BLACK-THBOATET) BLUE WARBLER 313 



Green's, but differs from it in note, being made 

 up of three phrases in descending scale. 



Hour after hour I have followed this lovely 

 bird through the cool beech-woods, as it hunted 

 quietly up a woods road and back again, singing 

 as it went. Its ways impress one as unusually 

 deliberate for a Warbler. It treats a tree as a 

 staircase, hopping up a branch at a time, often 

 stopping on the landings to follow the limbs out 

 to their tips, and then, instead of vaulting into 

 the air or dropj^ing off in somersaults as do many 

 of its acrobatic relatives, stops still, turns its head 

 over and looks up before going on up the next 

 stair. 



The mother Blue is no less interesting than the 

 songster, and makes an exquisite little nest in a 

 bush near the ground. The eggs are grayish 

 white, marked with brown, chiefly about the 

 larger end. One whom I watched at her build- 

 ing enjoyed her work so much she could not bear 

 to leave her nest among the fresh sunlit green 

 leaves, but hopj^ed out on the edge of the bowl 

 only to turn around and jump in again ; ran up 

 one of the supporting twigs only to turn around 

 and run down again ; and, after actually starting 

 away, flew back for a last look at the pretty home 

 she was preparing for her brood. Perhaps she 

 was just trying to decide some point in architec- 

 ture, but it certainly looked very much as if she 

 were lingering lovingly about her nest. 



