Page:Bird-lore Vol 04.djvu/117

 96 Bird - Lore

So I watched this lamily until cooler tlays told them that it was time to go southward. —E. MARION \VHI'I‘TEN. Btu/ford, Mam

Notes on the Golden-winged Warbler

Books tell us that the Golden»\\'ingcd \Varbler is a rare bird or only locally com- I have been fortunate in lighting upon one of tliu chasen localities of this littlerknou‘n bird, for it is really abundant at Rllincbeck. i'. \',, “here I have been spending the past summer.

On May r: it was ﬁrst seen. and soon after the song of the male was learned. It

mon.

NEST UF GOLDEXMINGED W.\RBI.ER

is a well-defined song of three or fnur syl» Iahlcs— higller)7and in [one reminds one of the rw/IE-z’zﬂ ut the Warbler. This song was heartl frequently until ahont July r. after which time I heard only the incessant call-notes of the birds—rlzerr dzu’, dzee. notes may have been mistaken hy some writers for the " lazy and unaccented " rang of the bird.

Though frequently seen elsewhere, these \Varhlers were especially numerous in a cer- tain patch of woods, in the lower end of which, where the marshy ground attracted

whet-zEr-zn-zm (the ﬁrst note

Blue-winged

I am inclinctl to believe that these

them. they were usually the commonest birds about. I tried to estimate the number of pairs in this wood. Although it was im- possible to ascertain whether the same birds were seen more than once, I feel sure that I saw at least ﬁve separate adult males, but probably ten would be nearer the correct number of pairs that inhabited the wood. Toward the end of June I resolved to ﬁnd a nest if possible; but though I searched for several days I was unsuccessful. More than once I hid myself to see if a female would return to her nest. In such cases I usually saw her at last feed a fully—ﬂedged young bird—eon operation which was accom- panietl by much .Izreirrtr. '

During July the birds wandered about in families. They came even to the house and ﬁlled the locust trees round ahoutt From the seventh to the nineteenth of the month linclusive), the species was seen every day in the course of my ordinary rambles. with» out once being specially searched for. In- deed it was the commonest of the Warblers at that time.

On July as, long after I had given up all hope of ﬁnding a Golden-winged Watbler’s nest, I was walking in the woods mentioned above, when my ear was attracted by an unfamiliar Warbler song. It consisted al- ways at eight notesitller—erei-Je—JE—JE—JE
 * r-cllne, with a fall on the last note; the

rpm-re notcs were littered very fast and the initial (Me was hardly audiblea The mys— tcrious voit‘c led me to a small open space in the midst of a thicket, where a bird suddenly ﬂew up from my feet. exposing a neat little nest with two eggs, One egg was pyriform with very minute specks. the other oval with a few retl blotches at the larger end. It was too late that evening to identify either the nest or the mysterious singer.

The next morning 1 only hatl time hur- riedly to photograph the nest. I found that the pyrifonn egg had hatched. The other was clear and bad. I did not get a glimpse of the owner of the nest. but was fortu- nate in discovering the unknown song of the previous evening to spring from a male Golden—winged Warbler. Thus, I hatl proof that this Warbler, like some