0 R N ITHTO X OmS T 



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OOLOGIST. 



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PUBLISHED FOK THE BRISTOL ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB. 

 Established, Marcli, 187.5. 



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VOL. XIII. 



BOSTON, MASS., JANUARY, 1888. 



No. I. 



The Parula Warbler- 

 Eggs. 



-It's Nest and 



BY -'J. M. W.," NORWICH, CONN. 



There is no commoner Warbler in Soutliern 

 New England during the Spring migration than 

 the old " Blue Yellow-baek.'" Then, for about 

 two days, among the cloud of sparrows in our 

 yards and gardens, we note his friez« jacket of 

 dusty blue, and his scarlet waistcoat, when, 

 " presto," he is off, you say, to his breeding 

 grounds in the Maine wilderness, to Umbagog 

 and beyond. But wait a few days, and we 

 will show him to you housekeeping near at 

 hand. As long ago as Brewster and May- 

 nard's Umbagog trip, it was supposed that a 

 few scattered pairs remained to breed, but that 

 the bulk passed further north. Among my last 

 letters from Dr. Brewer, was one containing a 

 request for nests and eggs of this species for 

 the Cambridge Museum and his own friends. 

 Even then the eggs were regarded as desiderata, 

 but it was beginning to be be understood that 

 the three Southern New England States were 

 about the centre of its breeding range. 



It is, then, because the older writers did not 

 send a special reporter to call on the P. amer- 

 icana in his chosen haunts, that we now inter- 

 view him at home in May, June and July, under 

 his new A. O. U. alias. Come then with me on 

 the twentieth of May, three miles from Nor- 

 wich, across this vile morass and swamp, to the 

 deciduous woods beyond. The young leaves 

 are not so forward but that we can see how 

 miasmatic mists, aided by east winds and fogs, 

 have draped the outer fringe of trees with 

 rank growths of light green moss. 



This is the hanging-lichen or usnea of the bot- 

 anists. Well, here is the true summer home of 

 Parula, this the material his house is built of, 

 and this its only hric-a-brac. But what is this 

 flue buzzing sound around us like the droning 

 of some great insect? Yes, it is like and yet un- 



like the cicadLe of Autumn. It is the note of 

 Parula at work, at rest, at play. A quick chro- 

 matic rise of one octave is all. It has all the 

 timbre of the locust, and, like it, seems born of 

 the burning sunshine, and part of it. Not like 

 the matins and vespers of thi'ush and sparrow, 

 but the livelong day, in the hottest of noonday 

 heat, the constant iteration of it everywhere in 

 this colony, makes a general all-pervading 

 humming undertone, to which the songs of 

 other birds are the occasional " obligatos." 

 Like all small warblers, the activity ot both 

 sexes is incessant. This is realistic, it you can 

 mark the flight of the three males which chase 

 each other by us like a flaunted riband of blue ; 

 and see. one alights a single second on this 

 limb in front of us with his blazing breast 

 turned our way. Could ever lover come more 

 gaily clad? Clearly, all are not paired at this 

 early date. But by outlining each fringed 

 limb in turn against the sky, we find many sus- 

 picious looking bunches, and note the incom- 

 plete nests. Unlike any other pensile bird- 

 homes, these nests are already swung. The 

 builder simply gathers together the lower 

 strands of the usnea, felting it with the same 

 material, and the nest is done. The limb above 

 is the only dome, and one side aperture only is 

 used ; yet, at tirst sight, the nest might indi- 

 cate a greater degree of skill than the little 

 architect possesses. Sometimes, a tiny bit of 

 wool is at the bottom of the basket, and it is 

 common to see the big ends of two grass-stalks 

 sticking out near the entrance like a pair of 

 horns. No departures from this style of archi- 

 tecture are seen, and I do not think this war- 

 bler ever attached the upper part of the nest to 

 limb or twig like the orioles and vireos. Never 

 a nest without usnea, but there are many groves 

 of lichened trees without Parula. 



Probably in those mossy barrens no pair ever 

 settled, as in others, and by family increase 

 gradually colonized the whole grove. Isolated 

 trees with moss in a wood often show a single 



Copyright, 1888, by F. H. Carpenibb ana T. B. Webstbb. 



