CHARACTERISTICS OF WARBLERS 201 



vicinity ; so subtile, so fugitive, so incomprehensible are these 

 quaint snatches of song, which arouse attention only to disap- 

 point expectation, and make us feel that we can never interpret 

 the language in which these sylvan sprites tell the story of their 

 lives. But the Warblers are such a multitude, so composite, 

 that no indiscriminate comment, however guarded, can fail to 

 do injustice. There are singers among them. The voice of the 

 Summer Yellowbird is sweetly modulated. The species of the 

 genus Siurus are splendid performers: the Golden-crown is a 

 musician of extraordinary yet long-unsuspected ability, so sed- 

 ulously does he hide his real accomplishments — one who con- 

 tinually obtrudes upon us his loud shrill chant, in accelerated 

 monotone, as if this were all that lay in his power ; yet in rare 

 moments of triumph delighting to transport us with the ex- 

 quisite vocalization which his nuptial ecstasies inspire. 



More anon of the general habits of the Warblers, when I 

 come to speak of the genera and species individually ; here I 

 can do little more than witness the "various language" which 

 they speak "to him who in the love of Nature holds communion 

 with her visible forms". The Warblers have we always with us, 

 all in their own good time; they come out of the South, pass on, 

 return, and are away again, their appearance and withdrawal 

 scarcely less than a mystery; many stay with us all summer 

 long, and some brave the winters in our midst. Some of these 

 slight creatures, guided by unerring instinct, travel true to the 

 meridian in the hours of darkness, slipping past " like a thief 

 in the night", stooping at day-break from their lofty flights 

 to rest and recruit for the next stage of the journey. Others 

 pass more leisurely from tree to tree, in a ceaseless tide of 

 migration, gleaning as they go ; the hardier males, in full song 

 and plumage, lead the way for the weaker females and the 

 yearlings. With tireless industry do the W^arblers befriend 

 the human race; their unconscious zeal plays due part in the 

 nice adjustment of Nature's forces, helping to bring about the 

 balance of vegetable and insect life, without which agriculture 

 would be in vain. They visit the orchard when the apple and 

 l^ear, the peach, plum, and cherry, are in bloom, seeming to 

 revel carelessly amid the sweet-scented and delicately- tinted 

 blossoms, but never faltering in their good work. They peer 

 into the crevices of the bark, scrutinize each leaf, and explore 

 the very heart of the buds, to detect, drag forth, and destroy 

 those tiny creatures, singly insignificant, collectively a scourge, 



