158 



THB OOLOGI8T 



oologist. True, there were nests for 

 the finding. The Warbler frequently 

 chooses a location in the rose bushes 

 which fringe the thickets of willow 

 and haw, and in such a place I found 

 the nest I am describing. It was in 

 a rose sprout, made against a triple 

 fork two feet from the ground. Thf? 

 exterior portions of the structure 

 were made of striplings of weed 

 stems, and within it was smoothlj^ 

 finished with gossamer and white ma- 

 terials, scantily lined with horse-hair, 

 a beautiful nest. There were five 

 fresh eggs in this nest. 



Nest No. 23. Yellow Warbler. The 

 second nest of this Warbler on June 

 13 was in a place similar to that just 

 described. It was made in a cherry 

 bush, in a triple crotch eighteen 

 inches from the ground. It will be 

 noticed that the sites of the nests of 

 this Warbler are not generally in high 

 locations, the preference seeming to 

 be in the bushes which fringe the 

 dwarf trees rather than in the trees 

 themselves. The female of this pair 

 sat close upon her nest and manifest- 

 ed no fear, so that I was tempted to 

 try a picture with her on the nest. 

 After many minutes of waiting and 

 trial I finally made a fair exposure 

 with an ordinary Premo lens and shut- 

 ter, but as my time was limited the 

 result was not satisfactory as a work 

 of art though it showed that with 

 careful arrangements a fine picture 

 might be made of her peering out of 

 the nest. The little structure was 

 covered outside with a large amount 

 of white cottony material, the main 

 walls being of weed-bark and strip- 

 pings, lined with finer materials and 

 horse-hair. Five fresh eggs constituted 

 the nest complement. It seems that 

 there is considerable variation in the 

 beginning of the nesting period of 

 this Warbler, for on this same day, 

 June 13, I found a nest in a rose bush 



with young hatched out and stretch- 

 ing up their necks with mouths gap- 

 ing for food. 



Nest No. 24. June 14. Bobolink. 

 The Bobolink in the Judith Basin of 

 Montana is confined to the agricul- 

 tural districts, its preference being 

 the little patches of meadow in the 

 meanders of the creek bottoms. By 

 the middle of June the males are in 

 the height of their rollicking songs, 

 and it appears that their outbursts of 

 merry jingles are uttered most fre- 

 quently in the vicinity of the nest. I 

 have read much in the ornithological 

 descriptions about the skill with 

 which the female enters and leaves 

 her nest in order to conceal the lo- 

 cation of her grassy cot, but my ex- 

 perience with the Bobolink in the 

 Judith Basin gives me a different 

 notion of the actions of this species. 

 If a male can be noticed singing in a 

 particular neighborhood of limited 

 area, frequenting the same locality 

 day after day, the nest can generally 

 be located not far from the center of 

 his loudest outbursts. And if a female 

 can be observed to alight or come or 

 go from a marked place in the 

 meadow, the nest can generally be 

 found without great difficulty. This 

 nest No. 24 was found by watching 

 the actions of the owners. The male 

 was sitting on a fence post, and pres- 

 ently the female fiew directly from 

 the grass in which the nest was locat- 

 ed. I fixed the place in mind, and 

 walked straight to the nest, which 

 was in the base of a tuft of green 

 grass, the site being a slight depres- 

 sion among the stems. The structure 

 was entirely of dried grass, the lining 

 being of finer materials than the 

 outer wall. The cavity was two and 

 three-fourths inches across at the 

 brim, and two inches deep. There 

 were three eggs of the Bobolink and 

 two of the Cowbird, all fresh. 



