142 



BIRDS OF AMERICA 



He carried a green cut-worm in his mouth. No 

 sooner had he squatted on his accustomed perch 

 than he caught sight of the camera. With an 

 astonished chirp, he dropped his worm, turned a 

 back somersault and all I saw was a streak of 

 gray curving up over the pointed firs. 



The mother foraged the firs for insects of all 

 sizes and colors. She often brought in green 

 cut-worms which she rolled through her bill as 



dinner they had just swallowed. I don't believe 

 the mother ever saw her children when their 

 mouths were not open. After watching about 

 the home for several days with camera and note 

 book, I discovered that the mother was very 

 impartial to her children. While I could not 

 tell one of the young birds from the other, the 

 mother seemed to be able to do it, for she fed 

 them in turns regardless of position. 



Photo by W. L. Pmlcy and H. T. Bohlman 



MOTHER BLACK-THROATED GRAY WARBLER FEEDING CUT-WORMS TO YOUNG 



a house-wife runs washing through a wringer, 

 either to kill the creature or to be sure it was 

 soft and billsome. This looked like a waste of 

 time to me. The digestive organs of those bob- 

 tailed bantlings seemed equal to almost any insect 

 I had ever seen. 



In the days I spent about the nest, I never 

 saw the time when both the young birds were not 

 in a starving mood, regardless of the amount of 



The Black-throated Gray Warbler, like the 

 others of its kind, is restless, flitting from tree to 

 tree and singing at times almost constantly. Mrs. 

 Florence Merriani Bailey says, " Its song is a 

 simple Warbler lay, Zee-ee-zee-ee, ze, zc, zc, with 

 the quiet woodsy quality of Virens [Black- 

 throated Green Warbler] and Ccerulcsccns 

 I Black-throated Blue Warbler], so soothing to 

 the ear." William L. Finley. 



BLACK-THROATED GREEN WARBLER 

 Dendroica virens (GnicVni) 



\ (1. U. Xiimhcr (.67 See Color Plate 97 



Other Names. — Green Black-throated Flycatcher; 

 Evergreen Warbler: Green Black-throat. 



General Description. — Length, 5 inches. Upper 

 parts, olive; under parts, yellow, black, and white. Bill, 



shorter than head, slender, tapering gradually to the 

 tip ; wings, long and jiointed ; tail, notched. 



Color. — Adult Mai.k : Crown, hindneck, back, 

 shoulders, and rump, plain yellowish olive-green, the 



