104 



BULLETIN OF THE NUTTALL 



carefully studying their habits, I became convinced of the error of my 

 earlier impressions. Their movements are much slower than those 

 of the Mniotilta, and there is less of that crouching, creeping motion. 

 They do, indeed, spend much of their time searching the larger 

 branches for food, but it is much more in the manner of the Pine 

 Warbler, and their motion is rather a hopping than a creeping one. 

 I have never seen them ascend the trees from the roots to the top- 

 most branches, as Audubon relates, but I occasionally observed one 

 clinging against the main trunk for a moment, to seize an insect, 

 as will the Bluebird (Sialia sialis) and many of the Warblers. Their 

 hunting-ground is for the most part, however, among the higher 

 branches, and a considerable part of their time is spent at th^ ex- 

 tremities of the limbs, searching for food among the pine needles. 

 Their bright yellow throats, brought out by contrast with the dark 

 evergreen foliage, give them a certain resemblance to the Black- 

 burnian Warbler {Dendroeca blackhumice). The males are not very 

 persistent singers. I rarely heard them during the warm hours 

 of the day, even when pairing was almost their sole occupation. 

 Their song is very pretty; it may be nearly imitated by the syl- 

 lables Tivsee-twsee-twsee, twsee-see, the last two rising and terminat- 

 ing abruptly. It most nearly resembles that of the Nashville 

 Warbler {HelmintTiophaga ruficapilla), beginning in almost the 

 same way, but ending differently, and, indeed, throughout the notes 

 are much sweeter. Both sexes utter a chirp similar to that of other 

 Warblers, but sharper. 



By the middle of April there was a marked decrease in the 

 number of Yellow-throated Warblers about St. Mary's. This was 

 partly owing to my having shot many for specimens, but not en- 

 tirely to this, for extended researches over new ground convinced 

 me that the greater number had passed on, probably to the north- 

 ward. A few, however, still remained ; perhaps on an average one 

 pan- to every hundred acres of pine forest. While collecting near 

 St. Mary's, April 18, I was in the act of shooting a female when I 

 noticed that she was gathering material for building, and, tracing 

 her flight, I was fortunate enough to discover her half-completed 

 nest. Visiting the spot at frequent intervals, I invariably found 

 both birds feeding among the pines in the vicinity, although the 

 nest, as far as I could judge, seemed finished. At length. May 2, 

 a friend, ascending the tree, found the female sitting. She remained 

 on the nest until he nearly touched it, although the limb shook 



ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB. 



105 



violently under his weight. When she did finally leave it she sailed 

 down into a smaller tree a few rods off, where she remained a silent 

 and seemingly unconcerned spectator of what followed. The nest 

 and its contents being safely lowered to the ground, I shot both the 

 female and her mate. The latter was singing, as usual, a short 

 distance off, and apparently took no more interest than the female 

 in the destruction of their mutual hopes. Embryos of small size 

 had already formed in the eggs, so that incubation must have 

 begun three or four days previously. This nest was placed at the 

 height of about thirty-five feet from the ground, on the stout hori- 

 zontal branch of a Southern pine, one of a thinly scattered grove 

 or belt that stretched along the edge of a densely wooded hummock. 

 It was set flatly on the limb, — not saddled to it, — nearly midway 

 between the juncture with the main trunk and the extremity of the 

 twigs, and was attached to the rough bark by silky fibres. It is 

 composed externally of a few short twigs and strips of bark bound 

 together by Spanish moss {Tillandsia usneoides) and a silky down 

 from plants. The lining consists of a few hair-like filaments of 

 moss and soft cottony vegetable down. The whole structure is 

 neatly and firmly compacted, though essentially simple in appeai-- 

 ance, and, from the nature of the component materials, of a grayish 

 inconspicuous color. In size, shape, and general formation it very 

 nearly resembles nests of the Black-throated Green Warbler (Ben- 

 drceca virens) in my collection. It measures externally 2.80 inches 

 in diameter by 1.70 in depth; internally, 1.77 inches in diameter by 

 L30 in depth. The eggs, four in number, measure .69 by .53 of an 

 inch. They are quite regularly ovate, with fine dottings of pale 

 lilac scattered thinly and evenly over a grayish-white ground-color. 

 A few spots or blotches of burnt sienna occur about the large ends, 

 while occasional irregular penlike lines of dark brown diversify the 

 remaining surface. 



Upon referring to published accounts of the nesting of this 

 Warbler, I find the statements by the different authors most con- 

 flicting, and the authenticity of many of the specimens open to 

 gravest doubt. Both Mr. Maynard (in " Birds of Florida," Part II, 

 page 61) and Dr. Coues ("Birds of the Northwest," page 67) base 

 their descriptions upon alleged specimens sent to the Smithsonian 

 Institution by Mr. Norwood C. Giles, of Wilmington, N. C. Dr. 

 Brewer refers to these specimens as " eggs supposed to be of this 

 species," and Dr. Coues describes the nest as " built in a large mass 



