Nesting of the Pine Warbler in 1889 
at Raleigh, N. C. 
Nesting of the Pine Warbler in 
1888. 
I 
We expected to get a large number of sets 
of eggs of the Fine Warbler (D. pinus) this 
year, judging from last year’s experience, but 
said experience was scarcely worth anything 
to us. I found the first nest building the 
same day and near the same place as last 
year’s No. 1, and after that we found eight 
more nests of the first laying, hut only got five 
sets from them. Of tire second laying (that 
is the rebuilding of nests already taken) we 
found live nests and got. five sets therefrom. 
We also found two nests just started building 
which were afterwards deserted. 
The date for sets was April 12th to 18th (first 
laying) and April 29 to May 2d, (second laying). 
Of the ten sets taken there were eight of 
sets of four eggs each, and two of three eggs 
each (one of these was a full set, the other ap- 
parently incomplete as the bird laid four the 
next time.) 
The nests were built in the same general 
| situations as last year, but most, of them 
were lower, one however was higher than 
I any of last year’s, being seventy feet up in a 
loose barked pine, and fortunately reachable 
from tlie trunk. 
Last year’s sets of the first laying could all 
have been taken on one day ; this year April 1 2th 
found Incubated sets and empty nests as well. 
Of tlie fourteen nests found in various 
stages of completion, ten were found by watch- 
ing" the birds building, two by seeing birds 
act suspiciously in the tree the nest was in, 
and two by looking in the neighborhood of 
where we thought a nest Was. 
I The male bird was found sitting on the nest 
I on two occasions, both times in the forenoon. 
C. S. Brim ley. 
Raleigh, N. C. 
O.&O. XlV.Oct. 1886 p.lSfr 
Winter Food of Birds in the South. Y 
O.S.Brimley, Raleigh, N.O. ' VI 
Pine Warbler (Dendrma pinus) . In October 
and November they were feeding on Dogwood 
berries with the Bluebirds; in December and 
January I only found them in the pine woods, 
feeding on insects and in February they wore 
feeding on Sumach berries in company with 
Bluebirds and Robins. 
O.&O. XII. July 1867 p . I 06 ~ 
BY C. S. BRIM LEY, RALEIGH, N. C. 
Since reading Mr. McLaughlin’s article on 
the breeding of this bird (Dendrceca pinus ) , at 
Statesville, North Carolina, it has been my in- 
tention to look up the matter in this locality, j 
and as I had considerable success in so doing, 
I give the results below. 
In this locality, the Warblers began building 
about March 26, and iu a week the whole colony 
were engaged in so doing. They lost no time 
while building, but rapidly completed their 
nests, and two weeks from the time of starting 
the nests, had them supplied with full sets of 
fresh eggs. 
The nest is composed of grape-vine bark, 
weed stems, and sometimes some cotton, and 
is well lined with horse hair and feathers, the 
outside being usually garnished with some sort 
of cobwebby material, and the whole makes a 
warm, deep and compact nest, which complete- 
ly hides the setting bird from view. 
The structure is placed 011 the horizontal 
limb of a pine tree, usual ly one of the old field 
growth, at a distance of from two to twelve 
feet from tire trunk, varying from twenty to 
eighty feet high from the ground. The usual 
height was about fifty-five feet, only one nest 
under fifty feet being found, and that was the 
first one. 
The set complement is four, but one set of 
five was found. The date for full sets of fresh 
eggs is April 9 to 13, the birds all seeming to 
breed at once. 
When incubating, the female was constantly 
on the nest, which she would not leave until 
the limb was displaced or was violently jarred. 
The birds mostly showed considerable anxiety 
at being disturbed, but only one tried to decoy 
us away by the broken wing dodge, and that 
was the owner of the set of five. 
The nests were all hard to find, and all ex- 
cept one were found by seeing the bird go to 
them while building, and as the female usually 
gets nesting material from a long distance from 
the nest, it often took a good deal of watching, 
especially as the bird seldom went straight to 
the nest, but would fly to another part of the 
tree first or else fly to a tree a little beyond be- 
fore going to tlie nest. 
The song of the male bird was not much help 
in finding the female, as she didn’t appear to 
think it necessary to keep particularly near him 
as long as she wasn’t more than fifty yaids 
away. 
[Mr. McLaughlin writes me that he has taken 
twenty-seven sets of this Warbler’s eggs near 
Statesville, North Carolina, this past season. 
Of these, only one set contained five eggs.— 
J. P. N.] O.&O. XIII. June. 1888 p . 8 if. 
Dendroica vigorsii. Pine Warbler. — A c( 
<xillf Coast vicinity of Tarpon Springs, breeding very abundantly. Young female 
birds of the year in fresh unworn plumage, taken at Tarpon Springs, 
Of Florida. have the buff shade of the underparts particularly pronounced. This 
phase seems quite transient, as by the middle of October, or by November 1 
at latest, the color has faded very decidedly, and a yellowish wash, before 
this time not apparent, appears on the throat breast 
of most individuals of the sex and age refered VH.’ Jan. " 390. p 20. 
11 
