KENTUCKY WARBLER. 



67 



delicacy of the lii^iit l)luc phlox and its vine-like 

 tracery of meadow rue made an ex(juisite spring- pic- 

 ture. There was such a luxuriant growth of the 

 phlox that negroes were picking it for the market. 

 As w^e stood ai)Sorbed on the edge of the garden, sud- 

 denly, right before us, rang out the Wren-like song 

 we had been following, and on a low^ bush, with head 

 thrown l)ack, the bird was singing. But — the brown 

 Wren was a l)rilliant yellow, with black velvety bands 

 bordering his throat! A Kentucky Warbler, we ex- 

 claimed in excited whispers, and then stood silent, 

 afraid of startling the bird that, quite unmindful of 

 us, now hopped down to the ground, and now 

 mounted a bush to sing. ' Klur-zvcc, kliw-zucc, klur- 

 wce,^ we repeated after him, to test for ourselves Mr. 

 Torrey's phrasing of it, and, indeed, at times the bird 

 pronounced the syllables as distinctly as a person. 

 And with what richness of tone! Surely it is a song 

 that goes well with the songster. Mr. Torrey, refer- 

 ring to his note-book, copies the exclamation made 

 in the field, ' It is a beauty! ' and no one, seeing the 

 bird for the first time in such a setting as we saw 

 him, can fail to share his enthusiasm." 



This Warbler, like the Oven-bird, is a walker. His 

 haunts are tangled woods near water, and he may 

 be looked for along the Potomac on the Virginia 

 side, on the islands near Glen Echo, back of Mar- 

 shall Hall, and in similar places, but he is nowhere 

 abundant in this section of the country. His nest is 

 bulky, '* of twigs and rootlets, firmly wrapped with 

 several thicknesses of leaves," on or near the ground. 

 The eggs, 4 to 5, are grayish-white, covered with fine 

 speckles and coarser blotches. 



