182 NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



It is graceful and rapid in movement, and is often so intent upon its hunt 

 as to be inimindful of the near presence of man. 



It is found chietiy in tliickets, but this is probably owing to the fact that there 

 its food is principally to be obtained. It is occasionally seen in more open 

 country, and has been known to breed in the immediate vicinity of a dwelling. 



Wilson regarded this bird as a true Creeper, and objected to its being- 

 classed as a Warbler. He even denied to it the possession of any song. In 

 this he was quite mistaken. Though never loud, prolonged, or powerful, the 

 song of this Warbler is very sweet and pleasing. It begins to sing from its 

 hrst appearance in May, and continues to repeat its brief refrain at intervals 

 almost until its departure in August and September. Nuttall speaks of it 

 as being at first a monotonous ditty, and as uttered in a strong but shrill and 

 filing tone. These notes, he adds, as the season advances, become more mel- 

 low and warbling, and, though feeble, are pleasing, and are similar to those 

 of the Eedstart. But this statement does not do full justice to the varied 

 and agreeable notes with which, in early spring, these birds accompany their 

 lively hunt for food among the tops of the forest trees. They are diver- 

 sified and sweet, and seem suggestive of a genial and hap])y nature. 



These birds make their appearance in New England early in May, and 

 remain there, among the thick woods, until the middle of October, and in the 

 Southern States until the verge of winter. 



Their movements in search of food are like those of the Titmice, keeping 

 the feet together and moving in a succession of short rapid hops up the 

 trunks of trees and along the limbs, passing again to the bottom by longer 

 fiights than in the ascent. They make but short flights from tree to tree, 

 but are apparently not incapable of more prolonged ones. 



So far as I know, these birds always build their nests on the ground. Mr. 

 Nuttall found one in Eoxbury containing young about a week old. The nest 

 was on the ground, on the surface of a shelving rock, made of coarse strips 

 of the inner bark of the' Abies canadensis externally, and internally of soft 

 decayed leaves and dry grasses, and lined with a thin layer of black hair. 

 The parents fed their young in his presence with affectionate attention, and 

 manifested no uneasiness, creeping, head downward, about the trunks of the 

 neighboring trees, carrying large smooth caterpillars to their young. Tlie 

 nests of this bird are strongly and compactly built, externally of coarse strips 

 of various kinds of bark, and lined within ^^'itll hair and fine stems of grasses. 

 In several instances I have known them to be roofed over at the top, in the 

 manner of the Golden-crowned Thrush. They measure about three inches 

 in their external diameter, and are equally deep. 



The nests appear to be a favorite receptacle for the parasitic eggs of the 

 Cow-Bunting. Mr. Robert Ridgway obtained a nest at Mt. Carmel, 111., 

 in which were four eggs of the Molothrus and only two of the parent birds ; 

 and Mr. T. M. Trippe, of Orange, N. Y., also found a nest of this Creeper 

 in which were but three of its own and five of the parasite. 



