LAND BIRDS. 603 
parts. Unlike many of our warblers it is seen during migration in flocks 
of considerable size, often frequenting open grounds, even stubble fields 
and pastures, although it prefers bushy fields and the margins of woods. 
It is one of the earlier warblers to arrive from the south, entering the state 
as early as April 17, 1886 (Petersburg, Trombley), although ordinarily 
it is somwehat later, reaching the southern counties about the last week 
in April and arriving in the Upper Peninsula the first or second week in 
May (Big Sable Light, Lake Superior, May 9, 1891). There are numerous 
records of the Yellow-rump killed on Spectacle Reef Light, Lake Huron, 
from May 7 to May 22, and again from September 25 to October 10. Doubt- 
less birds reared in the state move southward earlier than this, since migrants 
appear in the southern part of the state late in August, sometimes even 
by the middle of the month. It is one of the latest of our warblers to 
depart, usually remaining through most of October and occasionally into 
November. Mr. Swales records several seen near Detroit November 25, 
1893. 
In central and northern Indiana Myrtle Warblers are known to winter 
irregularly in some numbers according to Butler, who says: ‘Their 
winter range does not seem to be limited by the degree of cold, for some 
of our colder winters, when the thermometer registers below zero, they 
remain, and warmer winters are not observed. * * * JLatein March and 
early in April they frequent the thickets fringing our streams. * * * 
They do not really occur outside their winter home until a number of 
other warblers have arrived in southern Indiana, but every year they 
occur about the same time and they usually move forward and possess the 
land at once; two or at most a few days suffice to cover the state” (Birds 
of Indiana, 1897, p. 1050). 
In their summer home in northern Michigan they seem to prefer the 
vicinity of evergreens, and are oftenest seen among dwarf spruces, balsams 
and tamaracks, about the edges of swamps or along the margins of streams 
and lakes. In such situations they nest, building a rather compact 
structure of twigs, grasses, etc., lined with finer materials of the same 
kind, and perhaps a few feathers, the nest being placed in an evergreen 
often only three or four feet from the ground, although sometimes at an 
elevation of ten or twelve feet. Max M. Peet gives his experience with 
this bird on Isle Royale, Lake Superior, in 1905, as follows: ‘Fairly 
common in the balsam and spruce forest, but was often found feeding 
along the rocky shores. A nest containing four well feathered young 
was found July 7. It was in a Jack pine at the end of a horizontal limb 
about ten feet from the ground. It was composed of balsam twigs and 
needles and lined with feathers of the Sharp-tailed Grouse and Canada 
Jay. July 27, 1905, another nest was found on an island at the north side 
of Rock Harbor. It was placed on a horizontal limb of a white spruce 
about six feet from the ground. It was composed of small twigs and 
grasses, lined. with feathers and contained three young about three days 
old. Four nests were found on two small islands near the end of Rock 
Harbor, one of which contained small young, another nearly full-fledged 
young July 21, and the other two wereempty. On July 28 a young Myrtle 
Warbler just out of the nest was found on a small island” (Adams’ Rep., 
Mich. Geol. Surv., 1908, pp. 874-375). ; ; 
The eggs are four or five, cream-colored or white, with spots of brown 
and purplish, and perhaps a few black specks. They average .70 by .53 
inches. ar 
