66 KENTUCKY WARBLER. 



ing motion, and he also resembles that bird in gen- 

 eral appearance, but will be distinguished trom him 

 by the white line over the eye. He is very shy and 

 difficult to approach. The nest, of twigs, rootlets and 

 leaves, is generally under a shelving bank or the up- 

 turned roots of a fallen tree. The eggs, 4 to 6, are 

 white, much speckled with reddish-brown. Mr. 

 Chapman writes enthusiastically of his song and says 

 " There is an almost fierce wildness in its ringing 

 notes." 



Kentucky Warbler: Geothlypis formosa. 



Leng-th about 5^4 inches. 



Upper parts olive-green; no wing-bars or tail-patches. 

 Under parts bright yellow. 

 Crown, cheeks, and sides of throat black. 

 Resident from May 5 to September 5; winters in Central 

 America. 



In " Birds of Village and Field," Miss Merriam 

 writes so delightfully of her introduction to the Ken- 

 tucky Warbler, that her story is given in full. " In 

 the neighborhood of Washington, one of the best 

 places for birds on the spring migration is along the 

 eastern wooded bank of the Potomac. There, above 

 High Island, opposite the ' amphitheatre,' one day 

 early in May, w^e heard a song so like the famous 

 Carolina Wren's that we hurried off in its direction. 

 Crossing on a fallen tree that bridged the narrow arm 

 of the Potomac, we were on the little island where 

 the bird was singing. The song receded as we ad- 

 vanced, and we forced our way through the dense 

 tangle of undergrowth to follow it, till w^e came sud- 

 denly upon a forest garden, a great blue rug spread on 

 the floor of the woodland and lit up by the sun coming 

 through the skylights of the freshly leafing trees. The 



