Life histories of North American wood warblers, Part 1 (of 2)Bent, Arthur Cleveland
Science
Life histories of North American wood warblers, Part 1 (of 2)
Bent, Arthur Cleveland
Birds -- North America; Passeriformes; Wood warblers
M. G. Vaiden writes to me that he found a nest near Belzoni, Miss., in a
heavy oak swamp where there were clusters of _Usnea_ on practically all
of the trees. The nest was 16 feet above the ground and 12 feet out on a
limb of an oak; it was made like our northern nests and lined with the
"moss" and fine rootlets. Another described in his notes was entirely
different. It was in a section of Mississippi where there was no _Usnea_
growing within 60 miles. The nest was 6 feet from the ground and 4 feet
out in the crotch of a limb of a hackberry tree. A pretty nest, it was
nicely constructed of leaves and bark from cypress trees, and was lined
with small rootlets and very fine twigs.
_Eggs._--The usual set for the northern parula warbler consists of 4 or
5 eggs; 3 sometimes constitute a full set, and as many as 6 or 7 have
been found in a nest; there are 3 sets of 7 in the J. P. Norris
collection. The eggs are ovate or short ovate, have only a slight gloss,
and are white or creamy white, speckled and spotted with shades of
"russet," "chestnut," "bay," and "auburn," with a few underlying spots
of "brownish drab." There is much variation; on some eggs the "brownish
drab" color is entirely lacking, while on others spots of this color are
the most prominent markings; again, the eggs may be almost immaculate,
or may have just a few indistinct freckles of "pale wood brown" at the
large end. The measurements of 50 eggs average 16.5 by 12.1 millimeters;
the eggs showing the four extremes measure =18.3= by 12.7, 16.9 by
=12.9=, =14.8= by 11.9, and 16.3 by =11.2= millimeters (Harris).
_Young._--The period of incubation does not seem to have been
determined, nor do we know how long the young remain in the nest.
Incubation of the eggs and brooding of the young is performed mainly by
the female, but the male assists in both to some extent. I have seen a
male leave a nest in which there were eggs; and Mr. Mousley (1924) saw a
male brood the young for a period of 4 minutes in the absence of the
female, but he left as soon as she returned. Both parents feed the
young. Mr. Mousley's table shows that during a watching period of 15
hours the male fed the young 45 times and the female fed them only 21
times; the average rate of feeding was once in 13.6 minutes; during this
time the male brooded once and the female 34 times, a total of 11 hours
and 27 minutes. He "noticed that the food the male brought consisted
almost invariably of soft green larvae, whereas, that of the female more
often than not consisted of insects, and the portions she brought were
usually smaller in proportion than those of her partner."
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