BACHMAN'S WARBLER 8l 



during the breeding season, and upon leaving a tree, it flies a long 

 distance before alighting. * * * j have occasionally seen the 

 males in low gall-berry bushes within six or eight inches of the 

 ground, but their usual resorts are among the topmost branches of 

 the tallest trees." 



^ong. — "The song is unlike that of any other species of Helmin- 

 thophila with which I am acquainted, and most resembles the song of 

 the Parula Warbler. It is of the same length and of nearly the same 

 quality or tone, but eight notes being given in the same key and with 

 equal emphasis. Despite these differences it would be possible to 

 mistake the performance, especially at a distance, for that of a Parula 

 singing listlessly. The voice, though neither loud nor musical, is 

 penetrating and seems to carry as far as most Warblers'. Besides 

 the song the only note which we certainly identified was a low, hissing 

 zee-e-eep, very like that of the Black-and-White Warbler." 

 (^Brewster.'') 



Mr. Otto Widmann^ writes of a male under his observation for 

 eight hours "the bird kept singing nearly all the time at the rate of 

 ten times a minute with the regularity of clockwork, and the sharp 

 rattling notes reminded me of an alarm clock. In this regard it recalls 

 one of the performances of Parula, whose rattle is of the same length 

 and quality, except that it has a certain rise at the end, by which it is 

 easily distinguished. To my ear the Bachman's song comes nearest 

 to that of the Worm-eating Warbler, which is fortunately not found 

 in swampland, but the Chipping Sparrow is, and, if the presence of 

 the Bachman's Warbler is not suspected, it is indeed possible to 

 mistake its song for a shrill variety of the Chippy's well-known ditty." 



"The song is wiry or insect-like, and resembles the song of the 

 Worm-eating Warbler very closely, while it also bears a strong 

 resemblance to the song of the Parula Warbler and Chipping Spar- 

 row" ( Wayne^^). Embody ,^^ also, compares the song to that of a Chip- 

 ping Sparrow. 



Nesting Site. — Bailey's description of the supposed nesting site 

 and eggs of this species (Bull. Nutt. Orn. Club, VIII, 1883, 38) is 

 evidently based on a collector's error and credit for the discovery of 

 the nest and eggs of Bachman's Warbler belongs to Otto Widmann' 

 who found them on May 14, 1897 in Dunklin County, Missouri. 

 The nest was two feet from the ground and "was tied very slightly 

 to a vertical blackberry vine of fresh growth and rested lightly on 

 another which crossed the former at a nearly right angle. From 



