Oct. 1889.] 



AKD OOLOGIST. 



151 



Nesting of the Yellow-throated War- 

 bler, at Raleigh, N. C. 



The 25tli of April, 1889, was not at all a 

 promising day, and seemed much inclined to 

 rain, but as the weather didn't come to any 

 conclusion I took my gun and went out to do 

 a little collecting. As the weather seemed un- 

 settled I went into a tract of medium sized 

 pines quite near town to see what I could 

 come up with. Yellow-throated, Pine and 

 Prairie Warblers all stayed there, as well as 

 hosts of Chipping Sparrows, so I was sure of 

 something to look for anyhow. On entering 

 the pines I started in to look for Yellow-throats 

 but couldn't at first find any, but hearing a J 

 Prairie singing, the other side of an empty 

 mill pond on the edge of the pines, I crossed 

 said pond and bagged him. 



On coming back I heard the well-known song 

 of my old friend, the Yellow-throat (when 

 writing or speaking of "Yellow-throat" I al- 

 ways refer to D. dominica, G. trichas I always 

 think and speak of as merely "Maryland"), 

 and on investigating found a pair together. 

 Well, I watched that pair and weakened my 

 eyes staring at them as they loafed about from 

 pine to pine, but they never gave any signs of 

 building, or of interest in anything except 

 catching bugs and pruning their feathers, and 

 I began to think it was tio r/o as on previous 

 occasions. At last, however, they loafed back | 

 into a pine near by where they came from, and 

 while watching the $ 1 caught sight of a nest 

 on a limb looking much like a Pine Warbler's, 

 but as no bird was on the nest and no Pine 

 Warbler was near by I didn't think it likely, j 

 On climbing the tree to look at the nest 1 1 

 found it was smaller and looked much grayer ' 

 outside than a Pine Warbler's, and also that 

 the sides were attaclied to small twigs. The 

 birds, however, showed no interest in the mat- : 

 ter, and the nest had no eggs in it, so I left in 

 doubt as to whether I had found a prize or 

 not. 



Three days after, on the 28th, I took my 

 brother to look at the nest to see what he 

 could make of it. He reported no eggs, but 

 while looking at the nest the ? Yellow-throat 

 came into the pine and moved uneasily about, 

 plainly showing she owned the nest, and so 

 we went away satisfied. 



On May 4th, we again visited the nest and 

 took therefrom a set of four fresh eggs; the 

 5 kindly staying on the nest long enough for 

 absolute identification. This was our only set 



taken this year, although three more pairs 

 nested in those same pines, and at least a dozen 

 pairs in our whole collecting grounds. 



As this nest differed so much from one 

 found last, I give some particulars of both. 



Nest taken May 4, 1889, 20 feet high in a 

 pine tree, placed on a horizontal limb, 7 feet 

 from trunk; the nest small, frail and neat, 

 the sides being firmly attached to small twigs. 

 My brother who took the nest said it could 

 not have been taken except by hand on ac- 

 count of its frailty. 



Nest taken May 11, 1888, 65 feet high, 12 

 feet from trunk; built among the twigs at the 

 end of a pine limb. The nest had to be torn 

 from the twigs with grappling hooks, and it 

 took a great deal of tearing too, yet it came to 

 hand very little injured. This nest was larger 

 and deeper than a Pine Warbler's, and was 

 composed of grape-vine bark, horse hair and 

 white chicken feathers. This only contained 

 one egg. 



The nests of this bird seem to be quite hard 

 to find. One point is that the male bird does 

 not appear to sing in the neighborhood of the 

 nest much, another is, I am afraid I was not 

 quite early enough in looking them up this 

 year; the only nest found was huiit, and I was 

 then looking for birds building. 



a 8. Brimley. 

 Raleigh.N.C. Q & O. XIV. Oct. 1889 p. 151 



