90 



THE 00L0QI8T 



rr ale cerulean singing incessantly. 

 Accidentally I glanced toward a hori- 

 zontal branch, some fifty feet up in a 

 huge wJiite oak tree. There, a short 

 distance out in a horizontal fork, sat 

 V female Cerulean on her nest. T^ was 

 in an open space among the branches 

 and easily discernible from the 

 ground. I was soon up the tree and 

 peering into the nest upon the four 

 fine eggs which it held. The eggs of 

 this set were the most heavily markd 

 specimens I have yet seen from Dend- 

 roica cerulea. They were quite v/eli 

 rpotted with ^^ellowish-brown, especial- 

 ly about the larger ends. 



May 24, I visited a small woods not 

 far from town and found a Cerulean's 

 nest built 18 feet up in a white ash 

 tree that bordered a wheat field. The 

 nest was saddled to a horizontal 

 branch and was supported by upright 

 twigs. It held two eggs at this time, 

 so I descended the tree. When I had 

 gone a'way a short distance I happened 

 to look back. A male Towhee had lit 

 near the nest and the female Wa'rbler 

 dashed at him, striking him and caus- 

 ing him to hurry away. Some days 

 later I saw a male Cerulean strike a' 

 male yellow Warbler which chanced 

 to trespass on the Cerulean's favorite 

 oak. Upon returning to the preceding 

 nest some days later I found :i de- 

 serted and the eggs gone. 



Late in the afternoon of May 27, I 

 visited two woods that lie within a 

 half mile of town. In each I had, a 

 few days since, located nests of the 

 Cerulean Warbler. Both were oc- 

 cupied and held set of four eggs each. 

 The first was 50 feet up, saddled on a 

 horizontal white ash limb. The sec- 

 ond was 25 feet up on a drooping 

 branch of a white a'sh tree that stood 

 by the side of the woods. The females 

 were sitting at these nests and made 

 considerable demonstration at my 

 presence. 



Early in June two more nests were 

 found. One, found on June 1, was a 

 second nest of the pair of birds, the 

 first having been deserted. It was 

 built in the fork of a slender white 

 ash branch, 30 feet above the ground. 

 The female sat closely upon two 

 slightly incubated eggs. June 2, I dis- 

 covered a nest 30 feet up on a long 

 white oak branch. This nest, too, was 

 a second one for the pair of birds, 

 since the first had been deserted. The 

 female sat on three eggs, and the fol- 

 lowing day she still had but three. 



Nests of this Warbler are quite dis- 

 tinct, being much more shallow than 

 those of the Redstart; and they are 

 also wider. The measurements of 

 nests and eggs examined by myself 

 are: 



May 24, 1905. Four eggs and one 

 of the parasitic cowbird, .65 x .51, .64 

 X .52, .64 X .52, 65 x .52. These eggs 

 are quite heavily wreathed with van- 

 dyke brown and sprinkled sparsely 

 with small dots. The nest measures 

 2.80 wide x 1.85 deep, outside; and 

 1.80 wide x 1.70 deep inside. 



May 20, 1914. 4 eggs, .65 x .50, .65 x 

 .48, .64 X .49; .62 x .49. The eggs of 

 this set are rather sparsely spotted 

 about the larger ends with reddish 

 brown and lilac and are somewhat 

 sprinkled with fine dots over the re- 

 mainder of the shell surface. The 

 nest measures 2.46 in. wide x 2. deep, 

 outside; 1.75 wide x 1.35 deep, inside. 



May 22, 1914. 4 eggs, .64 x .50, .62 

 x .48, .64 X .50, .64 x .48. These eggs 

 are heavily spotted over the larger 

 ends with yellowish brown a'nd are 

 also considerably spotted over the re- 

 mainder of the shell surface. The 

 nest measures: 2,75 wide x 1.67 deep, 

 outside; 1.80 wide x 1. deep inside. 



May 26, 1914. 4 eggs: .63 x .50, .60 

 X .51, .64 X .52, .60 x 52. These eggs 

 have the most greenish ground color 

 of any in the series. The^ are well 



