440 NESTS AND EQG8 OF 



sometimes in numbers, flitting about in search of insect food, and uttering its pe- 

 culiar syllables which sound like zee, zee, zee, ze-ee-cep. It is not strange that the nest 

 of this species has been so seldom discovered, even where the bird is very abundant 

 during the breeding season. The nest is built in the higher horizontal branches of 

 forest trees, always at some distance from the trunk, and ranging from twenty to 

 fifty feet above the ground. The Blue or Cerulean Warbler is an abundant summer 

 resident in Central Ohio, where it prefers damp woods for nesting. Mr. J. A. Allen 

 describes a nest and lour eggs which were taken in Monroe county. New York, June 

 7, 1878. The nest was placed in the forks of a small ash, about twenty-five feet from 

 the ground. One taken near Drummondsville, Ontario, near Niagara Falls, and de- 

 scribed by Dr. Brewer, was built in a large oak tree, fifty feet from the ground. This 

 and another nest containing four eggs taken by Mr. Wm. Bryant at Mount Carmel, 

 Illinois, May 16, 1878, are in the Museum of Comparative Zoology. Mr. Allen states 

 that the Mount Carmel nest was also placed at an elevation of twenty-five feet.' 

 Prof. Evermann gives the Cerulean Warbler as a common summer resident of Car- 

 roll county, Indiana. Mr. J. L. Davidson secured two nests of this species with eggs, 

 in Niagara county. New York, on June 8 and 23, 1888. They were built in small 

 basswood trees, about twenty feet above the ground. On June 30 another jiest was 

 discovered, but was too high and inaccessible. Two broods were observed in July 

 in the same woods. The nests are compactly made of fine, dry grasses, bound to- 

 gether with spiders' silk to which are attached pieces of whitish lichen; the lining is 

 strips of bark and fine grass. The eggs are bluish- white or greenish-white, speckled 

 with reddish-brown and lilac, chiefly at the larger end, and often in the form of a 

 wreath. Mr. Davidson gives the measurements of two specimens that were saved out 

 ■of the first nest, as .70x.52, .71x.52. The second nest contained three eggs of the 

 Warbler and one of the Cowbird; sizes, .64x.50, .63x.49, .64x.50. 



659. CHESTNUT-SIDED WABBLEK. Dendroica pensylvanica (Linn.) Geog. 

 Dist. — Eastern United States and Canada. Breeds north of 40° except in higher 

 raountain ranges. In winter, south to Bahamas, Eastern Mexico, and Central 

 America to Panama. 



This well-known Warbler breeds abundantly in the Middle and Northern States 



within its range. Mr. McUwraith gives it as a common resident of Ontario, breeding 



in suitable places near Hamilton and throughout the country, raising two broods in 



a season. Breeds, but not commonly, in Central Ohio, more 



abundant in the northern portion. Nests in the latter part 



of May and in June. The nest is commonly built in a low 



bush, shrub or sapling from two to eight feet above the 



ground. The situations chosen are the "scrub-lands" or 



open woods in low grounds, with a growth of bushes, vines, 



etc. The nest is generally coarser than the Yellow Warb- 



~°~r" ler's, and contains fewer woolly materials. It is composed 



659, Chestnut-sided „ . „ ,., .,.., 



Warbler. of narrow strips of thm bark or dried grasses, mixed with 



plant-down, fine bleached grasses, and lined with hair. The 

 eggs are four, rarely five, in number, and vary from clear-white to creamy-white 

 ill ground-color, speckled with rusty-brown and chestnut, often tinged with lilac- 

 gray, chiefly at the larger end, where they frequently form wreaths. A set of four 

 ofi'ers the following sizes: .68x.50, .65x.47, .67x.49, .68x.49; average .68x.50. Eggs 

 of the Cowbird are commonly found in nests of this species. 



* Bull. Nutt. Ornith. Club, IV, pp. 25-27. 



