HABITS OF THE SUMMER WARBLER 257 



ble places within this area, but probably withdraws entirely in 

 the fall. In the mountains about Fort Whipple, Arizona, I 

 noted its arrival one year on the 25th of April, and saw it not 

 after the second week in September of either of the autumns I 

 passed in that locality. Though the bird is so generally dis- 

 tributed at all altitudes, you would scarcely look for it in the 

 pine woods of the higher mountains; for it loves the less sombre 

 verdure of ravine, hillside, and water-course, and its brilliant 

 yellow plumage is oftenest seen glancing through the cotton- 

 woods and willows that fringe the streams, even far out on the 

 dreary plains ; while the sprightly and agreeable song which 

 accompanies its movements at frequent intervals has all the 

 pleasurable associations that are awakened at the sound of a 

 familiar voice — never so attractive as when unexpectedly heard 

 in a far-away place. 



A bird so widely distributed as the Summer Warbler is, might 

 be presumed to modify its habits somewhat according to the 

 diverse conditions of its environment. But the present, like 

 other Warblers, is so regular in its periodical movements that 

 it bears little or no local impress, — the reverse, I have no doubt, 

 of the case with the several insular races into which the species 

 has been converted in the West Indies. Its habits are every- 

 where substantially the same, whatever little changes, particu- 

 larly in the location and construction of the nest, may be 

 required to meet special conditions. With us, the Summer 

 Warbler is well known to be a confiding bird, rather attracted 

 than repelled by man's presence, fond of nesting in our orchards, 

 gardens, and lawns, even our crowded streets ; and the nest, as 

 a rule, is placed rather low down, in some hedge, thicket, or other 

 shrubbery. In the arctic regions, where the bird has been found 

 to be abundant, the nest is said to be usually placed in the low 

 willow bushes of those latitudes. The nest and eggs are too 

 well known to require descriptiou ; but Mr. Henshaw has left a 

 memorandum that the eggs he took in the West were all pure 

 white in the ground color, lacking the slight greenish shade 

 observed in those laid in the Eastern States. 



This Warbler has long been known as one of the birds most 

 frequently victimized by the Cow Bunting, and has become cel- 

 ebrated for the resolution with which it refuses to incubate the 

 alien egg, as well as for the sagacity and deterrainatiou it dis- 

 plays in making shift to avoid the hateful imposition, even to 

 the length of sacrificing its own eggs and giving up its nest. 

 17 B 



