T H E W A R B L I N G F L Y C A T C H E R O R V I R E O .
VlREO GILVUS, BONAP.
P L A T E C X V I I I . MALE A N D F E M A L E .
WHILE at the little village, now the city, of Camden, in New Jersey,
where I had gone for the purpose of watching the passage of certain
Warblers on their way north early in the month of May, I took lodgings
in a street ornamented with a long avenue of tall Lombardy poplars, one
of which almost touched my window. On it too I had the pleasure shortly
afterwards of finding the nest of this interesting little bird. Never before
had I seen it placed so low, and never before had I an opportunity
of examining it, or of observing the particular habits of the species with
so much advantage. The nest, although formed nearly in the same manner
as several others, which I have since obtained by cutting them down
with rifle balls, from the top twigs of the tall trees to which they were
attached, instead of being fastened in the fork of a twig, was fixed to
the body of the tree, and that of a branch coming off at a very acute
angle. The birds were engaged in constructing it during eight days,
working chiefly in the morning and evening. Previous to their selecting
the spot, I frequently saw them examining the tree, warbling together
as if congratulating each other on their good fortune in finding
so snug a place. One morning I observed both of them at work; they
had already attached some slender blades of grass to the knots on the
branch and the bark of the trunk, and had given them a circular disposition.
They continued working downwards and outwards, until the structure
exhibited the form of their delicate tenement. Before the end of the
second day, bits of hornets'' nests and particles of corn-husks had been
attached to it by pushing them between the rows of grass, and fixing
them with silky substances. On the third day, the birds were absent,
nor could I hear them anywhere in the neighbourhood, and thinking that
a cat might have caught them from the edge of the roof, I despaired
of seeing them again. On the fourth morning, however, their notes attracted
my attention before I rose, and I had the pleasure of finding them
at their labours. The materials which they now used consisted chiefly of
extremely slender grasses, which the birds worked in a circular form
WARBLING FLYCATCHER. 115
within the frame which they had previously made. The little creatures
were absent nearly an hour at a time, and returned together bringing the
grass, which I concluded they found at a considerable distance. Going
into the street to see in what direction they went, I watched them for
some time, and followed them as they flew from tree to tree towards the
river. There they stopped, and looked as if carefully watching me, on
which I retired to a small distance, when they resumed their journey, and
led me quite out of the village, to a large meadow, where stood an old hay
stack. They alighted on it, and in a few minutes each had selected a
blade of grass. Returning by the same route, they moved so slowly from
one tree to another, that my patience was severely tried. Two other
days were consumed in travelling for the same kind of grass. On the
seventh I saw only the female at work, using wool and horse hair.
The eighth was almost entirely spent by both in smoothing the inside.
They would enter the nest, sit in it, turn round, and press the lining, I
should suppose a hundred times or more in the course of an hour. The
male had ceased to warble, and both birds exhibited great concern. They
went off and returned so often that I actually became quite tired of this
lesson in the art of nest-building, and perhaps I should not have looked
at them more that day, had not the cat belonging to the house made her
appearance just over my head, on the roof, within a few feet of the nest,
and at times so very near the affrighted and innocent creatures, that my
interest was at once renewed. I gave chase to grimalkin, and saved the
Flycatchers at least for that season.
In the course of five days, an equal number of eggs was laid. They
were small, of a rather narrow oval form, white, thinly spotted with red*
dish-black at the larger end. The birds sat alternately, though not with
regularity as to time, and on the twelfth day of incubation the young
came out. I observed that the male woidd bring insects to the female,
and that after chopping and macerating them with her beak, she placed
them in the mouth of her young with a care and delicacy which were not
less curious than pleasing to me. Three or four days after, the male
fed them also, and I thought that I saw them grow every time I turned
from my drawing to peep at them.
On the fifteenth day, about eight in the morning, the little birds all
stood on the border of the nest, and were fed as usual. They continued
there the remainder of the day, and about sunset re-entered the nest.
The old birds I had frequently observed roosted within about a foot above
H 2