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
Philipp and Bowdish (1919) record in a later paper the finding of a
number of additional nests in New Brunswick, and say: "The experience of
the past two years has demonstrated that while the boggy ground nesting,
previously described, is the really typical and by far the most common
form, not a few of these birds nest on higher and dryer ground. One such
nest, found June 24, 1918, was well up on a steep hillside, in rather
open woods, on fairly dry ground, utterly devoid of moss and grass
cover. It was built among a thick growth of dwarf dogwood, and under a
tiny, crooked stemmed maple sapling, very well concealed, and was rather
more substantially built than the average nest of this species."
The nesting history of the Tennessee warbler would not be complete
without mentioning two authentic records made in 1901. J. Parker Norris,
Jr. (1902), reported receipt of a set of four eggs, collected by Major
Allan Brooks on June 15, 1901, at Carpenter Mountain, Cariboo, British
Columbia. This is apparently the first authentic set of eggs ever taken,
as those mentioned above by Professor Cooke were taken a few days later.
In this far western locality, the birds "generally frequented the clumps
of aspen trees and Norway pines, where the ground was covered with a
thick growth of dry pine grass." Major Brooks found several other nests
in the same locality, and says in his notes: "The nests were always on
the ground, sometimes at the foot of a small service berry bush or twig.
They were all arched over by the dry pine grass of the preceding year,
this year's growth having just well commenced."
The Fort Smith nests, referred to by Professor Cooke, were recorded by
Edward A. Preble (1908) as follows:
Nests containing eggs were found by Alfred B. Preble on June 20 and 27,
the eggs, five in number, being fresh in each instance. The first nest
was embedded in the moss at the foot of a clump of dead willows near the
edge of a dense spruce forest. It was rather slightly built of dead
grass with a lining of the same material, and was protected from above
by the overhanging bases of the willows, and by the strips of bark which
had fallen from them, so that the nest could be seen only from the side.
The second nest was more bulky, was composed outwardly of shreds of
bark, coarse grass, and _Equisetum_ stems, and was lined with fine
grass. It was placed on the ground beneath a small fallen tree, in a
clearing which had been swept by fire a year or two previously.
W. J. Brown, of Westmount, Quebec, tells me that he and L. M. Terrill in
an hour found 16 nests of this warbler in a corner of a sphagnum bog,
and, "there must have been about 100 pairs nesting in this ideal spot at
the time."
_Eggs._--The Tennessee warbler lays large sets of eggs, from four to
seven, with sets of six common. Philipp and Bowdish (1919) state, "it
appears that more full layings of six eggs are to be found than of
five."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account