FRIENDS OF OUR FORESTS 



75 



the number of these is small and their 

 withdrawal for only a comparatively 

 short time, while the majority at all times 

 of the year favor the edges of the forest, 

 open woods, or brushy clearings. 



Their preference for such situations 

 brings many within the bounds of civil- 

 ization and renders it comparatively easy 

 for any one so inclined to make their ac- 

 quaintance. As during migration they 

 assemble in flocks, they are, on the whole, 

 pretty well known ; and since, as a rule, 

 they are not shy, they have long been 

 favorite objects of observation and study. 



WARBLERS AS SONGSTERS 



Despite their name, which would seem 

 to imply musical ability of no mean order, 

 our wood warblers, with few exceptions, 

 occupy no very high place in the musical 

 galaxy. All sing, however, after a fash- 

 ion, and the musical efforts of some are 

 pleasing, even according to human stand- 

 ards. While most warblers are prodigal 

 enough with their music and sing early 

 and often, especially prior to and during 

 the nesting season, their music is fre- 

 quently so faint as to be audible only to 

 the trained ear of the bird lover. 



As if aware of their musical inferior- 

 ity, few display much enthusiasm in their 

 vocal efforts, but sing while they work, 

 or while pausing for a brief moment as 

 they move among the foliage hunting for 

 food. With them, singing appears to be 

 an audible expression of general content 

 and well being, and. no doubt, an effort 

 to please and attract their mates. 



Certain members of the thrush and 

 thrasher families, on the contrary, which 

 contain in their ranks the prima donnas 

 of our bird world, as if conscious of their 

 supremacy, are wont to mount a com- 

 manding perch when about to sing, and to 

 pour out their melody for all the world 

 to hear. With them, singing is not merely 

 incidental to the day's work. It is a con- 

 scious and supreme effort, and is much 

 too important to be slighted or shared 

 with any other function. .\pparently 

 they appreciate to a great extent and en- 

 joy their own outpourings, and. if we 

 may interpret their feelings by human 

 standards, are conscious that their nuisi- 

 cal offerings entitle them to an audience. 



Xot only do their bright colors suggest 

 a tropical origin of our warblers, but 

 their whole make-up is in keeping with 

 tropical surroundings. Warblers are 

 thinly feathered and delicately organized 

 and most of them incapable of withstand- 

 ing any great degree of cold. They are 

 also almost exclusively insect eaters, only 

 a few of the family being at all vege- 

 tarian, and these only to a comparatively 

 small extent. 



Hence, with them, migration is not a 

 matter of choice, but is imperative. They 

 come to us on a particular errand for a 

 few short months, and when family cares 

 are at an end. back they hie to the tropics, 

 the lands of warmth and sunshine, which 

 lend them to us for a brief season. Thus 

 the true home of our warblers is not 

 where they nest, but where they spend 

 three-fourths of their lives — not the 

 north, but the south — not in the temper- 

 ate, but in the tropical zones. 



THE SPECTACULAR MIGRATION OF 

 WARBLERS 



That wonderful phenomenon, bird mi- 

 gration, is illustrated by few birds so 

 clearly and convincingly as by our wood 

 warblers. Assuredly no other birds — 

 unless it be the geese — migrate in such a 

 spectacular manner. The stroller, in late 

 August or September, finds himself in the 

 woods, the silence being broken only by 

 the drumming of a distant partridge, the 

 chirping of insects, or other familiar 

 sounds which only emphasize the general 

 quiet that prevails (see pages 180-195). 



Presto ! The scene changes ! The woods, 

 ai:)parently almost tenantless but a mo- 

 ment before, are now filled with life of 

 the most animated and intense kind. 

 Every shrub, every tree, has its feathered 

 occupant. Our oliserver recognizes per- 

 haps a dozen or twenty species, represent- 

 ing several distinct families : but i)romi- 

 nent among them, by reason of numbers, 

 variegated plumage, graceful forms, and 

 active motions, are the wood warblers. 



I\very individual is alert and busy, 

 gliding from one twig to another near b\ . 

 or flying from one tree to the next, wliile 

 from all sides come the soft calls and 

 notes of individual members of the flock, 

 whose friendly converse has the effect, if 



