234 NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



while it is searching for its inod among the brunches, in tlie manner of tlie 

 Yireos. 



Lilve nearly all the members of this family, in its search for food it blends 

 the haliits of tlie (.'reepers with those of the Flycatchers, feeding upon 

 insects in their every form, running up and down the trunks for the ova, 

 larva^ and pupa^ expertly catching the insect on the wing, and equally 

 skillul in hovering over the expanded bud and searching the opening leaves. 



Mr. Audubon i'ound its nest placed deep among the branches of low fir- 

 trees, su])ported by horizontal twigs, constructed of moss and lichens, ami 

 lined witli fibrous roots and feathers. One found in Labrador, in the begin- 

 ning of July, contained five eggs, small and rather more elongated than is 

 common in this genus. Tliey were white, and sprinkled witli reddish dots at 

 the larger end. The iemale fluttered among the branches, spreading her 

 wings and tail in great distress, and returning to her nest as soon as the in- 

 truders were a few yards off. In August he saw a number of their young 

 already following their parents and moving southward. In his expedition 

 to Texas, Mr. Audubon again met this bird, in considerable numbers, early 

 in April. Their eggs, he states, measure tlnt'C fo\irths of an inch in length 

 by nine sixtcentlis in breadth. In some the ground-color, instead of pure 

 white, is of a yellowish tinge. 



Tlie writer found this Warliler abundant near Halifax in the early sum- 

 mer of 1850, frequenting the tiiick lieinlock woods, confiding in its habits, 

 unsuspicious, and easily approached. Tlie distress, as described by j\.udulion, 

 manifested in behalf of its own young, it is as ready to exhibit when the 

 nest of a feathered neighbor is disturbed. A jmir of Hudson's Bay Titmice, 

 protesting against the invasion of their home, by their outcries brought a pair 

 of tliese Warblers to their syrnpatlietic assistance ; and the latter manifested, 

 in a more gentle way, quite as much distress and anxiety iis the real parents. 

 Witli expanded tail and half-extended wings tliey fluttered overhead among 

 the branches, approacliing us almost williin reach, uttering the mo.st piteous 

 outcries. 



Sir John Richardson hniiul tliis Warbler as common and as familiar as 

 the D. cestiva on the Sa.skatchewan, and greatly resembling it in Jialjits, 

 though gifted with a much more varied and agreeable song. 



Mr. Kennicott met this Warbler on Great Slave Lake, June 12, ISfiO, 

 where he obtained a female, nest, and five eggs. The nest, loosely Imilt, was 

 placed in a small spruce about two feet from the ground, and in thick 

 woods. The bird was rather bold, coming to her nest wliile he stood by it. 

 This nest was only one and a half inches deep, with a iliameter of three and 

 a half inches ; the cavity only one i)ich deep, witli a diameter of two and a 

 half inches. It was made almost entirely of fine stems of plants and slender 

 grasses, and a few mosses. The cavity was lined with finer stems, and fine 

 black roots of herbaceous plants. 



The eggs of this Warliler are, in slia])e, a rounded oval, one end being but 



