LOGIST. 
43 
Nesting of the Kentucky Warbler. 
BV THOMAS A. .JACKSON, WEST CHESTER, l’A, 
The Kentucky Warbler ( Oporornis formoscis ) 
in this part of Pennsylvania is a frequent sum- 
mer resident, and indeed in some localities, may 
almost be considered a common bird. Its ar- 
rival early in May is at once announced bj r the 
clear musical notes of the male, heard in the 
dense, swampy thickets or low lying marshy 
pieces of woodland which it delights to affect. 
The birds at this time are not shy and suspi- 
cious like most of our warblers, but the males 
will sing, oblivious of your presence, until you 
can approach within easy view of his golden 
breast. 
To find the nest and eggs of this beautiful 
bird has always been an object of great ambi- 
tion to me, and though a number of them have 
been taken in this vicinity from time to time, 
never until the season ol' 188t> lias it been rny 
good fortune to discover them myself. 
On the bright spring-like afternoon of June 
1st, 1886, I left the train at Glen Mills, a little 
station in Delaware County, and plunged into 
the heavy timber growth, that covers the north 
side of a steep, long hill that rises rapidly from 
Chester Ci'eek to its summit, several huudi-ed 
yards in extent, and from the top of which 
spreads out one of the finest views of hill and 
valley in this beautiful county. 
From amid tile rich black loam and beds of 
"'bhered leaves numerous springs arise, and 
kle down among the dense masses of fern 
and moss, and other vegetable growths that are 
more often found in swamps than on high 
woodlands; and in places immense rocks are 
piled up, giving an air of wildness to the spot. 
I had advanced but a few paces iu my laborious 
search up the steep hill side, when 1 heard the 
musical note of a Kentucky Warbler some dis- 
tance ahead, and inspired by the welcome sound, 
I proceeded toward the spot from whence it 
came. 
Meanwhile the bird had become silent, but 
after a few minutes of careful seared), inspect- 
ing every foot of ground as I proceeded, a bird 
llew almost from my feet, alighting on a bush 
some twenty feet away, uttering its sharp im- 
patient, chirp, — unmistakably a female Ken- 
tucky Warbler. Looking towards the ground, 
there, without concealment of any kind, more 
than that afforded by a few weeds and saplings, 
lay my long coveted prize — six eggs in a bulky 
' , — elevated somewhat from the ground by 
mass of dried leaves at its base. It was not 
even defiled by an egg of that skulking impos- 
tor, the Cow-bird. 
Securing the nest and the eggs, in which in- 
cubation was a few days advanced, 1 considered 
myself well repaid, although later in the day, 
on tlie same day, I found a nest and six eggs of 
tlie Worm-eating Warbler ( Iletminthotherus 
vermivorus ) , though so nearly hatched that 
they were hardly capable of preservation. 
There are some peculiarities about this set of 
eggs of the Kentucky Warbler, that render them 
quite different from any I have seen. In shape 
they are long, and they taper to a comparative- 
ly sharp point; the greatest diameter being 
quite near the larger end. As will be seen by 
