THE BLUE- WINGED YELLOW WARBLER. 



(Helminthophila pinus.} 



NOT a great deal is known about 

 many of the warblers, and com 

 paratively little has been ob 

 served of this member of the 

 very large family, comprising more 

 than one hundred species. This speci 

 men is also recognized by the name of 

 the blue-winged swamp warbler. Its 

 habitat is eastern United States, chiefly 

 south of 40 degrees and west of the 

 Alleghanies, north irregularly to Mas 

 sachusetts and Michigan, and west to 

 border of the great plains. In winter it 

 lives in eastern Mexico and Guatemala. 



It has been pointed out that the 

 name of this bird is misleading, as the 

 blue of the wing is dull and inconspic 

 uous, and not blue at all in the sense in 

 which this color distinction is applied 

 to some other birds. When applied to 

 the warblers, it simply means either a 

 bluish-gray, or slate, which seems 

 barely different from plain gray at a 

 short distance. 



In half-cleared fields which have 



grown up to sprouts, and in rich open 

 woods in the bottom-lands, where the 

 switch-cane forms a considerable pro 

 portion of the undergrowth, the blue- 

 winged yellow warbler is one of the 

 characteristic birds, says Ridgway. The 

 male is a persistent singer during the 

 breeding-season, and thus betrays his 

 presence to the collector, who finds 

 this, of all species^ ofte/.qf the easiest to 

 procure. His song 'is'veryXude. The 

 nest is built on the ground^ anjiong up 

 right stalks, resting on a ,thic,k\ founda 

 tion of .dry leaves. The ,egg;s are four 

 or five,*'-wfiritev wtth-reddish dots. The 

 food of Lh^/;/warbler . cety-sists almost 

 wholly of spid'ie;rff,^lSirVa6r and beetles, 

 such as are found in bark, bud, or 

 flower. The birds are usually seen 

 consorting in pairs. The movements 

 of this warbler are rather slow and 

 leisurely, and, like a chickadee, it may 

 sometimes be seen hanging head down 

 ward while searching for food. 



INDIRECTION. 



" We hear, if we attend, a singing 1 in the sky." 

 RICHARD REALF. 



Fair are the flowers and the children, but their subtle suggestion is fairer; 

 Rare is the rose-burst of dawn, but the secret that clasps it is rarer; 

 Sweet the exultance of song, but the strain that precedes it is sweeter; 

 And never a poem was writ, but the meaning outmastered the meter. 



Never a daisy that grows, but a mystery guideth the growing; 



Never a river that flows, but a majesty scepters the flowing; 



Never a Shakespeare that soared, but a stronger than he did enfold him; 



Never a prophet foretold, but a mightier seer hath foretold him. 



Back of the canvas that throbs, the painter is hinted and hidden; 

 Into the statue that breathes, the soul of the sculptor is bidden; 

 Under the joy that is felt, lie the infinite issues of feeling; 

 Crowning the glory revealed, is the glory that crowns the revealing. 



Great are the symbols of being, but that which is symboled is greater; 

 Vast the creation beheld, but vaster the inward Creator; 

 Back of the sound broods the silence; back of the gift stands the giving; 

 Back of the hand that receives, thrills the sensitive nerve of receiving. 



Space is nothing to spirit; the deed is outdone by the doing; 



The heart of the wooer is warm, but warmer the heart of the wooing; 



And up from the pits where these shiver and up from the heights where those 



shine, 

 Twin voices and shadows swim starward, and the essence of life divine. 



23 



