232 SINGING BIRDS. 



other kinds of flies, keeping up a smart snapping of his bill, 

 almost similar to the noise made by knocking pebbles together. 

 This quaint and indolent ditty I have often heard before in 

 the dark and solitary woods of west Pennsylvania ; and here, 

 as there, it affords an agreeable relief in the dreary silence and 

 gloom of the thick forest. This note is very much hke the 

 call of the Chicadee, and at times both are heard amidst 

 the reigning silence of the summer noon. In the whole dis- 

 trict of this extensive hill or mountain, in Milton, there ap- 

 peared to exist no other pair of these lonely Warblers but the 

 present. Another pair, however, had probably a nest in the 

 vicinity of the woods of Mount Auburn in Cambridge, and 

 in the spring of the present year (1831) several pairs of these 

 birds were seen for a transient period. 



Nuttall was not the only one of the older writers who expressed 

 the opinion that this and other species of the family were less 

 abundant than more modern observers have found them. Wilson 

 and Audubon made similar statements. 



This Warbler is now known to be a common bird throughout 

 these Eastern States, and may be found, in summer, in any coni- 

 ferous forest in Massachusetts, and thence northward to the fur- 

 countries and westward to the plains. It breeds also, sparingly, in 

 southern New England, northern Ohio, Illinois, etc., and " along 

 the AUeghanies to South Carolina," and winters in the West Indies 

 and Central America. 



BLACKBURNIAN WARBLER. 



Dendroica blackburni^. 



Char. Male: above, black, back streaked with whitish; sides of head 

 black ; crown patch, line over eye, and entire throat and breast rich 

 orange or flame color ; belly yellowish white ; sides streaked with black; 

 large white patches on wings ; outer tail-feathers nearly all white. Fe- 

 male : similar, but black replaced by grayish brown, and orange by dull 

 yellow; white patches on wings and tail less conspicuous. Length 5 '4^ 

 to 5^ inches. 



Nest. Usually in coniferous woods, saddled on horizontal limb of pine 

 or hemlock, 20 to 40 feet from the ground ; composed of twigs, roots, and 

 shreds of bark mixed with vegetable down, lined with feathers and hair. 



Eggs. 4 ; white, often tinged with green, spotted, chiefly around 

 larger end, with brown and lilac; 0.70 X 0.50. 



