THE OOLOOIST 



213 



chicks exactly together or side by side, 

 they being usually at least a yard 

 apart. A photo of one of the young 

 Whip-poor-wills is given herewith. 



20. Maryland Yellow - throat — On 

 June 14, a nest of Maryland Yellow- 

 throat was examined. It was in a 

 large tussock of swamp-grass in water 

 along the margin of Little Long Pond, 

 near the Guest House. The nest was 

 made in the middle of the base of the 

 thick growth of grass stems, open 

 above but completely surrounded by 

 the grass. There were young in the 

 nest, about ready to fly, and the fe- 

 male was hovering them when I ap- 

 proached. At leaving the nest the fe- 

 male crawled mouse-like between the 

 grass stems and flitted to neighboring 

 vegetation in the water before taking 

 wing; then she chirped quietly in the 

 stems of a nearby clump of saplings. 

 This nest was made outwardly of dead 

 leaf-fragments, coarse grass stems, 

 and dried grass leaves, with small fine 

 dried grasses for the lining. It was 

 made with thick, loosely woven walls, 

 with much loosely attached material. 



21. Black-throated Blue Warbler. It 

 is my pleasure to record in the colums 

 of THE OOLOGIST the finding of a 

 nest of the Black-throated Blue 

 Warbler in the Hghlands. On June 

 16, while I was working on Hemlock 

 Hill, near the Guest House, watching 

 the actions of a family of Worm-eat- 

 ing Warblers just leaving the nest, a 

 Black-throated Blue Warbler came in- 

 to the scene of activity, probably at- 

 tracted by the anxious chirping of the 

 adult Worm-eating Warbler. The 

 Black-throated Blue, a male in unmis- 

 takable plumage, uttered its charac- 

 teristic song, "Zee zee zee zee, 

 dee-e-e," the last syllable noticeably 

 drawled and lengthened. After utter- 

 ing a song. or two quite near me, the 

 songster flitted away along the little 

 glen-like ravine whence he had Come 

 so unexpectedly. 



The appearance of the Black-throat- 

 ed Blue Warbler at that place set me 

 to thinking, and the next morning I 

 wended my way up the hill to search 

 for a warbler nest. I reached the ra- 

 vine, which was a dry fairly well light- 

 ed glen, with a ground cover of laurel, 

 swamp fern, weeds and hardwood 

 sprouts. The ravine was set with yel- 

 low poplar, hemlock, beech, oaks, 

 chestnut, and maple, with moosewood 

 saplings, viburnum, and associated un- 

 dergrowth. Soon I heard the male 

 singing in the glen ahead of me. He 

 sang only once or twice in each tree 

 he visited and then flew to another 

 tree farther along, thus keeping ahead 

 of me. Finally I thought he had left 

 the locality, but soon he came back 

 singing along the glen as before, mak- 

 ing a return trip, using stations in the 

 tall trees for his utterances. Thus he 

 made several trips up and down the 

 ravine, and in time I was able to de- 

 termine about the center of his sing- 

 ing activities, and I began to search 

 the low shrubbery for a nest. In al- 

 most no time my eye caught sight of 

 the prize I was seeking. 



The nest of this Black-throated Blue 

 Warbler was in chestnut sprouts, at 

 the bases of two tall oak poles. The 

 structure was fairly exposed, in a 

 very slender forking sprout, the sup- 

 porting sprout being strengthened by 

 a stronger dead sprout. The nest was 

 a strong structure, with compact walls 

 made outwardly of coarse bark strip- 

 pings and plant fibres, with some 

 loosely hanging coarse bark and skel- 

 eton leaf fragments. Two eggs were 

 in the nest, but no female was to be 

 seen then, though the male was sing- 

 ing nearer at hand than before, pay- 

 ing little attention to my presence. 

 I waited near the nest for about half 

 an hour, during which period the male 

 traveled up and down the ravine a 

 half dozen times singing as before. 



