BLACKBURNIAN WARBLER. 221 
frequently met with, and Clintonia borealis abounds everywhere. No wonder that in 
a locality so beautiful such birds as Magnolia, Myrtle, Black-throated Blue, Canada, 
Black-throated Green, and Blackburnian Warblers find a congenial home. Oh the nest- 
ing habits of the last named species Mr. Brewster writes as follows: 
“On both high and low ground, wherever there were spruces in any numbers, 
whether by themselves or mixed with other trees, and also to some extent where the 
growth was entirely of hemlocks, the Blackburnian Warbler was one of the most abun- 
dant and characteristic summer birds, in places even outnumbering the Black-throated 
Green Warbler, although it shunned strictly the extensive tracts of white pines which 
Dendroica virens seemed to find quite as congenial as any of the other evergreens. A 
set of four fresh eggs was found June 26, 1887. The nest, which was found by watch- 
ing the female, was built at a height of about thirty feet above the ground, on the 
horizontal branch of a black spruce, some six feet out from the main stem. Its bottom 
rested securely near the base of a short, stout twig. Above and on every side masses 
of dark spruce foliage, rendered still denser by a draping of Usnea (which covered the 
entire tree profusely), hid- the nest so perfectly that not a vestige of it could be seen 
from any direction. This nest is composed outwardly of fine twigs, among which some 
of the surrounding Usnea is entangled and interwoven. The lining is of horse hair, 
fine, dry grasses, and a few of the black rootlets used by the Magnolia Warbler. The 
whole structure is light and airy in appearance, and resembles rather closely the nest 
of the Chipping Sparrow. The eggs are marked with pale lavender, vandyke-brown, 
mars-brown, and black. Over most of the shell the markings are fine and sparsely 
distributed, but about the larger end they become broad and more or less confluent; 
tending to form a wreath pattern. Some of the markings are linear, resembling pen- 
scratches. The ground-color of these eggs, before blowing, would have been passed for 
dull white, but with the removal of their contents a delicate, yet faint, greenish tinge 
appeared and has since persisted.” 
The Blackburnian Warbler is a bird of eastern North America, west to Missouri, 
Iowa, Minnesota, and, casually, to Utah and New Mexico. In September they are on 
their way to their winter-quarters in the Bahamas, eastern Mexico, Central America, 
South America (Venezuela, Colombia, Peru, etc.). 
NAMES: BLacKBURNIAN WARBLER, Hemlock Warbler, Orange-throated Warbler. 
SCIENTIFIC NAMES: Motacilla blackburniz Gmelin (1788), Wilson, Audubon, Nuttall. DENDROICA 
BLACKBURNI4 Bairp (1858). 
DESCRIPTION: Male: Above, including wings and tail, black; wing-patch, white; back, variegated with 
white; several lateral tail-feathers mostly white. Crown-spot, eyelids, line over the eye, throat and 
breast, brilliant orange or flame-color, contrasting beautifully with the black surroundings; sides, 
streaked with black. Female: Black of upper parts replaced by brownish-olive, with black streaks; 
flame-color replaced by yellow; two white wing-bars. 
Length, 5.40 inches; wings, 2.75; tail, 2.00 inches. 
