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MAGNOLIA WARBLER 



The Bird and its Haunts. In this day of numerous bird man- 

 uals, keys, etc., book knowledge of a bird usually precedes our actual 

 meeting with the species in life and we are more or less prepared for 

 the encounter; but before the day of these publications the embryo 

 ornithologist was sometimes thrilled by the 'discovery' of birds which, 

 as far as he was aware, no one had ever seen before. 



William Brewster's 2 monograph of the Magnolia Warbler con- 

 tains a description of such an experience which we are sure will 

 appeal to every bird lover, whether or not it has been his good 

 fortune to begin his study of birds in a similarly memorable manner. 

 Mr. Brewster writes: "Entering a grove of thickly growing young 

 spruces, I sat down to rest on a mossy log. I had been there but a 

 short time when I became conscious of faint sounds in the trees above 

 and around me, chirpings, twitterings, and occasionally a modest 

 little effort at song. Watching attentively, I soon spied a movement 

 among the branches, and a tiny bird hopped out into the light, pre- 

 senting a bright yellow breast and throat for just a moment before 

 flying into the next tree. Here was a revelation! I already knew 

 a few of the most familiar birds, the Robin, the Bluebird, the Sparrow, 

 the Oriole, and some others; but it had never occurred to me that 

 dark forests like these might be tenanted by such delicate and beauti- 

 ful forms. Only the tropics surely could boast such gems." 



This was before the day of 'keys' ; the opera-glass had not sup- 

 planted the gun and "with enthusiasm now fairly aroused and animated 

 with the spirit of the explorer" the young ornithologist "went at 

 once to work to investigate, and in the course of an hour or two, 

 my ammunition was nearly exhausted, and quite a line of poor life- 

 less, mutilated little birds lay along the old log. * * * Scarcely 

 any two of my specimens were alike, and as I contemplated in amaze- 

 ment their varied forms and coloring, I felt like the discoverer of a 



