96 FIVE DAYS ON MOUNT MANSFIELD. 
and most desolate places, they manifest a 
particular fondness for the immediate vicin- 
ity of houses, delighting especially to fly 
about the gutters of the roof and against the 
window panes. Here, at the Summit 
House, they were constantly to be seen hawk- 
ing back and forth against the side of the 
building, as barn swallows are given to doing 
in the streets of cities. The rude structure 
was doubly serviceable, —to me a shelter, 
and to the birds a fly-trap. I have never ob- 
served any other warbler thus making free 
with human habitations. 
This yellow-rump, or myrtle bird, is one 
of the thrifty members of his great family, 
and next to the black-poll is the most numer- 
ous representative of his tribe in Massachu- 
setts during the spring and fall migrations; 
a beautiful little creature, with a character- 
istic flight and call, and for a song a pretty 
trill suggestive of the snow-bird’s. Within 
two or three years he has been added to the 
summer fauna of Massachusetts, and as a 
son of the Bay State I rejoice in his presence 
and heartily bid him welcome. We shall 
never have too many of such citizens. I es- 
teem him, also, as the only one of his deli- 
