118 LAND-BIRDS. 



sparingly distributed over the rest of the egg. Its measure- 

 ments are .70 by .50 of an inch." 



c. The Black-throated Blue Warblers are not only summer 

 residents in the more northern New England States, but also 

 in Massachusetts, where, however, they are very rare as such, 

 unless in the western and more mountainous portions. They 

 reach the neighborhood of Boston in the third week of May, 

 and are more common here from that date until the first of 

 June than at any other period of the year. They return to 

 the South in September, and I have seen them as late as the 

 last day of that month.* An instance has been reported of a 

 pair passing the winter in Boston, which was a most extraor- 

 dinary circumstance, since their usual habitat at that season is, 

 I believe, beyond the United States. Birds, however, often 

 wander, so far as direct evidence goes, more than a thousand 

 miles from their usual homes, sometimes perhaps intention- 

 ally, but more often, probably, because forced to do so in 

 search of food, or by adverse weather. It is generally diffi- 

 cult to understand their eccentric movements on land, whereas 

 it is easy to understand why birds who have ventured out 

 to sea should be compelled by winds to deviate from their 

 course. 



When with us in spring, the " Black-throated Blues " are 

 to be seen generally in pairs or singly, but occasionally in small 

 companies of three or four, in which latter case quarrels fre- 

 quently arise between the males. They are very dexterous in 

 obtaining their insect prey ; sometimes seizing it in the air, 

 with the skill of a true Flycatcher, and at other times finding 

 it among the branches of the various trees which they frequent. 

 Now they twist their heads into seemingly painful postures, 

 the better to search the crannies in the bark or blossoms, now 

 spring from a twig to snap up an insect in the foliage above 



* I take the last opportunity offered made near Boston, I am inclined to be- 

 to record an observation which I have lieve that this species is always a rather 

 just made (Nov. 19, 1876), that of a late migrant in fall, and that individu- 

 Black-throated Blue Warbler busied als may occasionally pass the winter in 

 in catching insects among weeds, and New England. [From the Appendix 

 also in some trees, where were several (p. 443) of the first edition.] 

 Chickadees. From other observations 



