A Kentucky Warbler near Boston, Massachusetts.— At Wellesley Hills, 
in the forenoon of May 14, 1907, having just left the electric car and passed 
in the rear of the stores and dwellings which front on the little village 
square, I came to a swampy hollow with some depth of standing water 
almost surrounded by large willows and with small willow's and other 
brush growth rising out of the w'ater. Here clearly distinguished from 
familiar warbler songs which at once reached my ear from Parula, Myrtle 
and Yellow' Warblers, Redstart and Northern Water-Thrush was heard a 
clear, bright, rather loud song in dissyllabic rhythm which I had never 
heard before. Before coming in sight of the bird which gave it, it w'as my 
happy experience to realize that I was looking upon and hearing the song 
of a Kentucky Warbler ( Oporornis forrnosa). The song was many times 
given at intervals during the half-hour which I remained. There were 
generally five repetitions of the dissyllable without notes of introduction 
or finish. It might be put into the word, wheeter-wheeter-wheeter-whceler 
wheeter, as Mr. Allison suggests in Mr. Chapman’s ‘Warblers of North 
America,’ or other dissyllables such as others suggest therein, or into the 
words, cherry-cherry-cherry-cherry-cherry, rapidly repeated, as it came to 
my ear. The fulness and brightness of tone were like the Mourning 
Warbler’s cheery song, which, however, is given with more fulness and 
deliberation and with three repetitions of cheery only. Under my observa- 
tion the Kentucky Warbler moved back and forth in a quite limited area, 
often about the roots and sterns of the bushes just above the water, a 
very beautifully plumaged bird. Mr. Bradford Torrey’s expressions of 
admiration for the simplicity and richness and good taste of its costume 
seemed none too enthusiastic. 
Passing on from this point the first Blackburnian and Black-throated 
Blue Warblers of the season were noted, the first Yellow-throated, Blue- 
headed and Red-eyed Vireos were seen, and the Prairie and Golden-winged 
Warblers were found in their breeding haunts. The morning of May 14 
had opened with light southwest winds and a temperature of 56°, which 
had been carried in the middle of the forenoon to 78°. It was under 
these conditions that, I found the Kentucky Warbler active and freely 
singing. Presently a sudden change was inaugurated in five minutes’ 
time, the wind came fresh from the east, and the temperature dropped 20°. 
This had a quieting effect upon all of the birds, and when I passed on the- 
Kentucky was no longer singing. At four o'clock in the afternoon I 
returned to this same spot and could not see or hear anything of him. So 
it was again the next forenoon when I sought him. The other birds of 
the day before were there, but he was not. 
Messrs. Howe and Allen in ‘The Birds of Massachusetts,’ 1901, do not 
include the Kentucky Warbler in their list, but in a note make reference 
to a bird of this species being included in Dr. Holder's ‘List, of the Birds of 
Lynn,’ 18-16, as then in the collection of the Lynn Natural History Society, 
adding, “as we have been unable to see this specimen we make but this 
mention of it.” Dr. Charles W. Townsend in ‘The Birds of Essex County,’ 
1905, does not include this species in his list, remarking, “Dr. Holder in- 
cludes this bird in his Lynn list, 1846, stating that there is a specimen in the 
collection of the Lynn Natural History Society. As there is no other 
record of this bird for the State, and as I was unable to find this specimen 
in a recent examination of the battered remains of this collection, I have 
omitted the bird from the list.” 
This Kentucky Warbler at Wellesley Hills would seem, therefore, to 
be the first authentic record of the species within the State. 
In ‘A Review of the Birds of Connecticut ’ by Mr. C. Hart Merriam, 1877, 
two records of Kentucky Warbler within that State are given, namely: 
“Mr. Erwin I. Shores obtained a male of this species at Suffield, Conn., 
Aug. 16, 1876, thus adding another bird, not only to the Avifauna of 
Connecticut, but also to New England”; and “I learn from Mr. J. G. Ely 
of Lyme, Conn., that ho has shot one Kentucky Warbler.” Dr. Jonathan 
Dwight, Jr., in ‘The Auk,’ Vol. XX, October, 1903, under the heading, 
‘Some New Records for Nova Scotia,’ based on a small lot of bird skins 
sent to him from Sable Island by Mr. Jas. McL. Boutcher, furnishes this 
note on Kentucky Warbler: “A young male taken September 1, 1902, 
is in first winter plumage as determined by softening the skin and exami- 
ning the bones. The nearest point at which the species regularly breeds 
is New Jersey.” — Horace W. Wright, Boston, Mass. 
Auk, 24, July, 190 Tv 
