■74 



THE LUTESCENT WARHUK. 



as this one is, tlicre are only two whicli do not lx»ast a conspicuous area of 

 this fasliionable sliade. And of all yellows, yellow-green, as represented by 

 the back of this bird, is the commonest, — so common, indeed, as to merit 

 the facetious epithet "museum color." It is all very well in the case of the 

 male, for he comes back (to Seattle) during the first week in April, before 

 the leaves are fully out: and he is so full of confidence at this season that 

 he poses (juitc demurely among the swelling buds of alder, maple, and 

 willow, lie is proud of his full crown-patch of i)ale orange, contrasting 

 ,is it dois with the dull yellowish green of the u])perparts and the bright 



greenish yellow of 

 ihe underparts, — 

 and he lets you gel 

 a good view of it at 

 twenty yards with 

 the glasses. Besides 

 that, he must stop 

 now and then to 

 vent his feelings in 

 <(jng. But the case 

 of the female is al- 

 most hopeless — for 

 I he novice. 



The song of the 

 I.utescent Warbler 

 .ippears to have been 

 very largely over- 

 looked, but it was 

 tiot the bird's fault. 

 While waiting for 

 his tardy mate, he 

 has rehearsed diligently from the taller bushes of the thicket, or else from 

 some higher vantage jjoint of nia])le. dogwood, or fir tree. The burden is 

 intended for fairy ears, but he that hath ears to hear let him hear a curious 

 \owel scale, an inspirated rattle or trill, which descends and ends in a simple 

 warble of several notes. The trill, brief as it is. has three qualities of change 

 which make it (|uite unique. .At the ojiening the notes arc full and slow, 

 but in the instant necessary to the entire recital the pace accelerates, the 

 ])itch rises slightly, and the component notes decrease in volume, or size. 

 .\t the climax the tension breaks unexpectedly in the gentle, musical cadence 

 of the concluding phrases, whose notes much resemble certain of the Yellow 

 Warbler's. The opening trill carries to a consi<leral)le distance, but the 

 sweetness of the closing warble is lost to any but near listeners. The whole 



and Finl.-y. 



A HUNGRY CHICK. 



