426 NESTS AND EGGS OF 



searching the limbs of trees and bushes for food; constantly uttering its clear 

 liquid song. It is rarely found higher up than fifteen feet in trees and bushes. Two 

 young males which had just left the nest were taken by Mr. Scott, on May 26, and a 

 nest was discovered the same day and others were found at different dates till June 

 11. They were built in mesquites and thorn bushes ranging from, four . to seven 

 feet from the ground. One was attached at the rim for almost the entire circum- 

 ference, very much like a Red-eyed Vireo's nest, but here the resemblance ceases, for 

 it is not fastened to the many small twigs, on which it nests, that pass diagonally 

 downward, so that it is not even a semi-pensile structure. Others were found sit- 

 uated in upright "V-shaped forks, with tho rims partially attached to small twigs, and 

 the bottom testing in the crotch — a Vireo's nest resting in a crotch and, in no degree 

 pensile. The materials used in the composition were coarse dry grasses and shreds 

 of bark externally, while the inner portion is composed of fine, dry grasses arranged 

 in concentric layers. The nests found by Mr. Scott contained three and four eggs 

 each respectively. The one discovered on May 26 did not contain any eggs until 

 the 30th. This habit of sitting on a finished nest for a considerable time before 

 any eggs are laid he found to be characteristic of the Arizona Jay, Aphelocoma sieberii 

 arizonw, (see pages. 262-263 of this_work.) The eggs are rather rounded in their gen- 

 eral shape, rosy when fresh, dead white when blown, and rather sparsely spotted 

 with reddish and umber-brown spots, some chiefly at the larger end. Mr. Scott gives 

 the sizes of three eggs from a set of four as .77x.59, .78x.58, .75x.57, respectively; 

 another of three, .72x.53, .70x.55. .68x.53 Inches.* 



635. BAHAMA HONEY CREEPER. Ooereha lahamensis Reich. Geog, 

 Dist. — Bahamas, Florida Keys and adjabent coast of Southern Florida. 



This little bird as its name indicates belongs to the Bahamas. It occurs in the 

 Florida Keys and strays to the adjacent portions of the southern coast of Florida 

 as far north as Charlotte Harbor. In the Bahamas it nests in April, May and June. 

 It builds in small trees or bushes, constructing a globular shaped nest with an en- 

 trance in one side. The structure Is very large for so small a bird. Kxteriorally it 

 is built of weed stems, dry grasses, and lined with finer and softer vegetable fibres. 

 The eggs are two to four in number, commrenly four, are white, finely speckled with 

 reddish-brown, chlefiy at the larger end; average size .60x.50 inches. 



636. BLACK AND WHITE WARBLER. Mniotilta varia (Linn.) Geog. 

 Dist. — Eastern North America, north to Fort Simpson, west to the Great Plains; in 

 winter Gulf States,. West Indies, Central America aid Northern South America. 



The little Black-and-white Creeping Warbler, which climbs around the trunks 

 of trees and among their branches in the manner of a true Creeper, breeds through- 

 out its range, and winters from the southern border of the United States southward. 

 Nests usually in the latter part of May and in June, constructing a neat, compact 

 domicile of leaves, bark-strips, grasses, with a lining of hairs and hair-like roots. 

 The nest is built on the ground in woods, usually embedded in a depression, and built 

 on a foundation of decayed wood or leaves. It is generally placed under the shelter 

 of weeds, by the side of a stump, fallen log, or under a projecting stone on a hillside. 

 The eggs are usually five in number, and exhibit considerable variation in size and 

 markings, yet on the whole the eggs have an individuality of their own which en- 

 ables one to distinguish them from the eggs of any other Warbler. The typical egg 



* For a detailed account of the habits, nests and eggs of this species see Mr. Scott's 

 article: Breeding Habits of some Arizona Birds, In The Auk, II, pp. 321-326. 



