14 



THE OOLOGIST 



made of coarse dried grasses, arched 

 overhead, in this feature being not 

 unlike some nests of the meadowlark. 

 The entrance opening was paved 

 with a large spreading dead leaf. 

 There were eggs in the nest, but in 

 the indistinct light I did not count 

 them. 



The next morning I visited this 

 nest about nine o'clock, and then the 

 female was not at home. There were 

 three eggs in the nest. A fuller ex- 

 amination of the site showed it was 

 among dead leaves and scattered 

 green sprouts, sheltered by a fallen 

 dead branch. The entrance faced 

 the descending slope of the grade. On 

 the morning of June I visited the 

 nest, and the female was sitting 

 closely, so I started her off by mov- 

 ing a twig of the branch sheltering 

 her home. She came out, hopping 

 and limping over the dead leaves, 

 with one wing held up obliquely and 

 the other trailing the ground. She 

 made no sound, and remained quiet 

 while I was at the nest, which then 

 contained five eggs. Later in the 

 forenoon I returned with camera, and 

 while I set up the machine and photo- 

 graphed the site about fifteen feet 

 away, she remained quiet in the nest. 

 The male apparently discontinued 

 singing in the vicinity of the nest 

 when the female began incubating. 

 The Oven-bird ranges from the base 

 to the crests of the dry wooded 

 mountains, singing in all localities in 

 late May and early June. 



2. Chestnut-sided Warbler. This 

 Warbler was found very common in 

 the bushy margins, roadside clearings, 

 and shrubby openings around the 

 mountain bases. On May 29 I found 

 a nest along the road near the south 

 entrance to the Inn premises. I had 

 heard the male singing frequently in 

 the neighborhood and had also seen 

 both male and female active in the 



edge of the shrubbery there, so I was 

 not long in locating the nest. The 

 site was a very slender sprout in the 

 edge of the undergrowth under trees 

 bordering the road. The nest was 

 about three feet up in the sprout, 

 where a slender creeping vine 

 crossed a weak fork of the sprout. 

 When I found the nest neither par- 

 ent bird was in sight, but soon the 

 singing of the male and the chipping 

 of the female announced them as the 

 owners. The nest then contained 

 but one egg, and the female had not 

 begun the task of incubation. On 

 June 3 I visited the nest, and the sit- 

 ting female allowed me to approach 

 quietly until I was within two feet 

 of her, and even then she did not de- 

 sert the nest until I put out my hand 

 to move a twig of the sapling. She 

 flew away low in the shrubbery, and 

 chirped nervously at a little distance. 

 The male did not appear at this 

 time. The nest contained four eggs. 

 3. Hooded Warbler. This War- 

 bler was common in the bushy open- 

 ings of the hillsides, and especially 

 in the shrubbery of small shallow 

 ravines along the mountain bases. 

 The male sings everywhere in the 

 vicinity of its nest, and the site can 

 be determined by the approximate 

 center of the male's singing range in 

 a ravine opening. On June 2 I locat- 

 ed a nest of the Hooded Warbler on 

 the boat landing grounds at Bear 

 Mountain Inn. The site was a black- 

 berry bush in a shallow ravine open- 

 ing, near where a male was heard sing- 

 ing the previous evening. The nest 

 was made in a small fork of black- 

 berry, against two parallel stems, 

 about thirty inches from the ground. 

 It was constructed outwardly of coarse 

 weed bark and brown fibrous strip- 

 pings, and lined with fine dried 

 grasses, the structure being rather 

 deep and with strong walls. The 



