THE BLUE YELLOW-BACKED WARBLER. 99 



finally left it with much reluctance. The nest, which contained three 

 young birds nearly fledged, was placed upon the ground at the foot of 

 the stump, and in such a position that the color of the young harmon- 

 ized perfectly with the bits of bark, sticks, etc., lying about. My ej-es 

 rested upon them for the second time before I made them out. They 

 hugged the nest ver^' closely, but as 1 put down my hand they all scam- 

 pered off with loud cries for help, which caused the parent birds to plao 

 themselves almost within my reach. (PI. Fig. 57. 



68. THE BLUE YELLO"W-BACKBD WARBLER. 

 PARULA AMERICANA {Linn.) Bonap. 



This beautiful warbler has a summer residence from West 

 Virginia to Nova Scotia. i\\\<\ westward even to the foothills of 

 the Rocky moimtains ; it is commonest in the latitude of Mass- 

 achusetts and northward during the summer, but also breeds in 

 Illinois, Virginia and New Jersey ; Audubon's mention of find- 

 ing its home in Louisiana is undoubtedly an error. 



The nest of this warbler is hollowed out of a bunch of 

 " Spanish moss," — the long, gray fibrous lichen which hangs 

 from trees in many New England swamps. " With great 

 skill," remarks Dr. Brewer, '" do these tiny architects gather 

 up, fasten together, and interweave, one with the other, the 

 hanging ends and longer branches. By an elaborate inter- 

 twining of these long fibres they form the principal part, some- 

 times the whole of their nests. These structures are at once 

 simple, beautiful, ingenious and skilfully wrought. When 

 first made they are somewhat rude and unfinished, but as their 

 family are gathered, the eggs deposited, incubated and hatched, 

 a change has been going on. Little by little has the male bird 

 busied himself, when not procuring food for his mate, in im- 

 proving, strengthening and enlarging the nest. These same 

 acts of improvement are noticed with the humming-birds, 

 vireos and a few other birds." 



The nests are sometimes constructed on the sides of trunks 

 of trees when covered with long mossy lichens, and in such 

 cases consist only of an interweaving of the moss above and 



