Vennor on the Wood-warhlers of Montreal, 349 



ARTICLE XXVI. — A short review of the Sylviadce or Wood- 

 WarUers found in the vicinity of Montreal. By H. G. Vennor. 



(Presented to the Montreal Natural History Society) 



Among the many families of birds visiting us during the sum- 

 mer months, and enlivening our woods and orchards with their 

 songs, none are more interesting, agreeable, or useful than the 

 subjects of our present review. Excepting the humming-bird, 

 we find among them the most diminutive of the feathered tribes. 

 Yet, small and insignificant as these tribes may seem to be, they 

 are designed by Providence to fill an important sphere in Nature. 

 If it were possible to strike them ofl* the list, and to leave their 

 post vacant, we would soon find out to our loss that a great blank 

 existed. The chorus of our woods would have lost its charm, and 

 would resemble a grand piece of music, with the lower-toned, and 

 connecting notes taken away. Thus leaving disconnected strains, 

 truly beautiful and sweet in themselves, but, by being disconnected, 

 having lost their charm. 



Who can stroll through our woods during spring without being 

 struck by the grand chorus produced by many sweet-noted song- 

 sters ? But, let him analyze this swelling chorus, and it will be 

 found that the sweet warble of the tiny warblers connecting the 

 rich notes of the tanager, red-bird, thrush, and robin, forms 

 the gentle swell that is so pleasing. This, however, would only 

 be a mere loss of music ; worse eflfects would follow. Soon our 

 groves and forests would have lost their green fresh looks, and 

 our orchards would have ceased to be^' fruit ; and for this reason — 

 there exist around all vegetation hosts of minute insects that, left 

 unmolested, would soon spread devastation through the vegetable 

 kingdom. Myriads of these insects f^ill a prey to the thrushes 

 flycatchers, and swallows, but myriads more lurk and lie con- 

 cealed beneath the bark, and under the leaves of the trees where 

 neither thrush nor flycatcher could reach them. To this post, 

 or sphere of usefulness, the true warblers are confined. With 

 their bills they probe every crack and crevice of the bark, with 

 their quick eye they glance over and under every leaf. 



Think of the amount of good accomplished by even one of these 

 birds in the capture of a parent insect, ready to deposit its eggs; 

 it at least equals the destruction of a thousand caterpillars. The 

 following is the general form of bill : — Slender, straight, and awl 

 shaped ; higher than wide at the base, and furnished with bris- 

 tles ; lower mandible straight. It is curious to watch some of 



