-^THE * OOLOGIST.^ 



VOL. VIII. 



ALBION, N. Y., SEPT., 1891. 



No. 9 



The Blaok-and-White Creeping Warbler 



That seems like a long name, but it is 

 really appropriate, for it is true to the 

 structure and habit of the bird; and so 

 the very name gives us a glimpse of 

 that black-and-white warbler, which 

 does not Hit from limb to limb and 

 spray to spray in the bushes and tree- 

 tops, but genuine Creeper-like threads 

 the trunk and larger limbs. 



Eveiywhere in Western New York; in 

 the region of the Great Lakes, in Ohio, 

 and Nova Scotia, I have been accustom- 

 ed to find this bird; and here in Mary- 

 land and Virginia, around the Capital, 

 this little species is common throughout 

 the migrations and the breeding season. 

 I have seen its nest here, within a few 

 rods of my house, on the ground, after 

 its usual custom. Sometimes, however, 

 mistaking the top of an old rotten log, 

 or even the decayed top of a stump 

 when overgrown with rubbish, for the 

 ground itself, it builds its nest of dried 

 leaves, fibers of bark, etc.. even there. 

 Dr. Brewer reports a nest hid away in 

 the drain of a house. Commonly it 

 keeps to the thick woods. 



Mniotilta varia, for that is his .scien- 

 tific name, is not altogether a warbler 

 in structure. His front toes are a little 

 more joined together at the base, his 

 hind • toe a little longer and his bill 

 somewhat curved at the tip. Not only 

 his creeping movements, but also his 

 breeding habitat which is throughout 

 Eastern North America, is decidedly 

 like that of the Brown Creeper. 



The thin wiry, but pleasing song — 

 Kitsce-Kilset-Kitsee-Kil.ste, is familiar to 

 every one who knows this specic^s; but 

 comparatively few have hoard his beau- 

 tiful warble, now and then delivered iu 

 the dense shrubbry of the forest. The 

 former song is thrown in by the way as 



he climbs the trees, but this latter is de- 

 livei-ed iu true artist's style, the bird 

 being regularly perched, and his head 

 thrown up. 



To-day being Sunday, a day of rest, I 

 sat me down in the fork of two roads in 

 the woods — roads not used for several 

 years and so quiet relapsed into a state 

 of nature— there I waited, still as the 

 trees around, to hear what the Inrds 

 would say to me. Presently I heard a 

 soft, sweet, whistling warble which I 

 did not readily recognize. I soon spied 

 the Black-and-white Creeping Warbler, 

 only a few feet from me; and saw as 

 well as heard him render his song. 

 Nothing of the creeper about his move- 

 ments now. He perches regularly, and 

 flits from limb to limb, in true warbler 

 style. Thus in habit as well as in struc- 

 ture, he is in part at least, a warbler. 



Very interesting is this doul)le affini- 

 ty of some species, standing apparently 

 between two different families, and so 

 shading and softening the lines which 

 separate families and ortlers. 



If any reader of the Oologist, in 

 Eastern North America, lives and stud- 

 ies where this bird is not found, will he 

 be so kind as to report, and so let us 

 know if there is any blank in his com- 

 monly accepted habitat. 



J. H. Langille, 

 Kensington, Md. 



Aug. 2, 1891. 



An Indiana Heronry. 



The Philadelphia Press claims that 

 Dr. W. E. Hughes, the well known, or- 

 nithologist, has discovered "the largest 

 heronry existing within the knowledge 

 of any scientist, in Valley Hills, Chester 

 Co., Penn." I think 1 have "discover- 

 ed" a greater "find" iu Indiana. 



On the 18th of July with two friends 

 I boarded a train at Chicago to spend a 



