30 



ORNITHOLOGIST 



[Vol. 9-No. 3 March, 1884.] 



AND OOLOGIST. 



31 



THE 



ORNITHOLOGIST 



— AND — 



OOLOGIST. 



A MONTKLY MAGAZISE OF 



NATURAL HISTORY, 

 BIRDS, 



TBEIE liSSTS Am EGBS. 



A MEANS FOR THE INTEnOHANOE OF NOTES 



FRANK B. WEBSTER, Publisher, 



PAWTUCKET, R. I. 



The Black-throated Blue Warbler 

 in Connecticut. 



On the 6th of June, 1883, I had the 

 good fortune to find a nest of Dendnma 

 cmrulescens, being the fourth which I have 

 taken in this town (see Nutt. Bull. Vol. 1, 

 p. 11, and 0. and O. Vol. 6, p. 49). It was 

 by a mere accident that I found it. ' At the 

 time I was giving my attention wholly to a 

 Canada Flycatcher {3Iyiodioct.es mnaden^ 

 sis) singing just in the edge of a thickly 

 wooded swamp, whose mate I felt sure was 

 brooding near by. I was slowly making 

 my way toward him through the thick 

 growth of Laurels, and as I pushed aside 

 the bushes to open a path, I caught a 

 glimpse of an object just beneath my hand 

 which arrested my attention. I carefully 

 parted the leaves and there lay a nest with 

 whose appearance I had become somewhat 

 familiar. It contained four eggs, but the 

 bird had slipped away. So I sat down on 

 a stone not more than four or five yards 

 away and waited to see what I could see. 

 Presently I heard a low chirp, then another 

 and soon a bush moved : a few moments 

 more and there was a slight qioiver of the 

 leaves in another part of the thicket, and 

 then I discovered the bird cautiously pass- 

 ing through the leaves. Gradually she ap- 

 proached nearer, till I coixld see her dis- 



tinctly enough to distinguish the faint 

 white wing-spot. Her complaints were ut- 

 tered in a low tone, but her mate evidently 

 heard them for he very soon made his ap- 

 pearance and seemed more disturbed than 

 the female. He kept very close to her, 

 within a foot or two, changing his position 

 whenever she moved, and his showy plu- 

 mage formed a marked contrast with the 

 modest garb of the female. Their protes- 

 tations grew louder as I continued to watch 

 them, and the female Canada Flycatcher, 

 whose nest must have been near hj, came 

 to offer her sympathy. But this was not 

 very graciously received, for the female 

 ccendesoens hustled her off the premises 

 without ceremony. I then took a position 

 so as to bring some tall bushes between 

 me and the nest, when she began gradu- 

 ally to approach it and soon disappeared 

 behind them. The male also disappeared 

 at the same time. I then cautiously ap- 

 proached and found her settled in her nest 

 with only her head and tail appearing above 

 the rim. 



This nest was not so near the ground as 

 were the other three which I have found, 

 the top being seventeen and one-half inches 

 high. In general appearance it resembles 

 them. On the outside is a quantity of 

 some white, woolly substance, not spread 

 evenly over the nest, but stuck on in 

 bunches as if the bii-d had deposited what 

 she brought each time, whenever it was 

 most convenient, and without any particu- 

 lar object in view, unless it was for the 

 looks of the thing. 



This bird seems to have a partiality for 

 wet ground. The nest was not more than 

 thirty yards from the edge of a wet swamp. 

 It was in large woods, having a thick un- 

 dergrowth composed principally of Kal- 

 mias, in one of which it was built. And 

 a reference to my accoimts of the other 

 nests wUl show that they were similarly 

 situated, i. e., in Kalmias. At neither of 

 the other nests did I see anything of the 



male bird. I was therefore particularly 

 pleased to see him make his appearance on 

 this occasion, as it removed some unfa- 

 vorable opinions about them which I had 

 begun to entertain. 



As I took my first nests of this species 

 in 1874, their breeding here embraces a 

 period of nine years at least. And as I 

 was obliged to capture the first two fe- 

 males for identification, neither they nor 

 their offsj^ring could have been the parents 

 of these last two nests. This would seem 

 to indicate that it was not entirely acci- 

 dental that one or even two pairs had 

 dropped out of the migration and remained 

 so far south of their usual breeding 

 grounds, but rather that at least a colony 

 had been established here for many years. 

 It would be interesting to know just how 

 this was first brought about. But it would 

 .be reasonable to suppose that it began 

 with a single nest. A bird may have been 

 in some w^ay partially disabled so that she 

 could not continue her flight, or the neces- 

 j sities of maternity may have checked it, 

 and making a home where she could, that 

 ! would be the home of her offspriug as 

 ^ truly as though it were farther north, and 

 the place which they would naturally seek 

 on their return the next season. There is 

 no reason why the same thing might not 

 happen to any of the species of small birds 

 I which habitually proceed to the far north 

 ;^ to spend the summer. A more thorough 

 i observation of their migratory and breed- 

 : ing habits will doubtless result in modify- 

 ing many current opinions respecting them. 

 It is an interesting question, and de- 

 } serving of careful investigation, whether 

 I there is in any of the more northern sum- 

 1 mer residents and particularly the sylvi- 

 eolidm, a tendency to shift or extend their 

 breeding range further south % The con- 

 I stant destruction of the northern forests 

 ; must produce climatic changes to some ex- 

 ) tent, and probably will affect the food sup- 

 ply. But is this change of such character 

 i and extent as to produce any perceptible 



change, as yet, in the summer residence of 

 these birds % And on the other hand is 

 there a tendency in any species to push 

 farther north as the country becomes more 

 open"? — G. 31. Jones, Eastford, Conn. 



0-&Q TX. Mar.la84.p. J'f'-J/ 



