Two Connecticut Rarities. 



Although I have beln in the fields hut 

 iittle this season, I have been fortunate 

 enough to come across two birds' nests 

 tliat I had never found before, although 

 the birds were old acquaintances. I think 

 I them rare enough to be worth notice. 

 The first find was on June 15th, when 

 seated on a fence at the edge of a piece' 

 of swampy woods, a friend and I were 

 watchmg a pair of Chestnut-sided War- 

 blers that were flitting about in a tree 

 overhead, in hopes that they would betray 

 their nest. Suddenly we heard a sharp 

 chip close by, and on looking around 

 saw a little bird hopping along a twig of a 



n7 ^"'^ ^'^^ its mouth. 



The Chestnut-sides were at once forgot- 

 ten; for ^.ithin a rod of us was a bL- 

 wmged Yellow Warbler, {mimintAopAaffa 

 pmus. Its mate was close by, and both 

 being uneasy at our presence, kept up 

 their single note of alarm. ^ 

 _ For some time we sat motionless, look- I 

 ing at them, and they uneasily moving ' 

 from bush to bush, not daring to go to th! 

 nest while two such suspicious looking ' 

 characters were near. It was a trial of 

 patience and the birds were beaten. The * 

 female (distinguished only by the insect 



in her bill) finally began to move off in a 

 new direction, worldng gradually through 

 the shrubs to an open place where stood a 

 Butternut tree, whose leaves hung black 

 and dry from the effects of the sharp frost 

 of May 30th. Suddenly she disappeared 

 in the grass at the foot of the tree, where 

 we found the nest on the ground, close to 

 the trunk. The female left at our ap- 

 proach, half running and half flying along - 

 the ground. The nest was built — outside 

 of dead beech leaves, inside of grapevine 

 bark. Except a single horse hair there 

 Avere no other materials in it. It was not 

 : concealed well and contained five young 

 birds that must have left the eggs about 

 ^ five days before. 



I I then took up a position on a rock, about 

 fifteen feet from the nest, and the bird 

 soon became sufficiently accustomed to my 

 presence to make several trips to it. The 

 identification was as good as if I had shot 

 the bird. As I have not been able to visit 

 the spot since, I know nothing further of 

 the history of this rare and interesting 

 family. I trust they will have such pleas- 

 ant memories of this moist, malarial spot, 

 that they will visit it again next breeding 

 season, although there may be a spark of 

 selfishness in the wish. This is near the 

 northern limit of the breeding place of 

 Ilehnlnthophaga pinus. The other rarity 

 was taken not over a mile from the first. 



I happened to be in the country on the 

 Fourth of July, when a lady said to me 

 that she had a very beautiful bird's nest 

 she would like me to see, and to my sur- 

 prise brought out a nest I had never seen 

 before, but had heard much about, one 

 which in material and form stands apart 

 from any of our birds' nests. A few 

 pieces of the hanging gray lichen, found 

 so abundantly on dead trees in damp 

 places, were fastened at the upper end to 

 a twig so as to hang closely together, the 

 whole forming a mass about seventeen 

 inches in length and about four in greatest 

 thickness at the top and tapermg to a 



July 1. My friend handed me a nest and four eggs, of 

 the Bhie- Winged Yellow Warbler. (Helminthojiliaga pinus). 

 Tlie eggs are somewhat smaller than the Maryland Yellow 

 Throats ; of a pure white background, with a few Ijrown 

 spots and lines around the larger end. The nest resembles 

 that of the above mentioned species, except the lining 

 itirely of grapevine bark, the ends of which stick 

 nner edge of the nest. 



Jtevtu^. fid. ^ <w. li: /• 



O.&O. IX.Nov.18B. . p./jr. 



which is e 

 up all around the inni 



point at the bottom. The whole shape 

 suggests a long tapering beard of some 

 venerable specimen of the genus Homo. 

 At or near the top the fibres were woven 

 to form a pouch-shaped cavity in which 

 was an egg of the Cowbird, which, by the 

 way, often gets its egg in before the own- 

 er of the nest. The cavity was hardly 

 over an inch in diameter and about two 

 and one-half in depth. 



I was much disappointed not to see the 

 eggs, but the nest was a thing of beauty 

 and the lady generously gave it up in the 

 cause of science. It was found about the 

 1st of July in a hemlock tree on the bank 

 of the Housatonic River, hanging from a 

 low limb. 



Brewer, Minot and Ingersoll have writ- 

 ten interesting descriptions of this nest, 

 which is that of the Blue Yellow-backed 

 Warbler {Farula «»»«»'m^7-[§ s|Ut.l884. p'. 

 Averill, Jr., Stratford, FalrfieU Go., (n. II I'll Z 



