THE IOWA ORNITHOLOGIST. 



69 



20 inches is the most common 

 heig-ht. I have seen the 

 nest compared with that of an 

 Indig-o Bunting- and the compari- 

 son is good. The Warbler's nest 

 though is smaller and not as 

 strongly built, but the similarity 

 is striking at first sight. Like 

 an Indig'o's the bottom of the nest 

 is alwa3-s a mass of skeletonized 

 leaves or broad blades of grass. 

 One nest of the Warbler I have, 

 has a roll of birch bark worked in 

 with the leaves. But the princi- 

 pal part of the nest is composed 

 of various kinds of grass, not 

 very neatly woven in most cases, 

 and in some nests, the workman- 

 ship is very little better than a 

 Field Sparrow's, The inside of 

 the nest is a fine wir}- grass, Hkc 

 the Vireo's, rnd m^any Warblers 

 use. The interior is usually 

 round, but sometimes oblong or 

 egg-shaped. 



In outside measurements, the 

 nests will be about 3 inches high 

 and about 23/4 wide. One nest I 

 saw, a double nest likely, was al- 

 most 8 inches high, interior from 

 1% inches to 2 inches across, by 

 1^ inches deep. The nests are 

 not ver}^ securely, fastened in the 

 forks and Vvdnd storms often tip 

 them out, by laying the weeds 

 flat. I have noticed too, that the 

 Cov^'bird often knocks the nest 

 down in laying her egg in it. 

 The eggs often vary in size, shape 

 and coloration as much as other 

 Warblers. But the most that I 



have seen were blunt at both ends, 

 nearer coming to a point at the 

 mailer end. The ground-color is 

 a glossy white, like what makes 

 the Chat's eggs so beautiful, 

 again it is tinged with a flesh col- 

 or and is even more pretty. The 

 spots are mostly confined to the 

 larger end, often forming a beau- 

 tiful wreath, again they will be 

 small dots, arranged in an irregu- 

 lar manner on the end or around 

 the larger part of the egg. The 

 spots are red, of different shades, 

 and when small, make the egg 

 like that of a Redstart. There 

 are usually cloudings of purple 

 near the end and sometimes very 

 heavily worked specimens will 

 have flower-like spots of lilac. 

 On the whole it is one of the most 

 beautiful of eg ^s, and a series of 

 sets show a great variation. 



In size the average of my larg- 

 est set is .70x.51, my smallest, an 

 extremely round set of eggs, .59x 

 .51. A common size is .68.X.49. 

 Three is a full set, and never 

 have I seen more. I know of no 

 other locality near here where 

 they are so plentiful as in this 

 spot, but they are not uncommon 

 throughout the wooded bottom- 

 lands, on both sides of the Miss- 

 issippi near this city, and I think 

 that a few pair would be found 

 breeding in suitable places along- 

 the River much further north than 

 this. The Prothonotary breeds 

 more or less abundantly along the 

 Mississippi the full breadth of the 



