Page:Bird-lore Vol 04.djvu/98



The Increase of the Chestnut-sided Warbler

BY A. RADCLYFFE DUGMORE “'ilh nhumzmphs lrom Nature by the Author

sion will notice that certain birds become more abundant, and

others less so, as years go by, and that while one bird will be very common for several years, there will perhaps be a year when this particular species will be comparatively Scarce. In the region about South Orange, New Jersey, particularly the part known as the ‘lVlountain,’ the Field and Song Sparrows are usually very abundant during the breeding season, but last year (190!) they were scarcely as common as the Blue-winged Warblers and Maryland Yellowethtoats. Brown Thrashers, also, were less common than they have been during my stay in South Orange; while Indigo Birds, Ovenbirds, and several other species were remarkably com- mon. But what has been most noticeable about the bird-life of this par- ticular locality is the rapid and steady increase of the Chestnutvsided Warblers It has been interesting to watch the increasing number of these delightful birds. In the summer of [897, the ﬁrst year that I did any systematic bird work in this locality, these birds were so little in evi- dence that I did not observe a single specimen. That they might have been there is, of course, more than probable, but they must have been extremely scarce, for during the breeding season I spent a good deal of time in likely places and yet never even heard their song, which is quite conspicuous whenever the bird is nesting.

The following year, in a certain large clearing (about a quarter of a mile square) that is well covered with thick underbrush and a young second growth of chestnut and oak,I noticed one pair on l\/Iay l. The male bird was then in full song, and three weeks later the birds had com- menced building. During this same summer I saw one pair in another clearing that was situated within half a mile of the place in which I had

Q‘NY one who observes the birds of a locality for many years in succes»