•LOGIST. 



5 



Nesting of the Cerulean Warbler. 



How well do I remember finding my 

 first Cerulean Warblers' nest. 



It came about in this manner : One 

 pleasant day in May, 1890, while out col- 

 lecting skins at Greenwood, a suburb of 

 St. Louis, on the Missouri Pacific Railroad, 

 and about one Iialf mile "from my home, 

 and while prying around in a small but 

 beautiful piece of forest through which 

 winds a small creek which goes by the 

 name of the river Des Perces, pronounced 

 De Pere, I spied a small bird flitting 

 about in a tall but slender sycamore. On 

 first appearance I took the tiny bird to be 

 a Vireo of some species, and sat down to 

 watch its movements for awhile before 

 shooting. P'inally it disappeared, and I 

 had just begun to be vexed at such stupid- 

 ity in allowing the bird to escape, when 

 it made its appearance again, and with, I 

 thought, something in its mouth ; but at 

 such a great height I was not sure, so I 

 decided to wait awhile, and was rewarded 

 with unmistakable signs of nest building. 

 As I could see nothing of the nest, I con- 

 cluded that the nest must be just begun, 

 and so I left, intending to visit the tree 

 again in about a week ; but it was ten 



days before I again visited the locality, 

 and with a good glass I scanned each and 

 every branch but no hanging nest ; but on 

 a horizontal limb about sixty-five feet up 

 and about twelve feet from the trunk, and 

 where the limb forked out, I thought I 

 noticed an undue bulging of the limb and 

 j decided to investigate ; so after consider- 

 able hard work in the way of shinning I 

 reached the suspicious limb, and way out 

 on the end I spied a tiny nest containing 

 two eggs, but no bird in sight, nor did it 

 show up. Not being prepared to secure 

 the nest, and wishing a full set, I left. 



Four days later I returned with a long 

 clothes-line, a chalk line, large jack-knife 

 and some cotton, also a younger brother 

 to help. After another hard shin, I reached 

 the branch and begun operations by first 

 wrapping and tying one end of the clothes- 

 line around the limb containing the nest 

 and about twenty inches from the trunk; 

 I next passed the line over a limb just 

 above the one holding the nest, bringing 

 the line down and securing to the lower 

 limb ; my next move was to fasten a line 

 to the fork containing the nest ; much 

 easier said than done, but I finally landed 

 a chalk line with a weight attached in the 

 right place, and lowering the same to the 

 ground my brother attached a short line, 

 which I was about to draw up in position 

 when I thought to myself. How will I tie 

 it away out there.' But, no sooner said 

 than done, I had my brother tie a good 

 stout stick about a foot long to the end, 

 and climbing higher up I hauled the rope 

 up and secured it to the limb above ; thus 

 I had the limb so it could not fall or turn 

 over after it was cut. I almost forgot to 

 say that all this rumpus proved too much 

 for the bird, who up to the time I threw 

 the chalk line over the limb a couple of 

 inches from her had remained on the nest. 

 She now left the nest, hopping all round 

 it and continually pecking at the chalk 

 line and scolding like a Wren or Vireo. 



