THE OOLOGIST 



71 



panied by the contralto progressions 

 of the Olive-backed Thrush and the 

 tenor mysteries of the Verry. 



At about half past seven Clyde Todd 

 hove in sight. He had known of the 

 projected trip, and had professed to be 

 too busy, but, as we had expected, he 

 was not able to withstand the call of 

 a May morning in the woods. Rose- 

 breasted Grosbeaks were carroUing 

 constantly, and on one occasion a 

 very interesting flight song was ob- 

 served. Suddenly, in the midst of an 

 ordinary sequence of syllables, a gor- 

 geous male burst into a rapturous cas- 

 cade of double notes and flutings, and 

 springing into the air, he fluttered and 

 dangled his wings and legs much as a 

 Yellow-breasted Chat would. Then, 

 exhausted, he dove into tlie under- 

 brush. The unusual song of the Blue- 

 winged Warbler was heard and later 

 the bird was seen. When I reported 

 this to the others, I was met with 

 stony tolerance and cold reproof, as it 

 is very common in the region, but rep- 

 utation was re-established, when later 

 in the day "Sut" saw and heard it. 

 The two-syllabled, sibilant, exhaled 

 and inlialed song of this Warbler is 

 one of the queerest of bird songs and 

 it always surprises me greatly when 1 

 realize that it comes from an avian 

 throat. A Golden-wing was singing 

 from the same locust from which a 

 Brewster's Warbler had been collected 

 the week before. The Black and 

 White Warblers were everywhere, 

 and probably seemed more numerous 

 because they wero ve.T active in Iiunt- 

 ing for nest material at the time. For 

 an hour or more, "Sut" watched a 

 femclc building her nest A beautiful 

 Cape May Warbler was discovered in 

 a small elm tree, ringing a song very 

 similar to that ■ of the Na'shville, but 

 shorter and not so loud. It was col- 

 lected because spring records here are 

 unusual. The side of the hill was in- 

 habited by about six pairs of Kentucky 



Warblers and four or five pairs of 

 Hooded Warblers, and we certainly 

 had a' wonderful opportunity to ob- 

 serve their Iiabits. The Hooded were 

 mating at the time and the strikingly 

 colored males were chasing each other 

 and the famales everywhere. To me 

 it seemed as if the song of the Hood- 

 ed Warbler could be written as fol- 

 lows: "Weet-peet, weet-peet. peet- 

 weet," with tlie accent on the "peet" 

 syllables. The Kentucky seemed to 

 say: "Turdle, turdle, turdle.". 



The song of the Kentucky reminded 

 me very strongly of that of the Oven- 

 bird, but it was not accented. The 

 Hooded's song had approximately the 

 same tonal quality, but it was phased 

 and accented differently. A Redstart 

 in the gray and yellow plumage was 

 observed singing and parading like a 

 male. Having a theory that most or 

 the female warblers sing as well a& 

 the males, we collected it and it 

 turned out to be a female. A female 

 Maryland Yellow-throat was also ob- 

 served singing, although in this case 

 it was not a typical song, but one 

 somewhat abbreviated. 



A Cliewink's nest with three young 

 about a week old, was stumbled on by 

 accident. The nest was under a clump 

 of spirea and the top was just level 

 with the ground. It was set in a bed 

 of old leaves, molded into a mat by 

 ground-water, and when the young 

 birds were at rest, with their heads 

 all pointed in the same direction, it 

 was impossible to distinguish them 

 from their surroundings. The only 

 way the nest was found was by seeing 

 tlieir three yellow cavernous ma'ws 

 waving around in the air on the end 

 of three thread-like necks. On the 

 edge of a grassy bank overhanging a 

 little stream, a Song Sparrow's nest 

 with the surprisingly large family of 

 six young was found. Unfortunately, 

 I think one was a' Cow-bird, because he 

 was decidedly larger and was already 



