76 



THE OOLOGIST. 



In this nest is nearly always to be found 

 one or more of the Cow Banting's eggs. 

 The Yellow Warbler having learned by 

 experience the outcome of the affair, she 

 sets to work and builds a new nest over the 

 old, covering the intruder's eggs and may- 

 haps, also some of her own. 



Often she does not know the ending and 

 goes on setting on her eggs bringing them 

 forth, the Cow Birds generally preceeding. 

 Instinct teaches him to turn out the rest of 

 the contents; though this is generally the 

 case, I have in my note-book where a nest 

 of this species contained three half grown 

 Yellow Warblers, and one great pot-bellied 

 Cow Bird. When the young leave the nest 

 they are still fed by the parents, eating 

 great numbers of worms, caterpillars etc. 

 They will feign lameness, stretching out 

 the wings and neck. They depart about 

 the last of September, wintering in the 

 South. S. D., Chicago, 111. 



Among the Warblers. 



About the 8th of May, 1887, my friend 

 and I took a trip to the "pomace heap". This 

 is the place where pomace is put after the 

 cider is pressed out of it. Let one imagine 

 himself in a narrow road in the woods with 

 pomace piled up on either side of him for a 

 distance of about two hundred and hf ty feet. 

 At one end of the road is a highway, at the 

 other, several pine trees, surrounded by an 

 impassable thicket of alders and briers, 

 with a few small maples and birches among 

 them. Along the sides of the road, over- 

 hanging the pomace are alders, maples and 

 birches, in some places interwoven with 

 briers and grapevines, while two or three 

 walnut trees rise slightly above them. The 

 air is full of black flies, which are doubtless 

 very palatable — to the birds. 



My friend and I are standing in the road, 

 while on all sides are myriads of birds, 

 singing gayly and feasting on insects. 

 Black-throated-green and Chestnut-sided 

 warblers are first to be distinguished, be- 

 cause they make themselves prominent, by 

 getting as near you as possible. But closer 

 examination reveals the fact that Yellow - 



rumped, Blackpoll, and Black-and-while 

 Warblers predominate. Three or four 

 male Redstarts are seen, their bright plum- 

 age showing off nicely against the fresh 

 leaves, and contrasting as strongly with the 

 other warblers as the Black-throated-blue 

 does with the beautiful Magnolia, or the 

 shy Nashville with that king of warblers, 

 the Blackburnian. 



Maryland Yellow-throats are quite com- 

 mon, uttering their sharp notes, and almost 

 always keeping near the ground, in company 

 with their sombre cousins, the Golden - 

 crowned Thrushes, or Oven-birds, A Gold- 

 en-winged Warbler flies across the road and 

 attracts our attention, but we hear the note 

 of a Prairie Warbler and try to find him. 

 although unsuccessful in our search, we saw 

 several Nashville Warblers, as usual very 

 wild, and some Canada Flycatchers, with 

 their row of spots across the breast. Blue- 

 yellow-backed Warblers are seen, but we 

 cannot find what we are looking for, a B]u?- 

 winged-yellow Warbler. ' ' Thera is a bird 

 I want ! " exclaims my companion, as he 

 starts in pursuit of a small bird. He soon 

 returns with what he calls the finest speci- 

 men he ever saw— and he has Seen several 

 — of the rare Cape May Warbler. 



There are some common birds we have 

 not yet seen, and we set out to look for 

 them. We find some Yellow-redpoll 

 Warblers, besides a few Summer Yellow- 

 birds, several Black-throated-blue Warblers, 

 a Magnolia Warbler, and on the ground, 

 scratching in the pomace are numbers of 

 Oven-birds, Chewinks, Maryland Yellow- 

 throats and Wood Thrushes. We do not 

 see many rare birds, although some rare 

 warblers have been taken in this locality. 



One day my friend came across a flock of 

 Blackburnian warblers — or rather they 

 came across him, as he was sitting down 

 at the time — and was satisfied with collect- 

 ing two, which he has now, and I think 

 they are the handsomest birds in this cabi- 

 net ; he also got a Conneticut Warbler here, 

 besides a Bay-breasted Warbler, a Wilson's 

 Black-capped Flycatcher, and a Green- 

 crested Flycatcher. 



C. W. R, Norwood, Mass 



