122 



THE OOLOGIST. 



nesting birds are extremely shy 'and 

 suspicious — this is my experience dur- 

 ing the two trips to the Island." 



JOHN E. THAYER. 



Anent the Swamp Sparrow. 



The recent article of Mr. Millers' 

 corcerning this bird greatly appealed 

 to me and it affords me pleasure to be 

 able to throw a little light upon large 

 sets of this bird. 



Upon the Delaware meadows, to the 

 south of Philadelphia, this species is 

 the most abundant bird and nests in 

 incredible numbers during the months 

 of May, June and July, May 30th be- 

 ing the heighth of the season. This 

 locality is one of great interest to me 

 and it is here that among the tussocks 

 of swamp grass I have found numer- 

 ous nests. 



The usual number of eggs is four, 

 less commonly three and five. The 

 July nests make up the record of sets 

 of three, however. 



It was in this' region that on the 

 ninth of June, 1907, in company with 

 Mr. J. Harris Reed, I had the good 

 fortune to take what I have every rea- 

 son to believe is the largest set of eggs 

 ever recorded; namely, one of eight. 

 All the circumstances seem to point 

 to these being laid by one bird. The 

 nest was the largest one I have ever 

 seen and the eggs barely covered the 

 base of the cavity — were not laid in 

 layers'. Six of the eggs were colored 

 alike, while the other two are much 

 less heavily marked. This set was 

 viewed - in situ by Mr. Reed and he 

 mentioned at the time that in his ex- 

 tended acquaintance with the nesting 

 habits of this bird, it was the first set 

 he had seen larger than five. 



A fact that deserves attention which 

 it has not received, is the great pro- 

 portion of empty nests and after giv- 

 ing the subject considerable thought 



I am about convinced that the birds 

 frequently build sham nests like the 

 Marsh Wren. My statistics from this 

 locality, (based upon the observations 

 of several competent Ornithologists), 

 seem to show that only one nest is 

 occupied out of every two or three dis- 

 covered. I do not maintain that such 

 is alw.ays the case, but hope to give 

 more light on the subject at a later- 

 date. 



RICHARD C. HARLOW. 



A Paradise of Warblers. 



One must admit that a locality 

 where Mourning Warblers take the 

 place of Maryland Yellow-throats, and 

 where the Canadian Warbler is even 

 more common than the Redstart, is, in 

 New York state, unusual. Yet this is 

 precisely how we found them during 

 the season of July, 1907, near Wood- 

 worth's Lake, Fulton county, N. Y. 



We were encamped on the above 

 mentioned lake from July 8, until Ju- 

 ly 20, 1907. Even while walking to 

 our destination, on the first day, we 

 noted no less than eight species of 

 warblers, and before the two weeks 

 while we stayed at the lake had elap- 

 sed, six more were added to our lists. 

 Mourning Warblers, (Geothlypis Phil- 

 adelphia), were actually abundant; 

 adults' were often observed with grubs 

 in their bills indicating the presence 

 of young, and on July 13, a young bird 

 of this species was captured and ex- 

 amined. No nests were found, how- 

 ever. Canadian Warbler, (Wilsonia 

 canadensis), were even more abund- 

 ant than the Mourning Warbler. One 

 had a nest directly in back of our tent 

 and often attracted our attention by 

 its sharp alarm notes. A pair of Black 

 and White Warblers were observed on 

 the south bank of the lake on July 14. 

 Magnolia, (Dendroica maculosa), and 

 the Myrtle, (Dendroica coronata) were 

 often observed among the low spruce 



