40 



THE OOLOGIST. 



summer in two localities widely remote 

 from each other, in neither of which I 

 had expected to find the species. 



Formerly residing in the very county 

 where the Oologist is published, 

 (Orleans County, New York,) I had 

 known the Black-throated Green 

 Warbler as a common migrant — one of 

 the best known, but notwithstanding 

 so good an authority on the birds of 

 that section as the Rev. J. H. Langille 

 had stated that he found it commonly 

 in Tonawanda Swamp each summer, I 

 was unable by explorations, either 

 there or elsewhere to find a trace of D. 

 virens at any time excepting during 

 the migrations. 



In July, 1901, I spent seven days of 

 rest and recreation on Canandaigua 

 Lake, southeast from Rochester, X. Y. 

 Well, up towards the southern extrem- 

 ity of the lake, at Cook's Point or 

 Linden Lodge, I found my place of 

 sojourn and tarried there from July 9th 

 to 15th. Leading back from the hotel, 

 the highway climbs circuitously the 

 rather precipitous hill and enters the 

 woods— cool, inviting and picturesque 

 — for now the wagon-road skirts the 

 edge of a steep declivity and coniferous 

 trees add denser shade to the already 

 shadowy ravine. 



Here the Black and White Warbler 

 Mniotilta varia had been engaged in 

 nesting, for twice I caught it in the act 

 of feeding its hungry young. And 

 here, day after day, the "wee, ivee, su, 

 sd" so familiarly known to me as the 

 ditty of the Black-throated Green 

 Warbler could be heard by the most 

 disinterested passer-by, would he but 

 stop to listen ; even though he might 

 not be able to derive the enjoyment 

 from these "grasshoppery" cadences 

 that I did. The birds were often seen 

 as well as heard. I did not find the 

 nest, but never did I traverse that 

 woodland road — and I traversed it often 

 —that I did not hear this four-syllabled 

 singer. The inference was plain 



enough that a pair of these birds were 

 breeding in that woodland ravine. 



But not so remarkable is it that this 

 Warbler should be found in summer 

 just south of the 43rd parallel, as that 

 it should be observed in the breeding 

 season in latitude less than 30 ° . 



Rather late in the afternoon of June 

 23rd, 1902, we were returning to Vin- 

 cennes by row-boat from a day's outing 

 up the Wabash. On the right bank, 

 and therefore in the state of Illinois, 

 (the river being at this point the 

 Indiana-Illinois boundary line), while 

 yet about two miles above Vincennes, 

 the land rose rather abruptly from the 

 river and seemed densely wooded — with 

 deciduous trees mostly, but with some 

 coniferous trees occurring. 



As oars were momentarily rested and 

 the boat drifted noiselessly not far 

 from shore, there fell upon my ears 

 the familiar song of the Black-throated 

 Green Warbler coming from out the 

 tiees along shore. 



In this southern section at the sum- 

 mer season, I refused to believe my 

 ears when they told me of the song of 

 a northern warbler, and I demanded 

 further evidence. I did not have long 

 to wait. Again came the notes and 

 again, "wee, icee, su see," "wee, wee, su, 

 see," very familiar notes to me, having 

 long known them and I generally de- 

 scribed them in this manner. And 

 this in southern Indiana, at a latitude 

 corresponding almost exactly with that 

 of Washington, D. C. in the east. 



We made no landing nor further 

 investigation as the day was wearing 

 to its close, nor was I able 

 again that season to visit that 

 locality. Not until now has this 

 unusual occurrence been reported, and 

 I believe this is the first record for the 

 occurrence of this species in mid-sum- 

 mer from the state of Indiana. I 

 understand that Mr. Charles Dury, of 

 Cincinnati, O., has found this Warbler 

 in that vicinity in the latter part of 

 July, 1879. 



Cornelius F. Posson, 



Vincennes, Ind. 



