CANADIAN WARBLER 



283 



Gerald Thayer writes : "I have already, in my notes on the Black- 

 burnian, described this Warbler's breeding haunts about Monadnock. 

 It is a bird of rich deciduous undergrowth in the deep, damp forest, — 

 a ranger between the bush-tops and low tree-branches and the ground. 

 It avoids purely coniferous woods, and so is almost wholly wanting 

 from the closely-spruce-clad northern slopes of Mt. Monadnock, 

 though abundant in the deep mixed timber all about its northern base. 

 On the eastern slopes of the mountain, where the forest is more largely 

 deciduous, the Canada is fairly common almost up to the rocky back- 

 bone ridge, at heights of from 2,300 to 2,700 or so feet. 



"The Canadian is a sprightly, wide-awake, fly-snapping Warbler, 

 vivid in movement and in song; clearly marked and brightly colored. 

 In actions it is like the Wilson's, a sort of mongrel between a Den- 

 droica, an American Redstart, and a true Flycatcher. It darts after 

 flying insects like one of the Tyrannidae, and its bill may sometimes 

 be heard to 'click' when it seizes something; it has much of the Red- 

 start's insistent nervousness of motion, but is a less airy 'flitter' ; and, 

 finally, it glides and gleans among leaves and twigs like a true gleaning 

 Warbler." {Thayer, MS.) 



Song. — "Sings a great deal in migration — the song is liquid, un- 

 certain, varied, bright, sweet — sounds like the syllables t'le we, t'le we, 

 t'le we, t'le we, t'l it zvit; often begins with a little whirr or snap. 

 (Farwell, MS.) 



"Suggests to me the unfinished song of a Goldfinch more than 

 that of a Warbler. It is very broken and energetic and also possesses 

 a larger quality." (Fuertes, MS.). 



"The strong and snappily-changeful modulation of this Warbler's 

 clear, rippling song can scarcely be suggested by English syllables, 

 and I shall avoid the attempt. It is one of the most delightful as well 

 as one of the commonest summer bird-songs of the deep woods about 

 ]\Ionadnock. It varies a good deal, but I have yet to discover that the 

 bird has more than one constant, main song as a basis for the varia- 

 tions. Nevertheless, it ranks very high in the full-voiced group, as 

 does its beautiful black-hooded relative of the South. In late summer 

 and autumn the young male Canadas of the year often try to sing, as 

 is the case with all or most Wood Warblers ; and,— as is also commonly 

 the case, — their performances are obscure and queer, and barely recog- 

 nizable. 



"The Canada's commonest summer call-note is fairly charcteristic, 

 having a certain peculiar little 'tang' and harshness. It sounds a little 

 like the chock of the Yellow-throat, but is less pronouncedly different 



