42 



THE OOLOGIST. 



Philo, 111., Jan. 28, 1906. 

 My Dear Mr. Short: — 



Your recent notes and Mr. Dietrich's 

 find of the double nest of the Black- 

 throated Blue Warbler has called to 

 mind one of my interesting experiences 

 in nest study. For many years I have 

 been particularly interested in the 

 nesting habits of the Dickcissel (Spiza 

 americana). I am sure that it would 

 not be an over-statement to say that 

 I had examined over a thousand nests 

 of little Dick in the last ten years. 

 Probably (because of his numbers and 

 the comparative ease with which his 

 nest is found) I have given him more 

 attention than any other of our Illi- 

 inois birds. But with all of his ec- 

 centricities, I have never known him 

 to depart from his regular habits and 

 construct a double nest, but once. I 

 regarded the find so rare that I walked 

 home, a distance of two miles, and 

 returned with my camera to record 

 it "in situ." The double-nest was two 

 feet above the ground in a thistle, a 

 very common situation for the second 

 nesting of this bird in early July. Four 

 eggs were in the nest when I flushed 

 the female and examination revealed 

 another complete nest below, which 

 also contained a fresh set of four 

 eggs. I have never been able to satis- 

 fy myself as to the cause for the de- 

 sertion of" the lower nest as no reason 

 was evident to me. It did not show 

 signs of being disturbed and contained 

 no egg of the Cow-bird, which is the 

 cause of the double nests of the Yel- 

 low Warbler. Indeed, it is seldom 

 that I have found the Dickcissel im- 

 posed upon by the Cowbird and never 

 have I found this parasite's egg pres- 

 ent when the thistle site was chosen. 

 Perhaps Mrs. Cowbird has an un- 

 wholesome regard for the prickly 

 branches of this extensively used 

 Dickcissel retreat. 



Has the editor of the Oologist a 

 theory that might explain the motive 



for this strange departure in Dick- 

 cissel architecture? I am sending 

 you a photo of the two-story home. 

 Yours very truly, 



ISAAC E. HESS. 



The Cerulean Warbler. 



In the Oologist of November, 1904, 

 I gave my experience with the nest- 

 ing of the Cerulean Warbler to that 

 date and will now carry it through 

 the season of 1905. 



Nest 6, May 30, 1905.— I believe that 

 any nest, placed above the ground, 

 can be found by watching the birds 

 if one has some general knowledge 

 of the species under consideration, 

 combined with ample time and pa- 

 tience. Acting on this, I got an early 

 start and determined to remain until 

 a nest was located, if it took till 

 dark. A male was soon located by 

 his song and kept under inspection 

 until he revealed the presence of his 

 mate. She was gathering nest ma- 

 terial and I followed her home. This 

 would seem to indicate quick work, 

 but just five hours elapsed between 

 the first note of song and nest dis- 

 covery. The difficulty lay in keeping 

 sight of the female. When she se- 

 cured a satisfactory amount of ma- 

 terial, she went to the nest without 

 a pause , dodging through the branches 

 and around the more dense tree tops. 

 As she did her collecting at a hun- 

 dred yards or more from the nest, 

 I could only trace her flight as far as 

 possible and move up to that point. 

 Nothing now remained but to select 

 the nearest open spot, affording the 

 greatest range of vision, and wait, 

 shifting my position, however, to keep 

 between the song of her mate and 

 the approximate nest location, for I 

 knew she would secure her material 

 in his vicinity. I lost her twice but, 

 at last saw her settle upon the nest. 

 This was fifty-five feet above the 



