The Blackburnian Warbler at Home. 



Having ever admired tlie lovely little crea- 

 ture—the subject of my skctoh — and never 

 having become acquainted with him, save as a 

 transient visitor, when he rested for a time on 

 Ills long journeys, it was with keen delight that 

 I followed him on his liome-goiug in the spring 

 of 1887. 



Often have I watched these cliarming birds, 

 as they moved about <iuietly among the foliage 

 in search of food; but very little of tlieir real 

 nature did they disclose to me; never a note 

 a chirp; silent and satisfied they soon 

 hurried on. 



Occasionally they arc overtaken by a sudden 

 ;old snap, and tlien their plight is pitiable. 



Once while traveling in northern Iowa, during 

 the month of April, a bitter cold spell of 

 weather came quickly upon the track of a 

 warm bright time, and I remember that in the 

 town of Clarion many small birds had di'ifted 

 ito the more sheltered localities to escape the 

 biting blast that had met them while crossing 

 those treeless prairies. A ni ( mg them was a little 

 Blackburnian Warbler, so chilled that it did 

 not object to being held in my wai-m hand. 

 Perhaps it blessed me for the kindness; at any 

 ■ate, I know that nothing in that eventful col- 

 lecting tour gave me greater ])leasure. 



The Jirst time I saw this species was upon a 

 fine S])ring morning at the old home near New- 

 ton, Iowa, when a small flock of male Black- 

 burnians, with some Black - tliroated Green 

 Warblers, spent a forenoon among the ever- 

 greens and shrubbery in ray father's yard. 



They were very tame, permitting my sister 

 and myself to approach within a few feet of 

 them, where we watched their movements for 

 long time, charmed by their brilliant garb 

 and dainty actions as tliey llittcd here and 

 there among the new leaves or the bloom-laden 

 plum trees. Little did I tlien ho])e to see tliem 

 in glad abandon, where tangled spruce and 

 hemlock marches — which abound in tlie 

 wooded lake region of nortliorn Minnesota — 

 offer them a perfect homo. Diu ing May and 

 jarly .June the males were in const;int song. 

 Perched upon a dry and broken branch of some 



Mar. 1889.] 



Aro OOLOGIST. 



35 



tall, old hemlock, one of these dauntless fel- 

 lows will sit for hours in the warm sunshine, 

 poui'ing forth his matchless meloily. But let 

 another male intrude upon his domain, a.nd in 

 a twinkling the song ceases and the songster is 

 transformed into as much figlit as lus little 

 feathers will contain. As soon as his jaunty 

 foe is driven away, the perch is resumed, and 

 his vietoiy is herakled forth in ecstatic strains. 

 These thrilling notes of love-making are diiiH- 



cult to represent, S( 

 song of the Black-tlu 

 to my notion, richer : 

 not at all afraid to co 

 In fact he is a little v: 

 and evident prowess 

 conspicuous object in 



niewhat resembling the 

 -ated Green Warbler, but 

 nd more lively, ajid he is 

 ue out and show himself, 

 in of his flaming tliroat, 

 in song. Wl.ih' thus a 

 (l)ese s.M-ludcd wilds, h 

 modest mal-c is gliding in and dut among tl 

 thick r,,li;ii!y of the lihn-k spruce. One will 

 start near the gn.nnd, and by hopping from 

 braueh to bi'ancli, soon gain the close, cone- 

 clad top, fi-om which it lightly falls to another 

 tree, and so continues its search. In the lo- 

 cality where I observed thcni, the black spruce 

 {AMcx nii/n-) sc<nned to be their favorite; aud £i 

 right good protection it is for the home- 

 making, for when thickly draped with the long 

 wands of pendant Umea — "Old Man's Beard," 

 —it is well nigli inipos.sible to detect cither the 

 bird or nest. And it is only by watching the 

 female, while carrying material, that one is 

 likely to find the nest, and even then it is not 

 an easy task. I spent many days before finding 

 the first nest, and, at the time, there were two 

 pairs building within a small radius, in a close 

 set marsh. 



On the morning of May 20th, while waiting 

 near the corduroy road, which crosses this 

 marsh at a certain point, a fennile Blackbur- 

 nian Warbler Hew to the middle of the road 

 aud bega-n tugging away at some hairs, which 

 were secured, aud carried into the thick, young 

 hemlocks. This it repeated often, and my most 

 earnest efforts failed to detect where she went. 

 Three consecutive days she continued at her 

 task, leaving me as much in mystery as at 

 first. 



Several <1ays later, by cha.nce, I espied the 

 bird contentedly sitting upon lier eggs, up in a 

 hendiK'k tree. Shortly after I detected another 

 pair l)nildiug, and was more f<n-tunate, for 

 while standing silent at the edge of a small! 

 opening dui ing a shower, a male Blackburnian 

 came out on top of a black .spruce, and after' 

 pluming himself. Hew away, to return in the; 

 coui-se of half an houi-, when they both made ' 

 their ai^pearance. Soon botli left slun-tly to | 



return again, the female carrying a long grass 

 blade. The male stayed close by her. They 

 went direct to the nest, thirty feet up in the 

 far out tip of a branch of black spruce. I saw 

 tliem go back and forth many times, the male 

 simply keeping his mate company. 



The first nest was placed against the trunk, 

 and upon a small branch which sprang from 

 tlie tree at a height of twenty feet. 



The nest before me has a light platform of 

 fine, dead twigs of the spruce. Into this is 

 neatly woven a considerable quantity of Usnea, 

 then a suiiicieut lining of finely shredded, inner 

 bark of the bass wood, with a few long horse 

 hairs, ajid a number of deer's hairs. The rim 

 of the structure is Umea, neatly matted and 

 twined, holding all together. Then the exterior 

 is flecked all over with flufls of cottony 

 spidei's webbing. Altogether it is an elegant 

 work of art. It measures three inches across 

 by one and a half inches in depth, thus being 

 quite shallow. The depression hi this is very 

 shallow and small. It contained two fresh eggs 

 of the owner and one of the Cow Bird, and at 

 tlie foot of the tree were fragments of two 

 more eggs which had been crowded from the 

 nest by this parasite. 



In tlie second nest the materials were simi- 

 lar to those in the first with the addition of 

 some soft grasses. It had been jilaced in the 

 fork of a liorizontal branch near the tip and 

 five feet from the trunk, thirty feet from the 

 ground. Over tins branch grew another, which 

 lay close upon it, concealing the nest from 

 every way. This set consisted of three eggs, 

 with one of the inevitable Cow Bird. The 

 fourth egg lay broken on the ground. The 

 eggs when fresh are rich, much resembling 

 those of the Chestnut-sided Warbler. 



With all the tugging and slipping I did in 

 drawing myself up by means of those drooping, 

 •ope-like bi-anches, and with all the jolting the 

 tree had in consequence, the bird remained 

 close, never uttering a protest. So gentle and 

 patient was she, I came well-nigh leaving her 

 1 possession of her treasures. 



W. Preaton. 

 Baxter, Iowa. O Jb Ch vrvr ^..r 



<BU. XIV. Mar. 1889 p. 34-3. 



