188 A DAINTY WARBLER. 



caught the gleam of his rich, yellow crown and 

 rump — markings by which he may always be rec- 

 ognized in the spring. It was a moment of rare 

 delight, as such moments always are to a lover of 

 the birds. How beautiful he was ! What an elab- 

 orate toilet he had made ! And how proudly he 

 stood craning up his neck and eying me as I drew 

 near! He was more beautiful than any nymph 

 that the ancient Greeks ever imagined. 



In addition to the yellow of the rump and crown, 

 there was a patch of gold on each side of his chest, 

 giving him a knightly aspect. The rest of his 

 lower parts were pure white, broadly striped on 

 the breast and sides with black ; his upper parts 

 were slaty blue or bluish gray, becoming black on 

 the sides of the head, except the white line above 

 the eye ; his back was streaked with black, and 

 there were white markings on his wings and 

 tail. 



The specimen before me was a male, for his little 

 spouse, wherever she was, would not have been 

 clad so gorgeously, although she would have worn 

 the same pattern as her brilliant lord. It is not 

 considered "good form," I suppose, in bird social 

 circles, for the little ladies to array themselves as 

 gaudily as their husbands and lovers do. This, as 



