The Birds' Calendar 



satisfaction to identify them ; but I think I have 

 made the partial acquaintance of what is named 

 the least flycatcher, less than six inches long, 

 in dull olive and dingy white, at first quite 

 silent, and afterward uttering an unmusical 

 sound like se-wic, two or three times over. An 

 air of poetic gloom invests a flycatcher, as it 

 sits silent, meditative, and alone, as different 

 from the mood of a warbler as shadow is from 

 sunlight. 



One afternoon an unfamiliar warbler, and 

 regarded as one of the handsomest, came across 

 my path, nimbly darting in and out among the 

 bushes, and daintily pecking at the newly 

 opening leaves. Its various colors of black, 

 yellow, white, and ash are laid on in a peculiarly 

 bold and effective manner, and from having 

 seen a " dried specimen " 1 knew it at once to 

 be the magnolia warbler. As I have watched 

 it from day to day, hardly any of the family 

 have given me so much pleasure as this. Ner- 

 vous and restless like all its kin, it seems more 

 fearless than many of them, and this is an 

 attractive feature in any specimen ; possibly 

 because w^e consider its confidence an indirect 

 compliment to ourselves. 



On the Island high in a tree I discovered 



150 



