WARBLERS 529 



much longer intervals when suddenly the female flitted to the 

 top of the tallest hemlock in the clump, and about one foot 

 from the top was the nest, neatly concealed among the thick 

 foliage and quite unnoticeable from below. 



I well remember the joy that filled my breast, as I gazed at 

 the nest and realized that, at last, I knew where Dendroica 

 virens made its summer home. I had to exercise great care in 

 climbing up to the nest, as the small hemlock was so slim and 

 brittle, that I had to gather several of them together to hold 

 my weight. A very pretty nest met my gaze which the female 

 reluctantly left as I neared it. She did not scold as some 

 birds do, but left in silence, though both birds stayed near by, 

 flitting nervously and giving vent to their call note, that is 

 much like the call note of several other Warblers. The dainty 

 cup-shaped nest as it lays before me — (yes, I took the nest 

 and five eggs that it contained, but with great reluctance.) 

 Many people say, ' How could you take the poor little birds' 

 nest?' This is a difficult question to answer those sympathetic 

 people satisfactorily. They ask this and similar questions as 

 though they thought that the student of birds takes them 

 with as little feeling as does the small school-boy, who takes 

 them because Charlie aud the other boys are getting a c'lec- 

 tion. But the true friend and lover of the birds, does have a 

 great deal of feeling and pity for the birds, as he watches 

 them go repeatedly to the site of their nest and seem to wonder 

 what has become of the nest so dear to them. He has a much 

 deeper feeling of pity for them, than does the one who asks these 

 questions with so much seeming pity, but forgets it so soon, 

 perhaps changing their thoughts as to what sort of a bird 

 they shall wear on their hat. (Here let me say that these 

 birds sought a new site in a clump not far away from the 

 old one and reared their four little ones unmolested, and as I 

 watched them building their new nest, I promised them not to 

 interfere with their family cares and they seemed as happy as 

 before and had, no doubt, quite forgotten the unpleasant 



