620 BULLETIN 203, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



15 feet above ground, and then only when startled. Neither is it often 

 seen on the ground. It prefers small semi-open thickets of beech and 

 maple, where it nests. It is a lively bird, and is constantly moving 

 from one thicket to another, at times following the edges and again 

 in the densest part. It seems to have much curiosity, for if a person 

 sits quietly in the woods, he will hear the constantly nearing sound of 

 its sharp alarm note until finally the bird will peer from the foliage, 

 from which it quickly flies if disturbed. It is an exceedingly active 

 bird in every way and one may be sure that, if there is a hooded warbler 

 in any wood, sooner or later its alarm note will be heard and the bird 

 glimpsed." 



Although this warbler spends most of its life in the lower story of 

 the forest, it often rises to the treetops to sing, as William Brewster 

 (1876) observes: "As the day advanced the males would frequently 

 ascend to the tops of the forest trees, and sing many times in succession 

 sitting perfectly motionless in one place, then with expanded wings 

 and tail would sail to the next tree and sing again. * * * Wlien 

 among the low thickets they are restless and shy, keeping a consider- 

 able distance ahead however fast you may walk, and were it not for 

 the loud song they would be most difficult to procure. At such times 

 they have a habit, observable in others of the genus, of flirting up six 

 or eight feet after an insect and dropping almost perpendicularly 

 again with closed wings." 



I should call the hooded warbler more retiring than shy. If ac- 

 tively pursued, it retires to the seclusion of its leafy retreats, but it 

 can be approached quietly, and has been photographed successfully 

 at its nest, where the male seems to be less timid than the female. 

 Forbush (1929) tells of one that even followed a man about for a 

 while; and he quotes Aretas A. Saunders as saying that "he saw a 

 pair of these birds acting as if their nest was near-by, but he could 

 not find it. He stayed to eat his lunch, and as he finished and was 

 about to rise, the male bird suddenly dropped to a low bush and 

 then flew directly at his head; as Mr. Saunders dodged, the bird's 

 wing brushed his face. This seems remarkable, as this bird usually 

 seems to be of a gentle disposition, though some rival males fight 

 fiercely in the mating season." 



Mr. Allison told Dr. Chapman (1907) of "a very interesting fight 

 between two male Hooded Warblers, for the possession of a female; 

 the two began the contest in a tree, fluttering down into the mud and 

 water, and the upper one, who had the other by the head, was in a 

 fair way to drown or disable his opponent, when we frightened them 

 off." 



A conspicuous habit of the hooded warbler, so common with the 

 redstarts and some other fly-catching warblers, is the frequent fanning 



