IN THE HEMLOCKS. 78 



lame neighborhood, and which are now of a dull fawn 

 color, begin to collect in small flocks, which grow to 

 be quite large in autumn. 



The speckled Canada is a very superior warbler, 

 having a lively, animated strain, reminding you of 

 certain parts of the canary's though quite broken and 

 incomplete ; the bird, the while hopping amid the 

 branches with increased liveliness, and indulging in 

 fine sibilant chirps, too happy to keep silent. 



His manners are quite marked. He has a habit of 

 conrtesying when he discovers you, which is verj 

 pretty. In form he is an elegant bird, somewhat 

 Blender, his back of a bluish lead-color becoming 

 nearly black on his crown : the under part of his 

 body, from his throat down, is of a light, delicate yel- 

 low, with a belt of black dots across his breast. He 

 has a fine eye, surrounded by a light-yellow ring. 



The parent birds are much disturbed by my pres- 

 ence, and keep up a loud emphatic chirping, which 

 attracts the attention of their sympathetic neighbors, 

 and one after another they come to see what has hap- 

 pened. The chestnut-sided and the Blackburnian 

 oome in company. The black-and-yellow warbier 

 pauses a moment and hastens away ; the Maryland 

 yellow-throat peeps shyly from the lower bushes and 

 utters his " Fip ! fip ! " in sympathy ; the wood 

 pewee comes straight to the tree overhead, and the 

 red-eyed vireo lingers and lingers, eying me with a 

 3urious, innocent look, evidently much puzzled. But 

 4II disappear again, one by one, apparently without a 



