I ID WiDMANX, Szvii /».'!(>//'.<; Warbler in Missouri. \ A^\ 



comfortably seated on a dry limb of a dogwood some fourteen 

 feet above ground. He had doubtlessly been sitting there ever 

 since I first heard him and took no pains at concealment. I had 

 him now in good light, fixed my Lemaitre upon him, and had an 

 excellent view of him. There he was in life size just as Brewster 

 painted him for us some nine years ago. Every few seconds he 

 would lay back his head until the bill pointed vertically up, and 

 with ease, but earnestness, render his famous little song. Evi- 

 dently some sort of inspiration was upon him, and I wondered 

 how many times he would say his lesson. I timed him again and 

 again, seven and eight times a minute was his rate all the time. 

 When approached too close he would fly to another small tree a 

 few rods oft and sing again. 



He kept singing and I kept looking for his nest, until the sun 

 cast long and deep shadows through the lonely forest. He had 

 said his lesson about a thousand times now, but I had to console 

 myself that if he Iiad a nest it must be on the ground or some- 

 where. On the following day when I passed the place at 7 a. m. 

 he was singing again, but this time I did not stop but crossed the 

 slough and penetrated deeper into the dark recesses of an almost 

 unsettled region. After walking half a mile I came upon another 

 slough called Seneca Slough, a broad sheet of water entirely 

 covered with aquatic plants, mostly smartweed, and beautifully 

 ornamented with giant cypresses and senile tupelos, whose decapi- 

 tated hollow trunks, resembling chimneys, serve Swifts for roosts 

 and probably for nests. 



In the willows at the bank a Philadelphia Vireo sang its modest 

 song, but never got fartlier than the first three syllables. On the 

 dry arm of a mighty cypress perched a Ijeauty : a Swallow-tailed 

 Kite ! ' She had come to preen her feathers on this lofty perch. 

 Her dark brown eye wandered for a moment over the environs 

 but her scanning did not reveal my presence. I think she came 

 directly from her nest, since a violent shaking of her body pre- 

 ceded all farther operations of her morning toilet, which took her 

 just ten minutes. Another vigorous shaking of her body and ofif 

 she went to whence she came. 



I marched four miles from there that day and the now well- 

 known notes of the Swainson's Warbler reached my ears four 



