16 



Handsomest of all the warbler tribe 

 is tlie exquisite BLACKBURIAN WAR- 

 BLER which arrives about May 10th 

 just as the buds of the white oak are 

 commencing to unfurl. If we wish to 

 see thenvto the best advantage we may 

 do so in parks or in orchards for there 

 they will be found low down, but if we 

 Avish to be most. certain of finding them 

 we go to woodland containing white 

 oaks and locate them by means of their 

 song. They will be found in the tops 

 of the trees where they can be seen 

 with difficulty, but you can count on 

 tlieir being there if it is the proper time. 



The Blackburnian song is a very 

 characteristic one but is of a wiry 

 cliaracter that requires tlie keenest of 

 ears to catch as it floats down from tlie 

 tree tops, — a thin, high pitched "swee, 

 swee, swee. swee-e-e-e-e" the final end- 

 ing ascending until its pitch is almost 

 beyond the human ear arum to receive. 



Blackburnian "Warblers nest sparing- 

 ly in mountains of New York and New 

 England but most of them pass beyond 

 our borders. 



[etwciy ^oW^yff species of this large family. Unlike 

 most species they are quite* sluggish in their actions, creep- 

 ing about among the upper branches with none of the 

 dash that we expect from most warblers. Many birds are 

 silent during the heat of the summer months but this species 

 trills almost as freely at such times as during spring. 



Two of our warblers are clothed wholly in black and 

 white, the Black-and-White Warbler and the Black-poll. 

 BLACK AND WHITE V^ARBLERS are abundant sum- 

 mer residents, returning to us about the latter part of x\pril. 

 They are readily identified as they are quite heavily streaked 

 with black all over and the black crown has a central white 

 stripe. Their song is a very thin and wiry one, so high 

 pitched as to almost seem like a hiss, — composed usually of 

 three syllables each long drawn out. We usually see them 

 creeping about branches and trunks of small woodland trees 

 with a celerity nearly equal to that of nuthatches. Their 

 nests are very well concealed at the bases of stumps or sap- 

 lings. BLACK-POLL WARBLERS arrive late, usually 

 about May 18th and pass on beyond our borders to breed. 

 The male may easily be distinguished from that of the last 

 species because the crown is solid black. Their notes are 



