EASTERN MYRTLE WARBLER 247 



They are somewhat expert as flycatchers, taking mosquitos and 

 gnats in the air. Knight (1908) writes: "During the fall months 

 the}^ enter the city gardens and orchards, climb over the roofs and 

 along the gutters of houses, peering into every nook and cranny. 

 They hover on beating wings about such crannies of the clapboards 

 and finish where they may have spied some delicious, big fat spider, 

 chrysalis or other delectable morsel, and such finds are speedily 

 devoured. Now peering, now hovering, and now springing into the 

 air after some winged insect, they stop about a building for a few 

 hours or days, slowly but surely retreating southward." 



Behavior. — Much of the behavior of this friendly little bird has 

 been referred to in connection with its activities about our homes 

 and gardens and its nesting habits. Tilford Moore tells me that 

 "these birds seem to have a tendency toward 'creeperism,' in that 

 they are often seen hanging to the bark of a vertical trunk or branch, 

 and are usually on the larger branches rather than among the smaller 

 twigs. They often flutter a lot when hanging to the bark." And 

 Wendell Taber sends me this note : "On May 5, 1940, Richard Stack- 

 pole and I watched a flock in West Newbury, Mass. The birds were 

 running about on the grass near a stream. xA.gain, they would alight 

 at the base of a tree and run up it several feet. I think all the birds 

 that performed this feat were females. They were most deceptive, 

 and we kept thinking we were seeing brown creepers until we put field 

 glasses on them." 



William Brewster (1938) writes of the behavior of a female about 

 her nest, 35 feet from the ground in a hemlock : "The female Yellow- 

 rump was sitting and for some time she absolutely refused to leave 

 her eggs. Watrous first shook the branch and then with a long stick 

 poked and shook smartly the twigs within an inch or two of her head. 

 At length she hopped out of the nest and stood for a moment or 

 more on its rim looking about her. Then she fluttered down towards 

 the gi'ound with quivering wings and wide spread tail, moving slowly 

 and alighting several times on a branch or cluster of twigs where 

 she would lie prostrate for a moment beating her wings feebly and 

 simulating the movements of a wounded or otherwise disabled bird." 



Dr. Stone (1937) describes the flight of the myrtle warbler very 

 well : 



We soon learn to identify their rather jerky flight as they rise from the 

 bushes, and with a series of short wing flips turn now to the right, now to the 

 left, in their zigzag progress, rising somewhat with the beats, and falling in 

 the intervals. Sometimes a bird will go but a short distance, flitting from 

 bush to bush, while others will climb higher and higher in the air, drifting in 

 their jerky way across the sky like wind-blown leaves. * * * 



As soon as a Myrtlebird alights on a bush there is a short, sharp flip of the 

 tail, not a seesaw action, but one involving the body as well, and as it comes 



