84 4 AMERICAN ORNITHOLOGY. 



even allowing you to stroke them with the hand before leaving the nest. 

 These nests are very artfully concealed and are sometimes very difficult 

 to find. They are most often not above three feet from the ground and 

 are located at the very tops of the brush where they are concealed by 

 overhanging leaves. I have found them in oak shrubs where it was 

 impossible from any position either above or below, to see the nest 

 without first putting aside the leaf that covered it. While the male 

 bird helps but little in the building of the home he shares equally with 

 his mate the task of incubation and later of feeding the little Chestnut- 

 sides. 



These Warblers are often imposed upon by Cowbirds, which watch 

 their opportunitiy to leave an egg in the little home. The little birds 

 do not always accept the addition, however, and frequently desert their 

 nests apparently from no other cause; perhaps they have been the vic- 

 tims before and know of the added work that will be thrust upon them 

 as soon as the, comparatively, giant youngster is hatched. While it is 

 a very common occurance to see some of the smaller birds feeding one 

 of these outcasts, I do not recall but one instance of watching a Chest- 

 nut-side undergoing this task. In this case I had watched the building 

 of the nest and had daily found an additional egg within, until there 

 were three, but on the fourth found that the complement had been com. 

 pleted and the nest filled to overflowing by the addition of a large 

 speckled egg by some itinerant Cowbird. In due time, these four eggs 

 evolved into living birdlets and by great activity the parents managed 

 to get sufficient food to satisfy the wants of their own little ones as 

 well as the gourmand appetite of the stranger. Long after the Chest- 

 nut sides had left their parents to care for themselves, this husky 

 youngster, now fully grown and many times as large as the Warblers, 

 was still being fed by them; wherever the female went, he would follow 

 and with quivering wings and entreating twitter, beg for something to 

 eat. 



The young birds during the first fall and winter are very different in 

 plumage from the adults in spring. With their plain greenish upper 

 parts and whitish underparts, and the conspicuous white ring about the 

 eye, and lack of markings they bear little resemblance to their parents. 

 The adults sing but very little after the middle of June, when the moult- 

 ing period commences, and during the latter part of August and in 

 September they commence to leave us being one of the first of the 

 Warblers to take their departure. The young birds generally linger 

 longer than do the old and make the journey south in company with the 

 many other species that are going at the same time. 



