STUDYING WARBLERS IN WINTER. 



327 



size. Look for it where myrtle bushes 

 or barberry bushes grow. In localities 

 where these berries arc abundant they 

 almost or wholly support the birds in 

 winter although sumach and other wild 

 berries are also eaten. When to be had, 

 insects and their larvae vary the diet. 



In northern New Jersey, yellow-rump- 

 ed warblers came about my window with 

 other small winter birds. Towards 

 spring, but long before the snow had 

 gone, I found them among the tall weeds 

 and in bushy growths beside the road, 

 their haunts thus being like those of the 

 j uncos' with which they associated. 



MYRTLE WARBLER. 

 (Yellow-runiped warbler.) 



Like so many other warblers, the myr- 

 tles range during the breeding season 

 from the northern edge of the United 

 States into Canada. Our whole group 

 is called American wood warblers to dis- 

 tinguish them from the European warb- 

 lers which are entirely different. The 



haunts chosen by many species are de- 

 cidedly forest-like, although in many 

 instances the trees are much too scanty 

 to deserve that name. The Maryland 

 yellow-throat and the black and white 

 warbler here shown exemplify the vary- 

 ing habits of the family. The former 

 is a shy bird which seeks low, bushy 

 growths while the latter is a tree creep- 

 ing species of the forest. 



You should have no difficulty now in 

 identifying the myrtle warbler. Follow 

 him about ; see what food he eats and 

 what he avoids ; note his various poses 

 and manner of flight and you will ever 

 after know at a glance a warbler of the 

 usual type. You will be prepared for 

 the coming in April and May of the rest 

 of the warbler family, than which few 

 events in the bird lover's calendar excel 

 in pleasure and interest. 



THE ROBIN AS A NEST BUILDER. 



Apropos of the paragraph copied last 

 week from the Lambertville Beacon, which 

 told of the theft of several lace collars by 

 robins, we may here mention the fact that 

 Mrs. Elmira S. Deats, who died on May 9 

 of this year at the home of her son, H. E. 

 Deats, at Flemington Junction, was a great 

 lover of birds — robin redbreast being, per- 

 haps, the subject of her especial admira- 

 tion. She had at times lost strips of lace 

 from the lawn where they had been spread, 

 and she knew that the robins had taken 

 them for nest building purposes. Realizing 

 that the little rascals needed something of 

 the nature of strings for nest building, Mrs. 

 Deats years ago hit upon the plan of saving 

 all the bits of otherwise useless cord that 

 came around packages from the stores. 

 Upon the coming of the robins in the glo- 

 rious springtime she would scatter quanti- 

 ties of the cord about the dooryard, and the 

 robins would immediately pounce upon it. 

 It was great fun to see them scrapping over 

 a particular piece of string, and her grand- 

 children found diversion in watching them 

 from the windows in inclement weather. 

 Mrs. Deats set an example in charity and 

 kindness that might be emulated by others; 

 and if birds could express gratitude in 

 words the robins would sing a song of joy 

 o'er the mound beneath which sleeps their 

 thoughtful benefactress. — The Democrat- 

 Advertiser, Flemington, N. J. 



