BIRDS OF NEW YORK 451 



sets are laid by June 3 to 10. The eggs are 4 or 5 in number, more often 

 5, creamy white in color and vary considerably in style of markings, some 

 sets have fine specks with blotches and spots of reddish brown and a few 

 lilac shell markings, the markings mostly at the larger end forming a 

 wreath. A set of 5 has 4 eggs heavily marked about the larger end with 

 bright reddish brown and lilac shell markings and large dauby blotches 

 of reddish brown placed irregularly over the balance of the eggs; the other 

 egg is well marked about the larger end with a few spots scattered over 

 the rest of the egg. Nearly all eggs have a few fine spots or scrawls of 

 dark brown like the eggs of Northern yellow-throat and some eggs resemble 

 those of the Yellow-throat very much but are mostly larger and rather 

 more elongated. In some sets the markings are rather dull, running mostly 

 to shell markings. The nest is of dead weeds and grass, lined with fine 

 dead grass and in most cases with fine strips of black inner bark or black 

 rootlets. In fact, the lining, with very few exceptions, is black. It differs 

 from the nest of the Northern yellow-throat by not having any coarse 

 grass or dead leaves in the base ; the cavity is larger but more shallow and 

 it is broad and flat while that of the Yellow-throat's is small and tall. A 

 typical nest measures: diameter, outside, 4 inches; inside, 2 inches; 

 depth, outside, 2^ inches; inside, if inches. These swamp nests are usually 

 situated in a grassy place among the brush and tops that were left by the 

 lumbermen, in a bunch of weeds, or the middle of a bunch of skunk cabbage 

 or ferns. One nest was placed on top of a thick vine that ran over the 

 ground and there was scarcely any attempt at concealment. Another 

 was in a very wet place in the heart of a marsh marigold. Another vv^as 

 in a bunch of weeds on a rotted moss and dirt-covered log. The nests 

 are usually very well concealed and very near the ground. When a nest 

 is found the female usually runs a little ways ahead, then flies slowly to 

 a bush, but soon comes back, dodging around among the bushes chipping 

 all the time. The chip of the female is sharp and rather loud. It might 

 be likened to the noise produced by striking two pebbles together gently. 

 When the grass above one nest was parted the female, which was on the 



