The Breeding of the Pine Warbler in Rhode Island 



By ROBERT CUSHMAN MURPHY. Providence, R. I. 



With photographs by the author 



THE Pine Warbler is a common resident throughout the greater part of 

 Rhode Island, yet there seems to be no published record of the dis- 

 covery of its nest within the limits of the state, or of the occurrence of 

 fledglings during the early summer. In Remington's 'Check List of Breeding 

 Birds of Rhode Island,' the species is included in the list of hypothetical 

 breeders only, and, so far as I can determine, there is no Rhode Island set of 

 eggs in any of the several public or private collections in the state. The first 

 record of breeding, accompanied by satisfactory data, is that of Mr. Harry S. 

 Hathaway, of Providence, who found a nest at East Greenwich last spring. 



It is a curious fact that the average dates of arrival of the Pine Warbler 

 in Rhode Island are earlier than those given by numerous authorities for the 

 spring appearance in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and southern New York, 

 including Long Island. The average date of appearance at Providence for the 

 last seven consecutive years, taken from the notes of three observers, is April 6. 

 This is also the average date for observations made in several different town- 

 ships in igio. My earliest spring date is April i, 1908, when, early in the morn- 

 ing, I found three birds on the sunny side of a pine grove along the Seekonk 

 River at East Providence. The weather was cold; there was ice on the puddles 

 and a freezing wind was blowing from the river. At this time the birds were 

 feeding on the ground. All three were males, and they were trilling cheerily 

 and were very tame. 



In Rhode Island, Pine Warblers are the first migrant Mniotiltida to arrive 

 in the spring,* and they are among the latest to depart in the autumn. Con- 

 cerning the lateness of the fall migration I have little data, but a belated 

 male, in good condition, was shot at Cranston, R. I., on November 4, 1890. 



The following account of the discovery of the first nest is quoted directly 

 from Mr. Hathaway 's notes, which he has kindly permitted me to use: — "On 

 May 25, 1910, I spent the time between 5 and 7 p. m. among the pines near 

 East Greenwich. I watched three female Pine Warblers which fed leisurely 

 from limb to limb and from tree to tree. I surmised from their behavior 

 that they were birds that had eggs, and had been getting an evening meal. I 

 was about to leave when my attention was attracted by a female carrying 

 something in her bill, and hopping rapidly from bough to bough until she 

 finally disappeared in a bunch of needles. I could just make out the shape of 

 the nest which looked like a cone. I quickly climbed the tree, and looked into 

 my first Pine Warbler nest, which was empty and nearly completed. Just as 

 I started down the tree the pair owning the nest came up much exciced. I 

 visited the nest again on June 3, but was greatly disappointed to find 



*The Myrtle Warbler is unquestionably a winter resident in Rhode Island 

 (187) 



