"208 WiDMA'N'N, Home of Bachmajis Warbler. \\^ 



margin of black, a yellow chin and yellow orbital region, in which 

 the dark eye appears in sharp contour. 



All three eggs are perfectly white and unspotted, and resemble in 

 color, shape and size those of the Short-billed Marsh Wren. The 

 nest was made of leaves and grass blades, lined with a peculiar 

 black rootlet ; it was tied very slightly to a vertical blackberry vine 

 of fresh growth and rested lightly on another, which crossed the 

 former at a nearly right angle. From above it was entirely 

 hidden by branchlets of latest growth, and the hand could not 

 have been inserted without at first cutting several vines, overlying 

 it in different directions. It was two feet from the ground, and 

 to reach the place it was necessary to go through pools of water 

 and over heaps of fallen trees and brush. Such sheltered places 

 are probably chosen to avoid the danger of being trampled down 

 by hogs and cattle, roving in these woods. 



There is little danger from egg-collectors ; even the natives are 

 seldom seen entering these thickets after the first of May, not so 

 much for fear of thorns and mosquitos or poisonous snakes, but 

 for fear of that greatest curse of these beautiful forests, the ticks, 

 of which they distinguish three kinds : the ordinary wood tick, a 

 comparatively harmless creature, as it is easily picked off before 

 great damage is done ; the seed tick, which is already more to be 

 dreaded because of its smaller size ; but the worst of all is the 

 jigger or chigger, which is so small as to be hardly seen with the 

 naked eye until it has entered the skin where it causes restless 

 nights and suffering for weeks. This worthy trio forms a society 

 for the protection of birds, more powerful than the best state laws. 



There is probably no region in the whole United States so rich 

 in bird Ufe as those islands, not only in the large number of 

 species, but, still more, in the number of individuals. Some 

 of the choicest beauties, such as Prothonotary, Hooded and 

 Kentucky Warblers are not only present, but we hear or see 

 them at almost every step. On a sultry day in May the music 

 from so many throats of summer sojourners is grand and impres- 

 sive, but it is made still more imposing and perplexing by the 

 musical efforts of twenty and odd different species of transients, 

 and by the noisy fledgelings of the first brood of permanent 

 residents. 



