A History of North American Birds; Land Birds; Vol. 1 of 3Baird, Spencer Fullerton
Science
A History of North American Birds; Land Birds; Vol. 1 of 3
Baird, Spencer Fullerton
Birds -- North America
Around Eastport and at Grand Menan they confine themselves to the
thick swampy groves of evergreens, where they breed on the edges of
the woods. All of the several nests I met with in these localities
were built in thick spruce-trees, about eight feet from the ground,
and in the midst of foliage so dense as hardly to be noticeable. Yet
the nests were large and bulky for so small a bird, being nearly five
inches in diameter and three in height. The cavity is, however, small,
being only two inches in diameter, and one and a fourth to one and a
half in depth. They were constructed chiefly of a collection of
slender young ends of branches of pines, firs, and spruce, interwoven
with and tied together by long branches of the _Cladonia_ lichens,
slender herbaceous roots, and finer sedges. The nests were strongly
built, compact and homogeneous, and were elaborately lined with fine
panicles of grasses and fine straw. In all the nests found, the number
of eggs was five.
It is a somewhat noticeable fact, that though this species is seen in
New England only by the middle of May, others of its kind have long
before reached high Arctic localities. Richardson records its presence
at the Cumberland House in May, and Engineer Cantonment by the 26th of
April. Mr. Lockhart procured a nest and five eggs at Fort Yukon, June
9. All the nests taken in these localities were of smaller size, were
built within two feet of the ground, and all were much more warmly
lined than were those from Grand Menan. In a few instances Mr.
McFarlane found the nests of this species actually built upon the
ground. This, however, is an abnormal position, and only occasioned by
the want of suitable situations in protected localities. In one
instance a nest was taken on the first of June, containing
well-developed embryos. Yet this same species has frequently been
observed lingering in Massachusetts a week or more after others of its
species have already built their nests and begun hatching.
The eggs of this species measure .72 by .50 of an inch. Their shape is
an oblong-oval. Their ground-color is a beautiful white, with a slight
tinge of pink, when fresh. They are blotched and dotted over the
entire surface with profuse markings of a subdued lavender, and deeper
markings of a dark purple intermixed with lighter spots of
reddish-brown. The usual number is five, though six are occasionally
found in a nest.
Dendroica castanea, BAIRD.
BAY-BREASTED WARBLER.
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