BULLETIN
— OF THE —
Cooper Ornithological Club
A Bi-monthly Exponent of Californian Ornithology
Summer Resident Warblers of Arizona.
BY D. W. HOWARD, LOS ANGELES, CAL.
[Read before the Southern Division of the Cooper Orn. Club, Feb. 25, 1899.]
LUCY'S WARBLER is fairly common along the river bottoms throughout Southern Arizona, especially in the mesquite and willow thickets. The birds appear early in April and I found them breeding early in May 8, 1897, near Tuscon. the nest was placed in a deserted woodpecker's excavation in a dead limb of a hack-berry tree, about fifteen feet from the ground. The nest was composed of fine straws, horse-hair and feathers and contained four fresh eggs. The eggs are pure white, with fine specks of red and brown over the entire shell, but thicker at the larger end.
Another nest found May 9, 1897, was placed in a deserted Verdin's nest in a thorny bush about six feet up. the nest was destroyed by my enlarging the entrance and I was obliged to take three fresh eggs which were probably an incomplete set. Other nests were placed in crevices along river banks where roots of trees were sticking out and one or two were found in the natural cavities of the Giant Cactus, or in woodpecker's holes therin. But most of the nests were in mesquite trees, in natural cavities or behind pieces of loose bark, ranging from two to twenty feet above the ground, but as a rule they are within easy reach.
The nests are very frail affairs and are made of fine straws, vegetable fibres and leaves, with a lining of feathers and hair. The usual clutch of eggs consists of four or five, but quite often only three are laid and I have found two sets of seven each. The birds are rather wild and as a rule fly from the nest unobserved. many nests are destroyed by wood-rats and snakes. I found several nests with incomplete sets and when I returned for them later, i found the nests entirely destroyed.
The Olive Warblers are not at all common and as they keep well up in the thick foliage of pines and firs comparatively few of them are seen. They can more readily be located by their note which is hardly describable, but when once heard is easily detected. The nests are very beautiful affairs and are built very much like those of the Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, and are composed of bits of moss, lichens, fur blossoms and spider webs, with a lining of fine rootlets. The eggs are easily distinguished from any other warblers; the shell is olive-gray thickly covered with fine black specks, sometimes al-
