AUTUMNAL WARBLER. 391 



close of October, at which time they are also seen in the 

 Middle States. Their food consists of small insects and 

 berries. Late in the season on a fine autumnal morning, 

 troops of them may be seen in the fields and lanes, 

 sometimes descending to the ground, and busily employ- 

 ed in turning over the new fallen leaves, or perambulat- 

 ing and searching the chinks of the bark of trees, or the 

 holes in the posts of the fence in quest of lurking moths 

 and spiders ; and while thus eagerly engaged, they are 

 occasionally molested or driven away by the more legiti- 

 mate Creepers or Nuthatches, whose jealousy they thus 

 arouse by their invasion. Earlier in the season, they 

 prey on cynips, flies, and more active game, in pursuit 

 of which they may be seen fluttering and darting through 

 the verdant boughs of the forest trees. One of these 

 little visitors which I obtained, by its flying inadvertent- 

 ly into an open chamber, soon became reconciled to con- 

 finement, flew vigorously after house flies, and fed greed- 

 ily on grasshoppers and ivy-berries (Cissus hederacea) ; 

 at length it became so sociable as to court my acquaint- 

 ance, and eat from my hand. Before I restored it to 

 liberty, its occasional tioect attracted several of its social 

 companions to the windows of its prison. 



In the autumn, when these birds are most observable, 

 they are destitute of song, and only utter a plaintive call 

 of recognition. The male, however, in the season of in- 

 cubation has a variety of soft and pleasing notes, but 

 without much of musical compass. Audubon found 

 them breeding in the vincinity of Cayuga lakes, and on 

 the borders of Lake Champlain, in the retirement of the 

 forest : he has likewise observed them at this season in 

 the Great Pine Swamp or forest of Pennsylvania near the 

 Blue Mountains. The nest, according to him, is placed 

 in the slender fork of a low bush, and is made of the thin 



