622 THE BIRDS OF MANITOBA THOMPSON. 



crowded ; their light leafage casts almost uo shade, so that they always look as 

 though just about toeud, though the swamp really coutinues for miles the same dark- 

 gray waste. I had often visited the bog when ou exploring expeditions in the neigh- 

 borhood, but seldom found auy bird-life of special interest. Ou the day mentioned, 

 while out collecting, I had braved the mosquitoes and traversed the bog for some dis- 

 tance, when beside the whistling croaks of the great crested and olive-sided Fly- 

 catchers, usually the only bird voices of the place, my ear caught the clear song of a 

 Warbler. It may bo suggested by the syllables " bcecher beechcr heecher-beevher beecher- 

 beecher." It was somewhat like the song of the Oven-bird, but difl'ereut in being of 

 the same pitch throughout instead of beginning in a whisper and increasing the em- 

 phasis and strength with each pair of notes to the last. Guided by the sound I found 

 the bird high up in a tanuirac. It was much less shy than the Wood Warblers, so 

 that it was easily secured. It proved to be a male Connecticut Warbler. 



As I went on a small bird sprang suddenly from one of the grave-like moss-mounds 

 by my feet. It seemed distressed and ran along with its wings held up like a Plover 

 just alighting. Ou seeing that I would not; be decoyed away it returned and ran 

 around me in the same attitude. Recognizing it as the Connecticut Warbler I stifled 

 all feelings of pity, added the bird to my bag, and then sought out the nest in the 

 moss. It was composed entirely of fine grass and sunken in the ground as already de- 

 scribed. The eggs, four in number, measured .75 by .56 inch. Before being blown they 

 were of a delicate creamy white, witii a few spots of lilac, purple, brown, and black 

 inclined to form a wreath about the large end. The creamy white ground color was 

 replaced by white after the blowing process. The female was as follows ; Length, 5| ; 

 stomach full, many coleoptera and one caterpillar; but little ash on head. Male, 

 length, G ; head and breast clear ash. without brownish tints. 



241. Geothlypis Philadelphia. Mourning Warbler. 



Common summer resident of dry scrub lands; breeding abundantly 

 at Pembina (Coues). Winnipeg: Summer resident; abundant (Hine). 

 Selkirk Settlement (I). Gunn). Very abundant at Waterhen Kiver 

 and Swan Lake; nest taken June 28, 1881, in a low bush of Gorylus ros- 

 trata, iihont 4 feet from the ground (Macoun). Oarberry: Common 

 summer resident in the wooded thicket about the spruce bush ; Duck 

 Mountain (Thompson). 



On June 22, 188t], while at the spruce bush, I shot a couple of 

 Mourning Warblers. It is quite common here. I usually found this 

 merriest of mourner frequenting dense, scrubby undergrowths on dry 

 land, a choice of locality, which contrasts greatly with that of its near 

 kinsman, the Maryland Yellowthroat. It is a very difficult bird to get 

 sight of by following it. On one occasion I had been creeping and 

 crawling about in a thicket for over an hour in a vain attempt to se- 

 cure one of the many Mourning Warblers that were uttering their 

 loud '■'■ woicliy icoichy tvoichy ivoichy ivoi cha cha.^^ Although I was often 

 within 20 feet of a specimen I failed to obtain sight of a single one, 

 nntil, at last, tired of this hide and seek game, I sat down on a log, re- 

 solving that if they would not wait for me to come to them, I would sit 

 and vvait for them to come to me. I then sat perfectly still for a few min- 

 utes. The simple warble was defiantly sounded in a near thicket a few 

 times; then, as I did not move, the little bird suddenly flitted up to a 

 higher post of observation within my view, and presently I put it in 

 my basket. 



