170 



OENITHOLOGIST [Vol. 14-I^o. 11 



Nesting of the Black-throated Blue 

 Warbler. 



Although my first observations of the iiest^ 

 ing habits of this species {Bendroica ca'rules- 

 cem) have already appeared in the pages of 

 the O. & O., I assume that some further notes 

 on the bird itself and its nesting, as noted the 

 past season, may still be interesting. 



On the 24th of May, 1889, I took my usual 

 holiday ramble for nesting purposes to the 

 higli-hard-wood west of " Wildwood," where 

 three years ago I first discovered the nest of 

 this species. Two weeks before I had noted 

 the bird in full song in the high woods, in the 

 rear of " Wildwood" ; and on this occasion as 

 I advanced into the woods, its melody, inter- 

 mingling with that of other warblers and wood- 

 land birds, greeted my ear; and although the 

 newly acquired foliage of the underwood ren- 

 dered the view in some places very limited, I 

 had not gone far when a rather bulky nest of 

 some small bird attracted my attention and 

 led me to the spot. This was placed in the 

 forks of a small hemlock, about eighteen inches 

 from the ground. The bottom was formed of 

 fine dry leaves, but the nest proper was com- 

 Ijosed of woody fibre, some rootlets and a 

 little hair firmly fitted together. 



At first I thought it might belong to some 

 new species, but a close examination of the 

 nest and the one egg that it contained caused 

 me to believe that it was another nest of the 

 Black-throated Blue Warbler, and this opinion 

 I afterwards found to be correct, for on my 

 return on the 27th I found the owner seated 

 on the nest, where she remained till I almost 

 touched her, and then as she flushed off, mak- 

 ing a rustling noise among the dry leaves, and 

 low underwood, I fully identified her. To my 

 regret the set consisted of only two of the 

 bird's own eggs, and one of a Cowbird's, but 

 as she had begun to incubate I took the nest 

 and its contents, and they are now in my col- 

 lection. 



The eggs are of a clear white hue, irregularly 

 marked on the sm-face, especially towards the 

 large end, with reddish dots; average size, 

 .65X.4S. 



In a paper on the Wood Warblers of the 

 vicinity of Montreal, by the late II. .1. Vennor, 

 and published in The Canadian Naturalist, 

 Vol. VI, that writer, speaking of this species, 

 says, "This delightful little warbler is exceed- 

 ingly rare in Lower Canada. Although nothing 

 of a songster, his colors are very bright and 

 rich, and his plumage in general neat. A 



small chirp is all that is heard from him as he 

 flies from bush to bush. This warbler is sel- 

 dom met with in our vicinity. One was shot 

 here some four years ago, and I have not 

 heard of any having been seen since. Our 

 museum has a very good specimen of this rare 

 bird. Certainly they do not breed here regu- 

 larly, if at all: a stray individual may some- 

 times remain to rear its brood on our 

 mountain, but not often. Audubon traced this 

 warbler through the upper part of the state of 

 New York into Maine, the British provinces 

 and the Magdalen islands in the Bay of St. 

 Lawrence. According to his account the nest 

 is usually placed on the horizontal branch of a 

 flr tree, seven or eight feet from the ground ; 

 nest composed of strips of bark, mosses and 

 fibrous roots, lined with tine grass and an 

 inner lining of featlieis. 



"When this warbler is feeding among the 

 branches of a tree one can hear quite distinctly 

 the snapping of his bill, as he pursues the in- 

 sects from twig to twig. He is extremely ac- 

 tive, but as we have mentioned before has no 

 real song. Not even during the pairing season 

 does his note become more musical. 



"Before dismissing tliis interesting bird I 

 may be allowed to quote a few lines Wilson 

 has written respecting it. He says: 'It is 

 highly probable that they breed in Canada; 

 but the summer residents among the featliered 

 race are little known or attended to. The 

 habits of the bear, the deer, and beaver are 

 much more interesting to those people, and 

 for a good substantial reason, because moie 

 kicrative; and unless there should arrive an 

 order from England for a cargo of skins of 

 Warblers and Flycatchers sufficient to make 

 them an object wortli speculation, we are 

 likely to know as little of them hereafter as at 

 present.' " 



After reading the above article in the light 

 of more modern discoveries and scientific facts, 

 the field ornithologist is likely to be considei- 

 ably surprised at the small amount of inform- 

 ation possessed by the fathers of American 

 ornithology regarding many of our woodland 

 birds. Whatever may have been the nesting 

 habits of the Black-throated Blue Warbler in 

 the days of Audubon, it does not appear to 

 pi'actise the same modes now, and, although 

 until lately this bird was unknown to me by 

 its proper name, yet I remember it as a dis- 

 tinct species, and of having seen several of its 

 nests when I was a boy many years ago, in 

 the township of Peel; and it sang quite at- 

 tractively then; and the nests then, as now. 



'Nov. 1889.] 



AND OC 



were placed near the ground; but those ob- 

 served were generally in wild hop-vines near 

 the edge of the woods. 



One pair, I remember, used to frequent a 

 piece of thick woods in the bend of the creek, 

 where it issued from the forest unto our farm 

 and to me; it was then known as the Black- 

 backed Warbler, and under that term I de- 

 scribed it among other warblers, in a series of 

 articles on our wild birds in The Rural Cana- 

 dian. And in contradistinction to the time 

 when Wilson wandered and wrote, there are i 

 now quite a number of persons in the Canadian 

 provinces giving the keenest attention to the 

 appearing and life-histories of the feathered 

 race, and when Vennor wrote the above paper 

 he confessedly knew little of this species or he | 

 would not have characterized it as a songless [ 

 bird. 



But though this little wild-wood wanderer 

 warbles its song witli clearness and animation, 

 especially for some weeks after its arrival; 

 from the south, yet it must be admitted that ( 

 its music is not remarkable for its melody, j 

 for in its refrain there seems a melancholy 

 plaintiveness, as though the little performer 

 was complaining that it was seeking in vain 

 for something that it had loved and lost; but 

 as adding a varying strain to the great orches- 

 Ira of tlie wilderness it must ever be interest- 

 ing to the lover of bird music, and the student 

 of animated nature. 



This species is about five inches in length. I 

 In its spring plumage the color of the male on 

 tlie upper parts is of a uniform slaty blue, 

 while the cheeks, cliin, throat, and sides of 1 

 the breast are deep black, the hinder lower | 

 parts are pure white, and there are some white I 

 dots on the wings and tail. Its favorite habi- : | 

 tat is high hard wood, timbered lands, and , 

 while the male loves to warble his song notes ; ' 

 high among the branches, as he gleans his ' 

 insect food from the foliage, the female usually 

 selects a more lowly site for the cradle of 

 lier progeny, and in common with most of the 

 others of tlie smaller species of birds, that 

 nest in exposed positions, she is often com- 

 pelled to be the foster-mother of one or more 

 of the young of that featheviMl ii:u;isitr, the i 

 Cowbird. Willidif L. I<< lh. 



Listowel, Ontario, flanacla. 



O.&O. XIV.N o y. 1GG9 p.ljV-//V 



