Correspondence. 



Editor of 0. iL- 0. ; | 

 Wliile looking in swamp, May SOtli, I found 

 eight nests of Parul a Warbjei-, all in ckimp of 

 spruce trees iu a radius of five rods. The nests 



are beautiful littl 

 entirely concealed 

 they wei e made. 



While iu the s 

 week I lieard the i 

 agor, and a,s [ wa 



structures, and were almost 

 A'ith the long moss of which 



ime swamp the following 



ote of a male Scarlet Tan- 



ited a specimen I followed 



the sound and got directly under the tree, 



which wa'i a large cliestnnt on a knoll near 



edge of swamp. I again listened for the note. 



1 did not have to wait long for it was a rainy 



morning and the Tanagor was happy, but 1 



looked of course for tiur bright red bird, and 



when I saw what looked to be a Baltimore 



Oriole with the notes of a Tauager I rubbed 



my eyes and looked again, but that did not 



change the color of the bird; but with a charge 



of dust sliot I was soon examining what I 



thought a conundrum. It was certainly a 



Scarlet Tauager, but its plumage still puzzles 



me. It was badly shot in head so I could not 



mount it, but made a poor skin of it. I send 



you feathers from its breast and back. Its 



wings are of a faded black. Its outer tail 



feathers on outer edge are near a bronze. 



What do you think of it, is it an albino? 



J. W. Jackson. 

 Belohertown, Mass. ' 



[Immature male.— £'rZ.] j 

 •Q&O.XVI . Marc h. iRpi^ y7 ! 



On the 17th we arose early and had wandered 

 leisurely along, securing a few small birds, un- 

 til about ten o'clock when we came upon an old 

 mossy orchard of which many of the trees had 

 decayed and fallen or had been toppled over by 

 the winds. Here we found the Parula Warble r 



, {Compsolhhjpin amaricana) in abundance, sing- 



I ing and Hitting about from Hmb to limb and 

 tree to tree in great merriment. As I stood 

 gazing up among the mossy branches I saw 

 what proved to be a beautiful and well con- 

 cealed globular nest composed of nntiea moss, 

 with which the tree was literjflly covered. It 

 was hanging about nine feet above the ground, 

 lined with a few horsehairs and bits of down, 

 and contained two newly laid eggs. We also 

 found many other uests in different stages of 

 completion. On the 21st I found another nest 

 of this species containing a set of four eggs, 

 attached to the twiggs of a small alder bush 

 two feet above the ground over a pool of water 



I about a foot in depth. These are the first in- 

 stances that I have known of this bird's breed- 

 ing so early in the season in Massachusetts, 



i| nevei- before having found a full set before tlie 



I first of June. 



Blue Yellow-backed Warbler's Nest. 



Some time ago Mr. Twogood of Ptituam, • 

 Conn., -presented tis witli the nest of a Blue 

 Yellow-backed Warbler that is very unu- 

 sual in shape, and the finding of it was ho 

 peculiar that we think it best to place it on 

 record. It will be noticed that Mr. Two- 

 good was not acquainted with the bird or 

 its habits, but foiuid the nest from the 

 vibration alone of the hanging moss, which 

 must have been caused by the pulse of the 

 bird. When we received the nest we placed 

 it in warm water to get it back to its natu- 

 ral shape. After it was diy we measui-ed 

 it very carefully and found it twenty-two 

 and a half inches long ; and what was still 

 more strange there were two perfect nests, 

 one above the other. The one described 

 below was the bottom nest. The one above 

 had undoubtedly been used the year pre- 

 vious, but both nests are still perfect. But 

 we will let Mr. T. tell his own story. 



"I was returning home from a day's 

 ramble down the Quinebaug Eiver and no- 

 ticed, while passmg a Pine tree, several 

 long pieces of "hanging moss" growing 

 from the horizontal limbs. I noticed one 

 piece in particular swaying to and fro while 

 the rest were quite motionless, and I threw 

 a stick at the swaying moss, when out flew 

 a small bird which dropped instantly to the 

 low bushes which covered the ground on 

 the river bank. I did not see the bird 

 again as she would not fly from the bushes. 

 I climbed the tree but could not see into 

 the moss, so I pulled it down and found 

 it was a bird's nest. The limb from which 

 I took the nest was about fifteen feet from 

 the groimd. The nest is a single piece of 

 moss twenty inches long and about two 

 and a half wide in the widest part. The 

 entrance to the nest is eight inches from 

 the top and two inches in depth. The 

 eggs, four in number, were so far advanced 



Feb., 1883.] 



AND OC 



in incubation that I only saved one. The 

 only lining the nest had was two or three 

 horse hairs." Mr. T. only measured the 

 body of the moss and not the lower portion. 



During the season of 1881 Mr. Junius 

 A. Brand of Norwich, Conn., took us to a 

 colony of Blue Yellow-backs. One of the 

 nests to which Mr. B. climbed contained 

 one of the old birds an unwilling prisoner, 

 as by some means it had become entan- 

 gled in the moss and could not escape im- 

 til aided by Mr. B. There were no eggs 

 in the nest. In this small colony of a few- 

 trees we found some five or six nests be- 

 side some old ones of the year previous. 



o. & o. viii.P^b. 1883. p. ;a -y"^ 



0,& O. XIII. Feb. 1888 p. .30 



two sets of Blue ^ Yellow-backed Warbler 

 O.AO. VU.Oct. 1882.p./£.3. 



