116 LAND-BIRDS AND GAME-BIRDS 
purple. A few smaller dottings of the same are sparingly 
distributed over the rest of the egg. Its measurements are 
‘70 by 50 of an inch.” 
(c). The Black-throated Blue Warblers are not only summer- 
residents in the more northern New England States, but also 
in Massachusetts, where, however, they are very rare as such, 
unless in the western and more mountainous portions. They 
reach the neighborhood of Boston in the third week of May, 
and are more common here from that date until the first of 
June than at any other period of the year. They return to 
the South in September, and I have seen them as late as the 
last day of that month. An instance has been reported of a 
pair passing the winter in Boston, which was a most extraor- 
dinary circumstance, since their usual habitat at that season is, 
I believe, beyond the United States. Birds, however, often 
wander, so far as direct evidence goes, more than a thousand 
miles from their usual homes, sometimes perhaps intention- 
ally, but more often, probably, because forced to do so in 
search of food, or by adverse weather. It is generally diffi- 
cult to understand their eccentric movements on land, whereas 
it is easy to understand why birds, who have ventured out to 
sea, should be compelled by winds to deviate from their course. 
When with us in spring, the ‘‘ Black-throated Blues” are to be 
seen generally, in pairs or singly, but occasionally in small 
companies of three or four, in which latter case quarrels fre- 
quently arise between the males. They are very dexterous in 
obtaining their insect-prey; sometimes seizing it in the air, 
with the skill of a true flycatcher, and at other times finding 
it among the branches of the various trees which they frequent. 
Now they twist their heads into seemingly painful postures, 
the better to search the crannies in the bark or blossoms, now 
spring from a twig to snap up an insect in the foliage above 
their heads, instantly returning, and now flutter before a cluster 
of opening leaves, with the grace of a hummingbird. Oc- 
casionally they descend to the ground, and are so very tame 
that once, when I was standing motionless, observing some war- 
blers near me, one hopped between my feet to pick up some 
