i8qo.1 General Afofes. 4 < - )1 ^ 



for the Blue Warbler a lew rods away, and we seated ourselves about 

 fifteen feet from the tree, determined to see everything that happened. 

 The nest was in a small beech, about thirty feet from the ground, in a 

 crotch made by a short, dead branch with the trunk. It seemed to be 

 a compact, typical Redstart nest, though placed higher than usual — it 

 certainly had nothing to suggest a Chestnut-sided Warbler's nest. It was 

 in such plain view from where we sat that, through our glasses, we could 

 see the fuzz on the heads of the little ones, and see the larger of the two 

 scratch his bill, stroke his feathers, stand up in the nest, and stretch his 

 wing over the edge. When the sun lit up the leaves and the nest in their 

 midst, we could see into the throats of the hungry babies. When the old 

 birds fed them, I saw the yellow patches on the tail of the Redstart as 

 she darted around the nest, and the white breast and yellow crown of the 

 Chestnut-sided Warbler. And in hunting, the Chestnut came within six 

 feet of us, so that we could see the deep chestnut of his sides and the 

 heavy black markings of his cheeks. We watched the birds closely for an 

 hour or more in the morning, two hours in the afternoon, and for a 

 short time just before dark ; and each lime saw the same singular 

 performance. 



The birds fed the voting at dangerously short intervals — we feared they 

 would leave the nest dyspeptics for life ! And they would have been 

 crammed still more, if it had not been for the time it took the Redstart to 

 drive off" the Chestnut, and the delay her attacks caused him ; for she had 

 no wish for his kind offices and, as Mrs. Miller remarked, like some other 

 philanthropists that made no difference to him! When she saw him 

 coming with food, before he was anywhere near the tree, she dashed at 

 him with spread tail and resentment in every feather. His long-suffering 

 meekness was philosophical. He flew before her, waited till she had 

 spent her anger and gone oft* or down in the bushes for an insect, when 

 he slipped up to the nest and fed his charges. It seemed as if she could 

 not hear the sight of him. Again and again she drove him out of the 

 tree, and sometimes she almost tumbled her babies out of the nest, flounc- 

 ing at him over their heads when he was in the act of feeding them. Once 

 or twice he came to a twig behind the nest, leaned over, and stretched the 

 food across to the birds, as if to make sure of getting oft' before she caught 

 him. But he was no coward, and took a good claw-to-claw tumble with 

 her when she had snapped her bill at him once too often. Except for 

 this, he seemed calm and self-possessed through all her persecution, 

 hopping from twig to twig, running along the branches, clambering up 

 the stalks of the bushes, and occasionally giving a thin low call; while 

 she flashed around madly, under leaves and over branches, flying up 

 against one tree-trunk only to dart oft' to another. At first she made no 

 noise", except when she snapped her bill, but later on she sang a lew notes 

 now and then while at her work. 



On the morning of the fifth, we found that one of the young had flown, 

 and the other one was out on a branch by the side of the nest. Mrs. Mil- 

 ler watched the family while I went to look up some noisy Ovenbirds, 



