226 BLACK AND WHITE WARBLER. 



and tlieir lisping notes blend with other woodland voices 

 without attracting our attention. 



May and September are the months for Warblers. 

 Some species arrive in A^iril, but they are most numer- 

 ous between May 5 and 15, when the woods are 

 thronged with their flitting forms. Less than half of our 

 thirty-five species remain to breed ; the others go to their 

 summer homes in the coniferous forests of the Xorth. 

 These northern birds return in the latter part of August 

 and abound in September. Many of the Warblers seen 

 at this season are immature birds wearing plumages so 

 different from those of the adult birds seen in the spring, 

 that tlieir identity is not suspected, and, in effect, they 

 are new birds to us. 



To the field ornithologist AYarblers are therefore the 

 most difficult as well as the most fascinating birds to 

 study. Long after the Sparrows, Flycatchers, and Yireos 

 have been mastered, there will l)e unsolved problems 

 among the Warblers. Some rare species will be left to 

 look for — it may be a member of the band flitting about 

 actively in the branches above us — and in the hope of 

 finding it we eagerly examine bird after bird until our 

 enthusiasm yields to an aching neck. 



Accpiaintance with more familiar birds will doubtless 



arouse the enthusiasm necessary to a successful pursuit of 



^, , ^ ,„^.^ AYarl)lers, but in the meanwhile I will 



Black and White . -, -, • i 



Warbler niention only those species that can be 



Mniotiita varia. most easily observcd. Among them is 

 Phite LX. ^i^g ^\-AQk and White Warbler, whose 



habit of creeping or climbing over trunk and limb aids 

 in his identification. He is a summer resident, and about 

 April 20 we may expect to hear the thin, wiry see-see- 

 see-see notes which form his song. A month later we 

 may find his nest, placed on the ground at the base of 

 a stump or stone and containing four or five white 



