1^2 Brewster on Bachmati's Warbler. [April 



tional supply of insect or other food which at that season was 

 scarce or wanting near the ground. In support of this assump- 

 tion is the fact that Prairie Warblers, Blue-gray Gnatcatchers, 

 and certain other species of normally low-ranging habit were 

 often seen in the upper branches of the tallest trees where the 

 Bachman's Warbler may have been equally out of place. But on 

 the whole the hypothesis first suggested seems to be the better 

 sustained, while, taken in connection with some considerations 

 which I sliall presently mention, it may partly explain wliy (-)ur 

 bird has thus far eluded observation in the breeding season when, 

 as is now evident, it must be a common bird in at least some 

 of the Southern States. 



At the time of our visit the Suwanee bottoms were alive with 

 small birds many of which were doubtless migrants. They 

 banded together in mixed flocks often of large size and motley 

 composition. It was not unusual to find in close association forty 

 or fifty Parula Warblers, half as many Yellow-rumps, and smaller 

 numbers of Yellow-throated and Palm Warblers, Tufted and 

 Carolina Titmice, Red-eyed and Solitary Vireos, Blue-gray Gnat- 

 catchers, Ruby-crowned Kinglets, Carolina Wrens, Catbirds, 

 Brown Thrushes, and Towhees, with perhaps a Prairie or Orange- 

 crowned Warbler and often several of the smaller Woodpeckers. 

 Such a gathering was nearly certain to contain from one or two 

 to five or six Bachman's Warblers. These with the Parulas 

 were most likely to be feeding in the upper luanches of some 

 gigantic cypress, at least one hundred feet above the earth, where 

 they looked scarcely larger than humble bees and were safe from 

 all but the heaviest charges with which our guns were supplied. 

 Under such conditions it was next to impossible to distinguish the 

 two species except by certain slight peculiarities of form or move- 

 ment, for against the dazzling light of the southern sky they 

 appeared as little more than silhouettes and the chestnut throat- 

 markings of the Parula showed quite as dark and distinct as the 

 black cravat of the Bachman's Warbler. 



The latter bird, however, was the larger or rather plumper-look- 

 ing of the two, and if the upper side of its wings could be seen 

 the absence of the white bars which are so conspicuous on the 

 wings of the Parula Warbler was qiuckly noticed. But these 

 difierences were not easily made out when the birds were in tree 

 tops, and as we refrained from chance shots most of our speciqiens 



