eee Ur eUsb eG Nae B Unley LN 2| 
the nest which, I was sure, was near at hand. Finally, as the male’s song 
usually came from the vicinity of the last year’s nest, it occurred to me to 
turn my glasses on it. It had been redecorated and it was occupied. Pre- 
viously it had appeared as a dark, weathered mass. Now it was bright and 
new with white larvae cases and bits of paper. This was on May 29th. 
On June 8th one of the parents stood on the rim of the nest and sheltered 
the young. I think something happened to this brood as, June 20th, the 
birds were building a new nest in an apple-tree, placing it, as usual, within 
the crown. If the first brood had survived hardly could it have been a-wing 
much before that date and there is commonly an interval of several days 
after the young fly before a new nest is started. (Incidentally, on this date 
bits of the old nest were being carried away by Cedar Waxwings, now 
building near by.) 
Curiously, in building the new nest, the birds first placed the outer 
film of web and light cottony substances. I had supposed it was added 
externally, by way of decoration, after completion of the essential nest. It 
was not until July 1 that the second nest was completed and two eggs laid. 
‘These and the nest were collected. By July 18 a third nest was occupied 
and by the 31st the parents were seen to attend the young in it. On August 
10 one young bird, representing, I think, the season’s output, was detected 
in a sassafras bush near the home tree. Doubtless it had not been out of 
the nest long. A few tufts of down still adhered to its small pate. 
While the Black-and-White Warbler is quite common in the region, 
its nest has been difficult for me to find. I have been confident, often, that 
I had located the “territory” of a pair and, later, when the young hatched, 
have been confirmed therein. . Thus on June 21, in one such area, a young 
Cowbird out of the nest was being attended by a female of this species. 
Again, July Ist, I came upon a male whose anxious chipping prompted me 
to look around a bit for a fledgeling. I stopped and had just thrust forward 
my walking stick when the female lighted upon this slanting perch and, 
clinging to it momentarily, manifested acute distress. I must have been 
close to the object of her concern but I searched in vain for it. 
In a large part of its given range—at least in the Central West—the 
Chestnut-sided Warbler is rare as a breeding species. In this part ot 
Michigan I had never met with it save as a transient and so when, on May 
23d. I came on a male in full song, singing from two main perches near 
suitable nesting cover, I resolved to keep an eye on him. He sang every 
day in the same place until June 4. After this date I saw him no more. 
Perhaps he left because no mate appeared. 
Though familiar enough atout the cottages in winter, our Chickadees 
are retiring during the breeding season. Deep in the woods a favorite nest- 
ing place is a hole in the stump of one of the great white pines, felled. many 
years ago. A small cavity is dug out of the decayed wood and when 
Chickadee really “bears down” the chips fly to some purpose. Generally 
there is some protuberance or scar on the stump which screens or disguises 
