WOOD WARBLERS 171 



the great army appearing only after the weather 

 is well settled and the season of warm days is 

 here. They leave as soon as the young are 

 grown, some even in early August. 



For some time I have been watching three 

 families in the near-by woods beyond the Cove, 

 the Black-throated Blue, the Black-throated 

 Green, and the Black and White Warbler. 

 Yesterday, the fifth of August, I visited their 

 nesting haunts to find them absent. Not a 

 Warbler note did I hear, or feather did I see, 

 where a few days ago the thicket seemed alive 

 with them. No doubt they have already begun 

 their migration which will for a time be made 

 by very easy stages, as there will be little occa- 

 sion for haste to escape the cold winter. 



As a family Warblers are rather delicate 

 creatures, ill fitted to withstand the vicissitudes 

 of our changing climate; and the wonder is how 

 so many make the long migration without even 

 greater mortality among their numbers. There 

 are many varieties that travel five thousand 

 miles between their summer and winter homes; 

 and it is said the Black Poll, nesting in Alaska, 

 travels seven thousand five hundred miles to 

 its winter haunts in South America. No doubt 

 vast numbers meet untimely deaths on their 

 long journeys, but a goodly number survive, 

 bringing much of interest to our summer woods. 



Warblers are usually woods-dwellers, where 

 we must seek them if we Would make their 

 acquaintance. They are restless as Wrens, and 

 being flycatchers, are constantly darting about 

 picking up the tiny tidbits of the air. They are 



