The Birds' Calendar 



backward and forward, the same pervading, 

 directionless sound constantly coming to my 

 cars, until I was in despair, when I chanced to 

 look upward, and saw a little specimen, too 

 distant to identify, hopi)ing from branch to 

 branch. As he gradually descended I brought 

 my glass to bear on his head — the most vul- 

 nerable point of attack in such a hunt — and 

 detected a black cap covering the top of his 

 head and reaching below the eyes — the very 

 fellow I had been seeking for more than a week 

 — the black-poll warbler ; not a notable beauty, 

 but daintly attired in olive; darkly streaked 

 above, and mostly white beneath, while the 

 glossy "cap" is a conspicuous article of dress 

 — a decoration, it hardly needs to be observed, 

 that is monopolized by the males, the females 

 being either obliged or content to go bare- 

 headed. 



The indifferent observer might mistake this 

 for the black-and-white creeper, which it some- 

 what resembles in color ; but the black-poll 

 carries himself very differently, not having the 

 restless manner of running about, and the in- 

 quisitive examination of the under side of every- 

 thing, that characterize the creeper. The song 

 of the black-poll is weak, as if he had such a 



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