THE MO UBNING GR UND WAEBLEB. 1 5 7 



until it is discovered. "Then they will make the most vehe- 

 ment demonstrations of alarm and distress, flying about the in- 

 truder and fearlessly approaching him to within a few feet." Dr. 

 Brewer was surely in error when he declared that they "rarely, 

 if ever, have more than one brood in a season." All experience, 

 from Massachusetts southward, is opposed to him. When the 

 young are hatched they are treated with tender care by both 

 parents, being fed upon the larvae of small beetles and moths, 

 and various flies. The young are able to leave the nest in about 

 twelve days, but are not left wholly to shift for themselves, for 

 a week longer. If the last brood, they remain with their parents 

 upon their leisurely journey northward in September. 



98. THE MOURNING GROUND WARBLER. 



GEOTHLYPIS PHILADELPHIA (IFiVs.) Bd. 



Ranges from Kansas and Dakota over the whole of Eastern 

 North America, wintering south of our borders, and breeding 

 through the northern portion of its summer habitat. 



Mr. John Burroughs was the first to see the nest of this bird, 

 the account of the finding of which I quote from his charming 

 book. Wake Robin : — the scene is a locality in the interior of 

 New York, at the headwaters of the Delaware : 



Continuing my random walks, I next paused in a low part of the woods, 

 where the larger trees began to give place to a thick second growth that 

 covered an old Barkpeeling. I was standing by a large maple, when a small 

 bird darted quickly away from it, as if it might have come out of a hole near 

 its base. As the bird paused a few yards from me, and began to chirp un- 

 easily, my curiosity was at once excited. When I saw it was the female 

 mourning ground warbler, and remembered that the nest of this bird had not 

 yet been seen by any naturalist, — that not even Dr. Brewer had ever seen the 

 eggs, — I felt that here was something worth looking for. So I carefully be- 

 gan the search, exploring inch by inch the ground, the base and roots of the 

 tree, and the various shrubby growths about it, till, finding nothing, and fear- 

 ing I might really put my foot in it, I bethought me to withdraw to a distance 

 and after some delay return again, and, thus forewarned, note the exact point 



