May 



in their powers of flight, sometimes covering a 

 thousand miles in twenty-four hours, and never 

 resting, it is said, except in their roosting-places 

 (chimneys or hollow trees), where they do not 

 perch, but cling to the walls, partially supported 

 by their stiff tail. In flight they can be distin- 

 guished from the true swallows by the api:'arent 

 absence of a tail, it being extremely short. They 

 live upon such insects as are to be caught on the 

 wing, and one might infer that they had con- 

 tracted their sooty-brown color by contact with 

 chimneys for several generations, until it be- 

 came ingrained. 



The last great ' ' wave ' ' of the season came 

 on the 2 2d, bringing only a single new species 

 — the bay-breasted warbler ; but for a time the 

 woods were full of the Canada, black-poll, 

 Blackburnian, magnolia, Wilson, black-throated 

 green, summer-yellow, Maryland yellow-throat, 

 wagtail, redstart, and black-and-white creep- 

 ing warblers. 



Of the twenty-four warblers that I found in 

 the Ramble this spring, more than a passing 

 word is due to the "chestnut-sided," as it is 

 very prettily and curiously marked with chest- 

 nut, yellow, white, and black — the chestnut 

 conspicuous on each side of the breast, and the 



165 



