Nesting of the Cerulean Warbler {Detidrotca cariilea) in Beaver 

 County, Pennsylvania.— This species, reported to be exceedingly rare in 

 most sections, is here coinnion as a migrant and tolerably common as a 

 summer resident. (But compare, in this connection Wheaton,/e?' Coues, 

 Birds of the Northwest, p. 233.) It has not as yetlbeen found in Butler 

 and Armstrong Counties. In the breeding se^Wn it is partial to higli, 

 open, oak woods, as well as to low, da^inp; beech woodland, in which 

 places I often see Hve or six pairs in the course of as many hours' walk. 

 Inhabiting as it does the terminal foliage of the highest forest trees, it 

 would easily be overlooked even by the most careful of observers, 

 were it not for the peculiar notes of the male, which are readily 

 distinguished from those of any other Warbler, and which suffice to dis- 

 close its presence. I can scarcely describe this song, beyond saying that 

 it is a genuine Warbler song, and that its last notes somewhat resemble 

 the 'drumming' of our locust {Cicada') ; but once heard it is not apt to be 

 forgotten. 



It was with these facts in mind that on May 24, 1890, I determined to 

 put my previous experience to a test in finding the nest of the species. 

 Proceeding to a patch of woodland in which I had previously located two 

 pairs, I quickly discovered one of the males, and in the course of half an 

 hour liis mate appeared, whereupon I transferred my attention to her. 

 After an hour's patient watching she at last was seen to go to her nest, 

 which was thus discovered to be saddled on the fork of a horizontal 

 branch of a certain kind of tree, far out from the trunk, and fully 50 feet 

 from the ground. The only way it could possibly be reached was by 

 climbing a tall, slim butternut tree adjacent, thus enabling one to scoop 

 out the eggs by means of a net attached to the end of a pole. However, 

 on May 26'the plan was successfully carried out, though not without con- 

 siderable risk; in addition the nest was secured and the female bird shot, 

 thus putting the identification beyond question. The mal came about 

 at the time, but apparently manifested little concern. 



The nest was a small, neat structure, tightly fastened to its branch, and 

 composed mainly of weed stalks and strips of bark, though the outside, 

 whose texture was rendered firmer by means of a plentiful supply of 

 saliva and cobwebs, presented a decidedly white appearance, owing to 

 the color of the stems composing it as well as to the bits of paper and 

 hornets' nest added. The lining was simply finer weed stalks. It con- 

 tained three eggs of the Warbler and one of the Cowbird, all fresh, so 

 that the set was probably incomplete. In color they almost exactly re- 

 semble a set of American Redstarts in ray collection, dilTering only in 

 being slightly shorter. The ground-color is white, ^rith a rather decided 

 suggestion of bluish-green, spotted over, in the style of most Warblers, 

 with reddish-brown, the spots tending to aggregate at and around the 

 larger end. 



The eggs, the nest, and the female bird are now in the collection 

 of Dr. C. Hart Merriam of Washington, D. C— W. E. Clyde Todd, 

 Beaver, Beaver Comity, Pa. Aak, 8, AprU.lBQl. p.j2 3V~i3;' 



,ral.Vi.i445. The C<.rulean Warhlcr. By J. H. Langille. 

 O' _^Lription of habits, nest and eggs, as observed near Buffalo, N. Y. 



