Life histories of North American wood warblers, Part 1 (of 2) — John Shaqi
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
_Nesting._--Nests are built in bushes, canes, masses of vines, and
briers; 10 feet seems to be the maximum height from the ground, while
some nests have been found as low as 2 feet. The average elevation would
be around 3 feet. As many nests are built over dry ground as over water.
The nest is quite bulky and loosely constructed; a typical one in situ
looks like a bunch of leaves lodged in a bush or cane, as the stems
point upward. The outer walls of the nest are composed of various leaves
such as oak, gum, maple, tupelo, and cane; the inner walls are usually
of cane, while the lining is of pine needles, black fiber of moss
_Tillandsia_, cypress leaves, rootlets, or grass stems. Sometimes
horsehair is also present.
[AUTHOR'S NOTE: A few more notes on the nesting of Swainson's warbler
may well be added to the above general statements. Brewster's (1885b)
nests, taken by Wayne in the low country of South Carolina, are
evidently typical for that region. All four of these nests were in
canes. Wayne (1886) says that the nests "are generally built in canes,"
but he has also found them "in small bushes, and in one instance in a
climbing vine, by the side of a large public road." Brewster (1885b)
gives the measurements of two of his nests; the smallest of the four
measures--
externally 3.50 in diameter by 3.00 in depth; internally 1.50 in
diameter by 1.50 in depth; the greatest thickness of the rim or outer
wall being 1.00. * * * The nest June 27 is very much larger, in fact
quite the largest specimen that I have seen, measuring externally 5.00
in diameter by 6.00 in depth; internally 1.50 in diameter by 1.25 in
depth; with the rim in places 1.75 thick. It is shaped like an inverted
cone, the apex extending down nearly to the point of junction of the
numerous fascicled stems which surround and support its sides. Its total
bulk fully equals the average nest of our Crow Blackbird, while it is
not nearly as finished a specimen of bird architecture. Indeed it would
be difficult to imagine anything ruder than its outer walls,--composed
of mud-soaked leaves of the sweet gum, water oak, holly, and cane,
thrown together into a loose mass, bristling with rough stems, and
wholly devoid of symmetry or regularity of outline. The interior,
however, lined with pine needles, moss fibre, black rootlets, and a
little horse-hair, is not less smooth and rounded than in the other
specimens.
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