THE OSPREY. 



181 



and invariably each one had a cob pipe fixed between cert, or two males would exhibit their courage by 



his teeth. entering into combat. The females apparently per- 



In the morning, an early start was made. Pad- form all drudgeries in nest building ; not once did I 



dling northward to avoid the driftwood, we struck observe a male lending the least bit of aid, and yet I 



across a broad expanse of water some two miles dis- have no doubt but that perfect felicity reigned in 



tant, beyond which lay the desired roost. The early each household. 



start had enabled us to reach our goal in a much Aimless paddling had eventually brought the canoe 



shorter time than was anticipated, and investigations into a beautiful sylvan retreat, a perfect prothono- 



to that end being completed, we turned our exclusive tarian haunt. Seemingly all avian songsters had 



attention to the Prothonotary Warbler, which we centered in this wood, each striving to contribute his 



found in great abundance mite to the chorus. The monotonous drum of a 



It was the most attractive inhabitant of these pic- woodpecker on a sun-bleached limb of a tree, the 



turesque woods, flying hither and thither, flashing incessant singing of the Warbling Vireo, or ditty of 



like a golden streak, brightening the whole scene be- the nervous Redstart, with now and then the harsh 



fore us, the males making the woods fairly echo with guttural croak of a heron, or the booming of a bittern 



their penetrating notes All day we idled in our which had by the inundation been deprived of its 



canoe, watching this bird in its native haunts, now abode and was now the occupant of adjacent drift- 



and then peeping into a nest to learn of its household wood, gave a sort of zest to this scene, the home of 



affairs, or following one on a foraging expedition. Profonotaria citrea. Above all songsters, the clear, 



Occasionally one would treat us with a special con- 



BLUE JAY, SEVENTEEN DAYS OLD. 

 PHOTOGUAPH BY R. A. DUGMORE. FROM W. E. D. SCOTT'S BOOK 



penetrating notes of this interesting Warbler were 



audible, now coming from 

 a point behind and echoed 

 and re-echoed by other in- 

 dividuals throughout the 

 wood. Even at noontide, 

 when otherwise a silent 

 hush prevailed, the oppres- 

 sive heat seeming to have 

 dampened the spirits of the 

 most ardent singer, the 

 drowsy drone of insects 

 being alone wafted to our 

 ears by an occasional 

 breeze, — even then the 

 persistent prothonotar ies 

 still continued the avian 

 concert. We lingered till 

 the waning of the day, 

 long after the golden sun 

 had sunk in the distant 

 west, and not until issuing 

 stars cast dim reflections 

 in the dark waters beneath 

 did we resume our pad- 

 dling, loath, though now 

 compelled, to depart from 

 this bird's domain Na- 

 ture was hushed in slum- 

 ber, and not a sound broke 

 the enchanting quiet save 

 the splash of the paddle, 

 the weird hoot of an owl, 

 and the notes of a whip- 

 poor-will in the distance. 



■ BIRD STUDIES. 



