Nests and Eggs of Birds of the United States / Illustrated

by Thomas G. Gentry

Their arrival in the Middle section of our country varies somewhat, and is dependent upon the season. During some years we have noted their appearance about the twentieth of April, when the weather was fine, and at other times not earlier than the first of May. In the vicinity of Washington, Dr. Coues has found them in pine-trees and cedar-patches, about the same time. Farther south, in Georgia, for example, the birds make their advent as early as the tenth of April, preferring the hillsides to open localities, but it is not until the second or the third week of May that they reach the New England States.

Few species of the family to which this Warbler belongs arrive sooner, and none are less shy and suspicious. For more than two weeks they are denizens of open plains and thinly-wooded regions, where they may be seen from sunrise until sunset, save during the sultry noontide hours, leisurely moving along the lowermost tree-branches, or among low bushes and herbaceous weeds by the roadside, in search of insects, all the while uttering, at brief intervals, their characteristic chirr. Near Boston they frequent "almost exclusively rocky pasture grounds and the 'scrub,'" and instances are recorded by Mr. Minot where shrubbery in cultivated grounds has been visited. According to Mr. Gosse, individuals have been seen to fly from wayside-bushes into the middle of the road, where, hovering in the air, at slight elevations above the ground, they were apparently engaged in the capture of dipterous insects.

But as the mating season approaches, the males become quite restless. They manifest less concern about food, and from some low eminence may be seen pouring forth their slender, filing notes, which, as Nuttall has represented, may be very aptly expressed by the suppressed syllables 'tsh-tsh-tsh-tshea. These notes cannot fail to attract attention, and, when once heard, are sure to leave a lasting impress on the mind. They are uttered in a peculiar tone, each being given in a louder key than the preceding, and frequently with a strange depression of the tail.

The little musicians, however, have not long to wait. For hours we have known some love-lorn minstrel of another species to sing his very soul away, without an answering note to repay him for all his trouble. The one for which he tuned his vocal pipe was too much occupied by other cares to be mindful of the delicious strains which were being wasted 011 the desert air. But not so in the present instance. The dear ones for whom they watch, and for whom they chant their sweetest, purest music, are not so far removed by hill and dale, by grove and plain, are not so absorbed in food-concerns, as not to hear the sounds which are being uttered for their sole pleasure. But obedient to the call, they cease their feeding, turn listening ears in the directions whence the sounds issue, and hearing once again, with pleasure-beaming eyes and swelling bosoms, seek the lonely haunts of their would-be-suitors. The joy of the males is now unbounded. They strike their harps afresh, and music, it seems, ten-fold more ravishing, is discoursed. The effect is charming. The gentle beings feel the notes pulsing through their rapt frames, and, all-unconscious, yield themselves willing subjects to their proud conquerors.

Thus it is that mating is accomplished. A few days spent in aimless wanderings and pleasure-seeking, and the happy pair are prepared to build themselves a home. For this purpose they visit in company some wild pasture-land or thinly-wooded tract, where, after a day or two occupied in prospecting, they decide upon some kind of bush or low tree in which to place it. The birds do not seem to be very particular as to the kind. In some localities, a wild rose-bush is preferred. In others, low barberry bushes, or the lower limbs of post-oaks, are rendered subservient.

The site, and the kind of bush or tree being chosen, the birds commence to build. The nest is non-pensile, and is fixed either in a forked branch, or is supported, as is the case when placed in a wild rose, by two or more branches. The elevation above the ground is usually from four to seven feet. No case has come to our knowledge where the latter height has been exceeded. The period of nesting varies according to locality. In Georgia nests have been found with eggs as early as the second of May, which would make it appear that they were constructed towards the close of the preceding month. In one instance, eggs were found as late as the tenth of June. It is probable that the birds commence labor about the first of May, in this section of the country, and sitting, a fortnight later. In New Jersey this essential business is delayed until the middle of this month, while in Massachusetts, it is not undertaken before the first week of June.

Having built their domicile, which is usually the work of a week, both birds laboring with praiseworthy diligence, and only intermitting operations when pressed by bad weather and the approach of night, the female commences to deposit her eggs. These are laid on consecutive days, at the rate of one a day. The time devoted to oviposition lasts from three to six days, and is dependent, upon the number which is to constitute a complement. As soon as the last deposit is made, the female takes the nest, and continues thereon, save when the male relieves her, for a period of eleven days, when she is rewarded for her patience and assiduity, by seeing and hearing a nest-full of callow fledglings. While the female is thus engaged, the male is busy among the branches of low bushes and saplings in search of small caterpillars and insects. Occasionally, he may be seen upon the shrub which supports the nest, apparently on the alert for intruders, which he signals by a low chirp. Should the nest be examined, he and his partner exhibit no outward signs of indignation or lamentation, but remain quietly in the neighborhood until the danger is past, when they return to their home. If the nest is ravaged, they set to work to replenish it, wasting little, if any, time over the contingencies of fate. In case of a second desecration, they quietly forsake the place, and if the season is not too far advanced, seek quarters elsewhere, where they endeavor to build a home and rear their offspring. On approaching the nest the female is very confiding, and exercises no precautions to guard against exposure, as is the case with many of our small birds. Nuttall gives a striking proof of this fact. On one occasion he removed two eggs from the nest, which he subsequently replaced. Each time, on withdrawal, she returned thither, but practised no stratagems to lure him away.

In their descriptions of the nests and eggs of this species both Wilson and Audubon are certainly at fault. They differ from more recent and reliable observations. The nest, as described by them, is never pensile, but is scarcely distinguishable from that of the Yellow Warbler. Xuttall, on the other hand, is not open to the same criticism. The nest which he describes, was placed in a forked branch, and formed of caterpillars' silk, strips of the inner bark of the red cedar, and fibres of asclepias. The inside was lined with the down of a species of everlasting.

A nest found by Mr. Welch, in Lynn, and described by Dr. Brewer, was built upon a wild rose, only a few feet above the ground. It was a compact and elaborately woven fabric, and was composed chiefly of soft inner bark of small shrubs, bits of dry rose leaves, wood, strips of vegetables, woody fibres, spiders' webs, decayed stems of plants, etc., on the outside, and was lined with fine vegetable fibres and a few horse-hairs. The outside diameter was two and a half inches, and the height, the same. The inside diameter was two inches; depth, one and a half. The above nest, in its general mode of construction, resembled all he had seen. In other nests he found only variations in composing materials. While some had dead and decayed leaves instead of fine strips of bark, others contained the remains of old cocoons, or the pappus of composite plants.

But the structure from which the drawing was made, was found June 4th, 1875, in the vicinity of Newton, Mass., by J. Warren, Esq. It was placed in a rose-bush, about three feet from the ground. Outside it is composed of bark of deciduous trees, vegetable fibres, spiders' webs, old cocoons, dry leaves, pappus of composite plants, and cotton ravellings. The inside is lined with the white silken fibres of the wild flax, constituting a rather dense layer, over which is placed a small stratum of black and white horse-hairs intermingled with vegetable fibres and the inner bark of woody plants. The external diameter is two and a half inches, and the height two. The cavity is one and three-fourths inches, and one and a half deep. In shape, the nest is nearly hemispherical, compactly and elaborately made, and, above all, constitutes a very snug and cosy structure. In these particulars it bears a very close resemblance to the nest of the Summer Yellow-bird, but differs in the character of the composing materials, there being less of the satiny fibres of the flax used in its workmanship.