MNIOTILTID^ THE AMERICAN WARBLERS. 141 



gleaning bread crumbs from the door-steps, or hunting for spiders 

 or other insect tidbits in the nooks of the garden fence or the 

 crevices in the bark of trees ; and at evening, flying in considerable 

 companies, to the sheltering branches of the thickest tree tops (pre- 

 ferably evergreens), where they pass the night. Not unfrequently, 

 however, they roost in odd nooks and crannies about the buildings, 

 or even in holes in the straw- or hay-stacks, in the barn-yard. A 

 favorite food of this species are the berries of the Poison-vine (Rhus 

 toxicodendron) , and during the early part of winter large numbers of 

 them may be seen wherever vines of this species are abundant. 



During the winter season the plumage of this bird is dull and 

 unattractive, the sexes being scarcely distinguishable by color; but 

 as spring advances, the male assumes a parti-colored livery of black, 

 slate-blue, white and yellow, which renders him one of the most 

 striking among the feathered rivals of the bees which hum among the 

 blooming apple-trees. At this season, too, the male has an attractive 

 song, somewhat like that of the Summer Yellow-bird, but more of a 

 warble and sweeter in tone. 



According to Mr. McFarlane, of the Hudson's Bay Company, the 

 Yellow-rumped Warbler reaches the high northern latitudes, near 

 the Arctic coast, late in May, and leaves that region in September. 

 He states that it nests in moderate abundance at Anderson Eiver, 

 and that, although in a few instances the nest was placed on the 

 ground, it generally built four or five feet up in a low spruce tree. 



A nest found at Parsboro' Nova Scotia, is thus described by Dr. 

 Brewer (Hist. N. Am. B. Vol. I., p. 228) : 



''The nest was built on a horizontal branch, the smaller twigs of 

 which were so interlaced as to admit of its being built upon them, 

 though their extremities were interwoven into its rim. The nest 

 was small for the bird, being only two inches in depth and four and 

 a half in diameter. The cavity is one and a half inches deep and 

 two and a half wide. Its base and external portions consist of fine, 

 light, dry stalks of wild grasses, and slender twigs and roots. Of 

 the last the firm, strong rim of the nest is exclusively woven. 

 Within, the nest is composed of soft, fine grasses, downy feathers, 

 and the fine hair of the smaller mammals." 



