MAGNOLIA WARBLER 



127 



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Nesting Site. — "The nest is usually placed in a small fir or spruce 

 and rarely at a greater elevation than five or* six feet. The average 

 height would probably not exceed four feet, and I have found some 

 barely twelve inches above the ground. It is usually laid somewhat 

 loosely among the horizontal twigs from which it can in most cases 

 be lifted intact * * * Exceptional situations are the interior of 

 the woods, wJiere, in some cases, the nest is placed in the top of a 

 young hemlock ten or fifteen feet up. In one instance I found a nest 

 on a horizontal spruce limb in the very heart of the forest, and at least 

 thirty-five feet above the ground." {Brewster^.) 



A large amount of data from northern New England confirms 

 Brewster's observations in regard to the normal nesting site of this 

 species in that region, but Simpson* states that in the mountains of 

 Pennsylvania, at Warren, the great majority of nests are built about 

 ten to twelve feet up in the tops of small hemlocks or out on the 

 branches of larger trees. 



At Branchport, New York, Burtch (MS.) finds the nest "in 

 hemlocks usually on a horizontal limb from eight to twenty feet up and 

 over an opening in the woods. Several nests were found in the top of 

 little hemlock saplings from one to five feet from the ground. One 

 nest was found by Mr. C. F. Stone in a birch sapling, this being the 

 only instance to my knowledge of its nesting in a tree other than a hem- 

 lock." 



Nest. — Nests in Mr. Brewster's collection from northern New 

 England are made of small coniferous twigs, which project over the 

 edges in irregular fashion, pine needles, grasses, bits of down or 

 spider's webbing, lined with fine, dull black, hair-like rootlets, often 

 so abundantly as to make the nest interiorly bjack in marked contrast 

 to the brown exterior. 



Burtch -(MS.) describes the nest as "loosely constructed of fine 

 hemlock twigs, with sometimes a few weeds, lined with fine black root- 

 lets, hair, or fine dead grass, usually decorated with fern down." 



Eggs. — 3 to 6, usually 4. Ground color of average specimen is 

 dull creamy white, over this are spots and blotches of many shades of 

 reddish brown, hazel, and chestnut, in some specimens purplish and 

 pale lavender, but in nearly all cases the egg is heavily marked on 

 the large end in form of a well defined wreath. * Size ; average, .65X.48 ; 

 extremes measure .61X.45, .72X.45, .66X.51. (Figs. 52-54.) 



