A Four-Storied Nest. 



At a meotinft' of the London Ornitliologioal 

 ' Section of the Entomological Society of Ontario, 

 Mr. J. Osborn oxliibiterl a four-storied nest of 

 the Yellow Warbler (Dendroicji wMiva), which 

 he had recently taken neai' l^ondon. In the 

 lower story a Cowbird's 0f4<; bad been laid, 

 then the second story was ])ut on and another 

 Cowbird's egg laid, a third story added and a 

 third Cowbird's egg laid in it, and in the 

 fourth story wore two eggs of the Wa-rbler 

 herself. 



Mr. 11. Stevenson reported a nest of the 

 same species, seven inches deep outside, which 

 had the appearance of having been built in 



OLOGIST 



[Vol. 9-No. 10 



Yellow Warbler vs. Cowbird. 



In the O. and O. of March, (Vol. ix, 

 page 34,) Mr. C. E. Keyes mentions hav- 

 ing found a Scarlet Tanager's {F. rubra) 

 nest with a Cowbird's {31. Pecoris) egg 

 embedded in the bottom. This recalls to 

 mind a Yellow Warbler's {I), cestiva) nest 

 found by me at Fort Laramie in 1880, 

 which shows how persistent these birds 

 are sometimes in trying to evade hatching 

 the eggs of the Cowbird ; bnt in this case 

 the pecoris got the better of the oestiva in 

 the end. The nest was placed in a rose- 

 bush, Avh en, after laying one egg, two Cow- 

 bird's eggs were deposited in it. The aes- 

 tiva immediately went to work and built 

 another nest on the top of these eggs ; but 

 after laying two eggs another egg of the 

 Cowbird was left in her care. Still being 

 determined not to be tlie foster mother to 

 these strangers, she added another story 

 to her already large nest. After laying- 

 three eggs her nest was again visited by 

 the Cowbii'd and two eggs left there. Her 

 little heart failed her this time and she 

 submitted to what seemed to her to be in- 

 evitable and commenced incubation. I 

 had not the heart to take her nest at this 

 time. In due course the young were 

 hatched and to my surprise the Cowbirds 

 were the first to see light, and they formed 

 quite a nest full of themselves. But when 

 the young warblers were hatched, I un- 

 ceremoniously tumbled the Cowbirds oxit. 

 The old birds did not seem much pleased 

 with my actions. Still as' I from a child 

 always took the part of the weak side I 

 felt as if I had done my duty. When the 

 young had flown I secured the nest to- 

 gether with the eggs in the two lower 

 stories of this queer house, and it is now 

 in my possession. These eggs were still as 

 fresh as if just laid. A friend of mine took 

 a nest of the same bird in Worcester, 

 Mass., in 1872, of two stories. — Ghas. T. 

 Morrison, .Fort McKinney, Wyoming 

 Territory. 



O.&O. IX.Oct.l884.|>v/JV 



Large Set of Eggs of the Yellow 

 Warbler. 



BY T. W. OLOVEli, WHITMAN, MAS.S. 



Thinking that the nesting of a Yellow War- 

 bler {Dendroeca cestiva) the set of which con- 

 tained sis eggs of that bird and one of the Cow 

 Bunting may be of some interest to the readers 

 of the O. & O. I submit the following : 



On May 16th, 1888, while searching for birds 

 iu a small bit of swamp on the shore of a pond, 

 I found the nest of a Yellow Warbler about 

 one half done, the bird being busy at work. 

 On the 19th 1 visited the nest again, and found 

 it completed and it contained an egg of the 

 Cow Bunting. ^I'hiuking that the Warbler 

 niio-ht build a new liottom to the nest, leaving 

 the" Cowbird's egg below, I went again on the 

 20th and found an egg of the Warbler with the 

 1 Buntino-'s eo-g. On tlie 21st the nest contained 

 I uo e-s of the Warbler. I next visited the 

 i nest on the 25Wi and found it contained five 

 1 e-^s of the Warbler, and on the 26th I found 

 the nest to contain .ix eggs ot the Warbler and 

 the old bird sitting. 



I then took them. The colormg is substantul- 

 l Ivthe same in the six eggs, and as six days 

 'l were consumed in depositing the six eggs i 

 ' think there can be no doubt about their belong- 

 ing to the same bird. 

 1 The lower part of the nest was composed of 

 cotton waste, probably from some ot the fac- 

 t,n'ies near by. The remainder was of grasses 

 and plant down. It was about six feet from 

 the ground, ^j^^q. XIU. S«pt. 1888 p. 134 



Btiaf Hates. 



One day in early June, 1891, while I was 

 searching a small swamp near here, I dis- 

 covered a nost of the Summer Warbler. Iho 

 nest was situated in a fork formed by four 

 upright twigs. After watching a few moments 

 1 noticed tlie constructors of this little gem 

 busily engaged in putting on the hnishing 

 touches. , . , J- J 



Three days later I returned in hopes of hnrt- 

 ino- the eggs but I saw neither the eggs nor 

 the birds; I wont away disappointed but 

 returned a week later, hoping that the eggs 

 had been laid. Judge of my surprise then, to 

 see a Rod-winged Blackbird's nest built in the 

 same fork. The nest which contained three 

 oggs was built directly over the Warbler s little 

 house ; the side of one being interwoven with 

 that of the other. 



Undoubtedlv the i'-lackbird, with superior 

 size and strength, liiul driven the occupants of 

 this little summer home aWay, selfishly appro- 

 priating this favored site to themsolvos. 

 ' Tt. IT. White, Jr. 



