380 NOTES ON THE 



other, till the individual is lost in the maze of ceaseless change. 

 He must clothe his heart in armor of remorseless steel, and 

 listening to no siren song of sentiment, see only forms, and 

 hear only the rapidly repeated roar of his own artillery until 

 his receptacle is filled with bloody sacrifices to the altar of sci- 

 ence, or the golden opportunities are gone for a whole year at 

 least. Amid the trophies of his unwelcome victories, that em- 

 brace seven- tenths of all the warblers, appears the beautiful 

 form and colors of the Black-throated Blue Warbler. If in his 

 zeal he has ceased his warfare for a moment's rest, while in the 

 field, he may have heard some preoccupied insect rubbing his 

 chitinous wings against his harder legs in insect melody, with- 

 out suspecting the author was a warbler of such proportions, 

 yet it was this same, and no other. Although but few have 

 been seen after the month of May has passed, enough have 

 been brought to basket to make it presumably certain that the 

 Black- throated Blue Warbler breeds in Minnesota, notwith- 

 standing no nests have been secured. Its habits lead it to the 

 uplands of the forests, where it may be seen energetically flit- 

 ting from the very tip of one lofty tree to that of another close 

 at hand, occasionally dashing out after an insect on the wing, 

 after the manner of the fly-catchers, or descending quietly to 

 the lower portions of the trunk, industriously scanning every 

 crack and crevice in the bark in search of larvae and wingless 

 forms. Careful observations along the borders of forests in 

 early September will usually be rewarded by the sight of this 

 beautiful bird, in somewhat more sombre plumage. It is on its 

 way to the land where the frosts do not deprive it of its indis- 

 pensable supplies of insect food during our prolonged and 

 rigorous winter. Mr. Lewis found it fairly common at the 

 Vermilion lakes in June, but discovered no nests, as his stay 

 afforded little opportunity to search for them. From several 

 descriptions of the nests and eggs as found in other localities, 

 it seems that for the most part the location chosen is quite 

 variable, some being ' 'on the horizontal branch of a fir tree^ 

 seven or eight feet from the ground," and others "about five 

 inches." Eggs four, white and spotted with brown. 



SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 



Above uniform continuous grayish-blue, including the outer 

 edges of the quill and tail feathers; a narrow frontal line, en- 

 tire sides of head and neck, chin and throat, lustrous black, 

 which color extends in a broad lateral stripe to the tail; rest of 

 under parts including the axillary region white; wings and 



