108 PARULA WARBLER 



and of the Blackburnian's songs very nearly meet and overlap : but the 

 tell-tale tones remains unchanged, — wheezy and beady in the one, 

 smooth as glass in the other. Commonest of the Northern Parula's 

 three main songs is probably the short, unbroken buzz, uttered on 

 an evenly-ascending scale, and ending abruptly, with a slight accentua- 

 tion of the final note. Next is that which begins with several notes of 

 the same beady character, but clearly separated, and finishes, likewise 

 on an ascending scale, with a brief congested buzz. The third main 

 song is based on an inversion of the second — a buzz followed by a few 

 separate drawled notes, high-pitched like the buzz-ending of the two 

 other songs. All three vary and intervary perplexingly." {Thayer, 

 MS.) Miss Paddock describes the Parula's song as "a rapid trill end- 

 ing explosively" and writes it as follows : 



8Vdb<s 



Nesting Site. — In a hanging bunch of usnea moss from three 

 to thirty or more feet above the ground; more rarely "at the end 

 of a drooping spruce branch" (Jacobs 9 .) 



Nest. — As a rule, the bird selects a favorable bunch of moss, 

 gathers or weaves the bottom together, lines it scantily, or not at all, 

 with fine grasses and forms an entrance at one side. Brewster 6 , how- 

 ever, describes a nest taken at Stoneham, Mass., which in shape and 

 manner of attachment resembled a Baltimore Oriole's nest. No bunches 

 of Usnea large enough for use in the usual manner, being available, 

 the builder had apparently gathered bits of the moss here and there 

 with which to construct a home. 



A nest found by Jacobs 9 , at Blacksville, West Virginia, appears 

 to differ from the usual type. It was "well concealed among twigs 

 at the end of a drooping spruce branch, nine feet up. * * * The 

 composition was chiefly of fine grasses, with a slight mixture of Usnea 

 moss, vegetable fiber, and small bits of wool." A second nest, simi- 

 larly placed, resembled the first but "contained a goodly supply of 

 hickory catkins and hair, as well as some fine rootlets in the lining." 



Eggs. — The eggs resemble those of the Southern Parula. 



Nesting Dates. — New Haven, Conn., May 18-June 14 (Bishop) ; 

 Lancaster, N. H., May 31-June 12 (Spaulding) ; Bangor, Me., May 31- 



