200 USEFUL BIRDS. 



and places them on a branch in plain sight of the observer, 

 in order to deceive him, and draw his attention away from 

 the nest. He states that he has known of more than one 

 occurrence of this kind. His observations seem to l)e cor- 

 roborated by the actions of a bird that was nesting in our pine 

 grove. When watched, it Ijegan carrying nesting material 

 into an old tin can that was suspended in a large pine tree ; 

 but when the attention of the observer Avas attracted else- 

 where, it Avent no farther with its nest in the can. While 

 the birds are building, the male brings some nesting mate- 

 rial, but the female does the work of construction. The 

 food of this Warbler, like that of others of the family, con- 

 sists of caterpillars and other larvii^ of many kinds, beetles, 

 small bugs, and flies. Professor Aughey says that the stom- 

 achs of five specimens taken in Nebraska contained two hun- 

 dred and twenty insects, — an average of forty-four to each 

 bird ; a large number of these insects were young locusts. 



Pine Warbler. Pine-creeping \A^arbler. 



Den d roica riyo rsii. 



Length. — Five and one-half to six inches. 



Adult Male. — Above, olive ; wings and tail dusky ; two white wing bars ; throat, 



breast, and line over eye bright yellow, somewhat clouded or streaked on 



sides with a darker shade. 

 Adult Female. — Duller; often with little or no yellow below; large white spots 



on two outer tail feathers of both sexes. 

 Nest. — In much the same situation as that of the Black-throated Green "Warbler, 



but oftener in pitch pines ; it is sometimes saddled on a horizontal limb, 



and is then flat and ratlier slovenly in build; usually lined with feathers. 

 Eggs. — "White with brown markings, chiefly at larger end. 

 Season. — April to October. 



The Pine Warbler has a marked preference for pine woods 

 and groves ; but, unlike the Bhick-throated Green Warbler, 

 it seems to prefer the pitch pines, and is one of the few birds 

 that habitually live and breed in the woods of this charac- 

 ter that exist on dry and sandy lands, like those of Cape 

 Cod. It has been called the Pine-creeping Warbler, from 

 its habit of creeping along the Ijranches, and occasionally 

 up and around the trunks of pines. For a Warbler it 

 seems a rather slow and indolent bird; still, at times it is 

 remarkably active. Its alarm note is a sharp chirp ; its 

 other notes are few and weak. The song is one of the most 



