42 AMERICAN ORNITHOLOGY. 



cealed but the birds themselves have many ruses that they use success- 

 fully to draw the intruder away from their homes. 



On one hillside that is well covered with small pines, and where 

 there could not have been less than a hundred pairs of these warblers 

 nesting, I have searched nearly every season for a great many years 

 and have been rewarded by the finding of only four nests with either 

 eggs or young. Many a morning have I arrived upon the grounds 

 early with the intentions of making a day of it, in the attempt to locate 

 their domicile. Around me in all directions echoed their peculiar song, 

 while from the tips of the branches of some of the nearer pines would 

 come the excited chirps of the owners of homes nearby. After remain- 

 ing quietly beneath the lower branches of the spreading trees for a 

 long time, the excitement dies out and the alarmed chirps cease. 



Another long wait and a faint chirp calls our attention to the top of 

 the tree beneath which we are. A cautious glance upward shows that 

 the female has returned and has a piece of nesting material in her bill. 



A moment later and we see her deposit it far out on the end of one 

 of the highest branches. A few minutes later the male arrives with a 

 similar load which he carefully deposits in the same place. We are 

 confident that, at last, we have found what we have searched for so long 

 and quietly withdraw from the vicinity, that they may work in peace. 

 Great is our astonishment when upon making a call a few days later, 

 we find that nothing more has been done; just the few pieces of grass 

 remain just as the birds had left them. 



Several times I have been fooled in a like manner and it is my belief 

 that the birds intentionally bring the straws and place them where they 

 know I can see them, in order to draw my attention away from the real 

 nest. This opinion is strengthened by finding in one case, a nest with 

 young, only a few feet from where a pair had started a fake nest a few 

 days before. The real nest surely had eggs in it at the time I was 

 first there, and as there was but one pair of anxious birds, the pair that 

 fooled me must certainly have been the owners of the bona fide nest. 

 On one occasion I got ahead of a pair of these warblers by creeping in- 

 to concealment without their observing me, and then had the pleasure 

 of watching the real nest-building. Both birds brought the nesting 

 material, but the male merely threw his down on the foundation leav- 

 ing it for the female to adjust and weave it to suit herself. She was 

 so fastidious in regard to the appearance of her home, that nearly all 

 her time was taken up in the forming of it, while the male brought 

 nearly all the material. They were both very industrious and they 

 made the whole of the outside structure while I was watching them. 

 They were a happy pair and the male would pause after delivering 



