quickly stopped and flew to the branches of a low tree, apparently in an exhausted 

 condition. Though related to the cuckoos, it resembles the pheasants because of 

 its terrestrial habits. 



The Road-runner usually nests in rather low trees or bushes and occasionally 

 in the hollow of a dead stump. The nest is usually placed where it is well con- 

 cealed from view, and it has been known to ai)|)ropriate the nests of other birds. 

 The body of the nest is usually constructed with small sticks or twigs and lined 

 with finer twigs and dry grasses. The lining may also consist of dung, feathers, 

 bark hber, fragments of snake skins and other hue materials that may be foun<l in 

 the vicinity. Sometimes the lining is eiilirely absent and the eggs are laid on the 

 foundation of sticks. 



"The j>arents are devoted to their young, and when incubation is well advanced 

 the bird will sometimes allow il^rlf to be caught on the nest rather than abandon 

 its eggs. The notlings. when disturbed, make a clicking noise with their bills. 

 When taken young, they are readily tamed, soon becoming attached to their captor, 

 showing a great deal of sagacity and making amusing and interesting pets." 



I-'ood : Lizzards, swifts and other small reptiles. 



Maryland Yellovvthroats 



By Melicent Eno Humason 



There's a wee bit copse of slender brown-toned birches on the eastern side of 

 a dark pine grove, and the southern side of a brier-hemmed marsh, and that's the 

 playground of the prettiest pair of warblers — no, not the prettiest, but the 

 quaintest, cutest, perhaps the most approachable pair — in the whole kingdom. 



"Whitseka, whitseka. whitseka," chirrups the male, teetering recklessly on a 

 low springing bough, and constantly interrupting his song by sudden twists of his 

 surprisingly supple neck, as he dives for insects complacently crawling on the 

 underpart of his perch. 



Always masked is he — his would-be disguise, intensely black — stretched tight 

 across his eyes. Silly fellow ! He thinks to conceal his own identity by the very 

 thing which proves it ! 



His simple, housewifely little mate wears none. Her quiet ways are enough 

 of protection for her. 



Their two little bodies — saffron below, olive above — darting about the tiny 

 leaved saplings, bring one more significance of joy into the world. 



Some day, soon, I shall hope to find, in the big, luxuriant leaves of a cool 

 skunk cabbage nearby — their nest ; and I shall come with offerings of devotion — 

 the love in mv heart — to lav at the threshold. 



787 



