210 KORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



A true Warbler in most of its attributes, this bird has many of the habits of 

 Titmice. Lilce tliese it frecjueuts tlie tops of the taller trees, feediug on the 

 small winged insects and caterpillars that abound among the young leaves 

 and lilossoms. It has no song, properly so called, its notes are feeble and 

 few, and can be heard only a short distance. 



The song of this species is said by j\Ir. Trippe, of Orange, N. Y., to 

 be a somewhat sharp and lisping, yet (piite varied and pleasing, series of 

 notes. 



Mr. Audubon speaks of this species as breeding in Louisiana, liut his 

 description of the nest differs so entirely from such as are met wdth in Mas- 

 sachusetts as to suggest doubts as to the correctness of the identification. 

 He describes them as flitting over damp places, the edges of ponds and 

 streams, and pursuing their prey with great activity. They resort to the 

 woods as soon as the foliage appears on the I'orest trees, and glean among the 

 leaves for the smaller winged insects. 



The nests of this Warbler, so far as has fallen under my observation, have 

 always been made of long gray lichens still attached to the trees on wiiii-li 

 tiiey grow. With great skill do these tiny architects gather up, fasten 

 together, and interweave, one with the other, the hanging ends and longer 

 branches. By an elaborate intertwining of these long fibres they form tlie 

 principal part, sometimes the whole, of their nests. These structures ai-e at 

 once simple, beautiful, ingenious, aud skilfully wrought. When first made, 

 they are somewhat rude and unfinished, but as their family are gathered, 

 the eggs deposited, incubated, and hatched, a change has been going on. Lit- 

 tle by little has the male bird l)usied himself, wdien not procuring food for 

 his mate, in improving, strengtliening, and enlarging the nest. These same 

 acts of improvement upon the original nests are noticed with Ilumming- 

 Birds, Vireos, and a few other birds. 



The nests are sometimes constructed on the sides of trunks of trees, when 

 covered with the long gray lichens, but are uKire frei[uently found hanging 

 from branches usually not more than six or eight feet from tlie ground. 

 Thus surrounded by long hanging mosses in clumps not distinguishable from 

 the nests themselves, they would not be readily recognized were it not that 

 those familiar with the habits of the bird may be readily guided to tlie spot 

 by the artless movements of the unsuspecting piarents. 



These birds are confiding, easily approached, and rarely exhibit any signs of 

 alarm. Even when their nest is disturbed they make but little complaint, and 

 do not manifest any very great signs of emotion. When built against a trunk 

 these nests consist only of an interweaving of the moss above and below a 

 very small opening, within which a small cup-shaped flooring has been made 

 of the same material, and usually cannot be removed ^^•itllOut destroying all 

 semblance of a nest. When pensile they are imperfectly circular in shape, 

 with an entrance on one side, and rarely with any lining. Occasionally they 

 are models of synnnetry and beauty. 



