128 



BIRDS OF AMERICA 



the correspondinc:- fruinal altitude. To suit its 

 fastidious taste there should he rather dense 

 undergrowth, with more or less fallen branches, 

 and more particularly where mountain laurel 

 luxuriates. It might well have been named the 

 " Laurel Warbler." In such places one may note 

 a sweet, simple little song, which in one wav 



Phuto by H. K. J^jIj 



NEST OF BLACK-THROATEU BLUE WARBLER 



In a low fork of the little bush or sapling, a neat little cup 

 will be discovered 



reminds one of the Prairie Warbler, in another of 

 the Black-throated Green. Sometimes it comes 

 from up in the trees, but more often from the 

 undergrowth. Here, like most of its tribe, the 

 bird gleans the foliage for insect life, in tyjjical 

 Warbler fashion. 



The male is a brilliant distinctive fellow, but 

 the female is apt to prove a puzzle. She is hard 

 to discover, and, even when found, is a nonde- 

 script demure greenish bird, hard to name, unless 

 one catches a glimpse of the small white patch on 

 the lower middle part of wing. All she has to 

 say, at the most, is an incisive lisping tsip. 



The region where I became well acquainted 

 with this retiring, modest little sprite was the 

 wooded hills of northwestern Connecticut, per- 

 haps its most southern summer stronghold, ex- 

 cept down the ridge of the Alleghenies. Up in 

 the mountain forests of the town of Salisbury, 

 in June and early July, one may almost con- 

 stantly hear its song. Here, and all through 

 Litchfield County, in similar situations, it ne.sts 

 in low bushy sprouts, usually within a foot or 

 I wo of the ground, most frequently in mountain 

 laurel. When one knows just where to look, it 

 is not so very hard to locate nests, by persistent 

 beating, tapping the small laurels with a long 

 switch. In the course of time, the little greenish 

 bird is likely to dart forth, with trembling wings, 

 to limp and flutter over the carpet of dead leaves. 

 In a low fork- of the little bush or sapling, a neat 

 little cu]) will be discovered, wonderfully chaste 

 and well-woven, in the deep hollow of which lie 

 the four delicately spotted white eggs. Such a 

 Warbler's nest seems like a locket or a tiny casket 

 of jewels. Its discovery is rich reward for pro- 

 longed search. Finding nests of Warblers is a 

 specialized form of " the sport of bird study." 

 It might be called the chess of woodcraft, a test 

 of agilitv of mind and eye. combined with the 

 very limit of patience. None but a real bird- 

 lover can practice it with any marked success. 

 Herbert K. Job. 



Cairns's \Varbler (Dcndroica ccrriilcscens 

 cainisi) is a variant of the Black-throated Blue 

 Warbler. It breeds in the .Mleghenies from 

 Maryland to Georgia and winters in the \\'est 

 Indies. Both the male and female are darker 

 than their cousins. 



MYRTLE WARBLER 

 Dendroica coronata (LiuiiiCiis) 



A, O. U. Xu.iiber (.55 See Color Pl.lte 94 



Other Names. — Myrtle Bird ; Yellow-rump ; Yellow- 

 riimped Warbler : Golden-crowned Flycatcher ; Golden- 

 crowned Warbler ; Yellow-crowned Warbler. 



General Description. — Length, $'/: inches. Summer 

 Plumage: Upper parts, bluish-gray, streaked with 



black; under parts, white, black, and yellow. Winter 

 Plum.vge: Upper parts, grayish-brown; under parts, 

 brownish-white with black streaks. Bill, shorter than 

 head, slender, tapering gradually to the tip ; wings, 

 long and pointed ; tail, nearly even. 



