AMEinCAX WARBLERS. 67 



have found more in barberry bushes than elsewhere. The 

 birds appear to understand that the armed branches of this 

 shrub form a protection for their nests, hence these bushes are 

 frequently chosen as a summer home. Who can tell, after 

 all, just how much the masses of yellow^ pendants of blossoms, 

 with a hue so much like the birds ow^n color, and which ap- 

 pear about nesting time, may influence this choice? Anoth- 

 er w'ay in which the Yellow Warbler displays considerable 

 intelligence may be seen in its w^ell known habit of often build- 

 inor a second, or even a third nest over the intruding; eo-s: of 

 the Cowbird. The nest is built about the first of June; the 

 eggs are deposited at least as early as the tenth of the month, 

 and the young may be seen accompanying their parents by the 

 first of July. While sitting the female seldom leaves the im- 

 mediate vicinity of the nest, and the male, although somewhat 

 of a wanderer, is seldom far away. 



Song. The song of the Yellow Warbler is a lively lay, 

 and when uttering it the bird pauses in its search for insects 

 and gives all attention to its delivery. The song is a continu- 

 ous warble, consisting of about seven notes, the last being 

 given in the same key as the first, or a little low^er. It is pos- 

 sible to trace a resemblance to this lay in the syllables, '* Siveet 

 sweet siveet to siveetee ". Sometimes the " sweet " is given 

 four times, or, again^ the song may be shortened by omitting 

 the last syllable. There is a singular resemblance to the song 

 of the Yellow Warbler in that of the Chestnut-sided as this 

 bird sings in spring. Both birds utter about the same num- 

 ber of notes, but the song of the Chestnut-sided is not quite as 

 continuous as that of the Yellow, for there is a pause, although 

 a very short one., just before the last two syllables, and these 

 two terminal notes are given with a rising inflection- Thus 



the bird appears to say ; " Stueet szueet stueet to weedier ", 



the pause taking the place of one note given by the Yellow. 

 The Yellow Warbler, how^cver, utters nothing that in any way 



