Michigan Ornithological Club 9 



spots forming a sort of wreath at the larger end. This egg is .72 x .56 

 inches or 18 by 14 mm., and contained no embryo. The nest was built in 

 a depression in the ground, at the foot of a jack pine about tive feet tall, and 

 was only live feet from the road. It was partly covered with low blueberries 

 and sweetfern plants. The nest is two inches inside diameter and the 

 same in depth, very neat and compact, and is composed of strips of soft 

 bark and some vegetable fiber, thickly lined with fine dead grass and pine 

 needles. A few hairs from horses mane or tail complete the lining. 



The young nestlings may be described as follows : above dark slate 

 color, lighter on the head, each feather tipped with light sepia brown; those 

 of the mantle broadly edged with whitish spots; those of the back, with 

 bufTy white; wings and tail dark, slightly edged with light brown; the 

 lesser and middle coverts were like the back; the greater coverts broadly 

 edged with buffy brown, making distinct bars; lores, sepia brown; sides of 

 head otherwise similar in color to the upper parts, but rather paler, fading 

 gradually into pale buffy brown on the chin and throat, this gradually 

 changing to light brown on chest, sides and flank; each feather of the chest 

 and sides with a dark center, widening at the tip, giving a distinct striped 

 effect ; abdomen, pale buffy, tinged with yellov;.* 



As I sat near the nest the female came and alighted on the branch of 

 the jack pine just back of the nest. She was not at all shy. Once she came 

 with a worm in her mouth, but would not feed the young while I was so 

 near. The male also came, but not so close. Both birds were very restless 

 and uneasy — only a few seconds in a place — which made it very difficult to 

 take photographs of them. 



T made Fraser's on the North branch. Crawford county, my head- 

 quarters for a few days so that I might be near this colony of Kirtlands. I 

 saw (July 9th) a third female and took a male, but I wished to locate all 

 the nests T could, so T did not shoot the females. I made a second trip 

 to the nest and found both parents feeding the young. After watching 

 them a short time 1 tried to locate the boundary of this colony to the east. 

 .^ short distance east of the nest T heard another male singing and tried 

 to locate his nest, but failed to do so. Tn fact the jack pine is so thick, the 

 ground so covered with old logs, tree tops and vegetation, that it w^as only 

 by the closest kind of work T could hope to find them, and even then only 

 by watching the male and flushing the female from the nest. At 11.30 

 A. ]\T. on my return to camp T heard another male singing zvicli chc-che- 

 chrcr-r-r-r. I soon located him and found he also had a caterpillar in his 



*T wish to call attention to the published cuts of the adult birds. Of the three 

 that 1 have seen that by Mr. C. T. Maynard (Birds of Eastern North America, PI. 

 XVIL") is the best. This cut fairly represents the trim form and the very characteristic 

 u])right singing- attitude. ^^'hile the coloring is not perfect, nor the markings so good, 

 as in the plate by :\Ir. L. .\. Fuertes (Auk. '98, Vol. XV., PI. IV.). This is'^a beautiful 

 plate, but does not give a true idea of the bird. In this plate the yellow of the under 

 side is too extensive and a shade too bright, the brown of the upper parts too intense. 

 The eye is nearly encircled by white, while in life it is only a narrow line above and 

 below. The head and neck are too short and thick and the body too full, giving the 

 idea of a sparroz<.'-Ukc form, while on the other hand Kirtlaiidi in life is a true warbler 

 in form and action. The same criticism of head and neck is true of the figure in Chap- 

 man and Reed's "Color Key To North American Birds," p. 191, Fig. 070. The color 

 effect is very good but it seems to me that this is below the average for the warblers 

 in this useful work. 



