66 The Ottawa Naturalist. [June 



to return towards the south seem strong, and to yield to the im- 

 pulses of nature in this matter is not long delayed; for by the 

 middle of September, if not earlier, all this species — and its genus 

 have disappeared; though some individuals may linger longer amid 

 the scenery ot their summer haunts in the thicket and the swamp, 

 than is now known. 



The haunts and home of the mourning warbler, during the 

 period of its residence in Canada, are generally on the margins of 

 low-land woods, or second-growth swamps, where there is an in- 

 termingling of young underwood, fallen brush, and raspberry vines. 

 It may also occasionally be found to frequent wooded ravines, the 

 sides of brush-covered hills, and the margins of muddy creeks 

 which meander their courses through what are called "beaver- 

 meadows," where there is deep concealment ; and here, amid the 

 deep foliage, one strain of the song-notes of the male of this 

 species, may often be heard, in the mid-summer days, while the 

 little performer itself is invisible. At times he will rise to a con- 

 siderable elevation, and after a pleasing performance of quite a 

 different series of musical notes, in the ventilation of which he 

 appears to take much pleasure and pride, and during which he 

 makes a rain-bow like circuit, and takes a rapid descent into the 

 thicket below, near where it is probable the female has a nesting 

 place. Another particular haunt of this bird is small clearings in 

 tracts of hard-wood forest, and along the sides of road-ways, 

 through primitive woods: but it is seldom observed out in the open 

 fields, except in the backwood settlements, nor does it often 

 approach the garden or other environments of human habitations, 

 and except where the woods are open, it will not be found deep in 

 the forest, but as the original forests of Southern Ontario are fast 

 disappearing, time will^ no doubt effect great changes in the sum- 

 mer haunts of this species. In eastern Canada the mourning 

 warbler does not appear to advance further north than the Gulf of 

 St. Lawrence, and the valley of the Ottawa river: but in the west- 

 ern portion of its range — which extends to the foot-hills of the 

 Rocky Mountains — it appears to extend its summer range to more 

 northern latitudes, and higher altitudes than in the east. 



Too little is yet known of the nesting history of this warbler 

 to enable the investigator to decide whether it deposits more than 



