 ground, in the toj) of a little hemlock in a thick 

 clump of small hemlocks. 



This spring I found one five feet up in a 

 witch hazel. This is the only one I have ever 

 seen in other than a hemlock, and there were 

 l>li.-nty of hemlock just to one side of this one. 

 The nests are built almost entirely of fine 

 hemlock twigs, lined with a few hairs and fine 

 r(jotlets. When the nest is not far from the 

 ground the eggs can be seen through the nest. 



They are rather cjuiet when breeding, and I 

 have never seen any around the nests until they 

 commenced incubation ; even then they only 

 utter a few excited " chips " and soon leave. 



The eggs vary considerably in size and mark- 

 ings. The ground color is white with a wreath 

 of brown and lilac spots around the larger end ; 

 some are pretty well spotted all over. 



This spring the Warblers were much more 

 common than usual. 1 found nine good nests 

 of the Magnolia, and got three good sets, | \\ 

 two more nests I left with three eggs in each, 

 and on my return trip found them gone ; an- 

 other set of four I was unable to save. Out of 

 the other three 1 got one egg — squirrels or 

 something destroyed them. 



Besides Magnolia Warblers a goodly number 

 of each of the following are breeding here : 

 Mourning, Black-throated Blue, and Black- 

 throated Green, Hooded, Chestnut-sided, Cana- 

 dian, Blackburnian, Black-and-white, and the 

 Redstart. Out of fifteen Redstarts' nests found 

 five were deserted or destroyed. The Chest- 

 nut-sided Warbler is another that has its nests 

 and eggs often destroyed. 



Warrren, Pa. R. B. Simpson. 



Nesting of the Blue=gray Qnat= 

 catcher. 



{Polioptila ccerulea.) 



WHH^E roaming through the woods 

 which cover the hillsides in this sec- 

 tion, on May 4, 1895, my attention 

 was attracted by two small birds flying about 

 among the budcling foliage of a beech tree. 



They flitted here and there, uttering almost 

 unceasingly a soft " tsee, tsee, tsee," while they 

 climbed downward or under limbs, only stop- 

 ping their antics when they uttered their sub- 

 dued but very pretty warble. The modest 

 coloring of their feathers, their singular maneu- 

 vers^ the positions they assumed, and the peculiar 

 notes to which they gave tongue proclaimed 

 both to be Polioptila cccnilea. To the natives 

 this is n'ot a well-known bird. And although it 

 is common, its size, shyness, and retired habits 

 by no means assist in making its presence known. 

 It is often found in orchards and similar i)laces, 

 and though few are acquainted with it, and fewer 

 still have a name for it, to those who are con- 

 tinually searching the woods it is an old friend. 



On hearing the two among the beech limbs 

 I hurried forward, recognizing the soft notes of 

 the Blue-gray Gnatcatcher. Soon after they 

 were sighted I knew something unusual was 

 going on. Instead of moving about as usual, 

 they stayed about a certain place for nearly a 

 minute. These restless little wanderers are 

 rarely still, and I immediately suspected the 

 cause of their conduct. 



I ke])t my eyes upon them, and soon one of 

 the sprightly little pair flew to a knot on a limb 



