BIRDS OF CHOCORUA 201 



up and interwoven, making the bottom more se- 

 cure, and pendent there in her swinging cradle, 

 safe from the eyes of owl or jay above, from four- 

 footed prowlers below, the mother bird will brood 

 her rufous-wreathed white eggs. 



Many another warbler will lead the May visitor 

 to Chocorua through these lakeside woodlands 

 which Bolles loved. Some toll him cheerfully 

 from one low thicket to another, where he may see 

 the bird and the wood violet in the same glance 

 or pluck painted and purple trilliums and not lose 

 sight of his quest. Of these is the black-masked 

 Maryland yellowthroat, whose song of " witchery, 

 witchery, witchery," always speaks for itself 

 alone. No bird seems necessary for the produc- 

 tion of this. It buds from the air as young leaves 

 do from the twigs, impelled by a magic power 

 within itself, nor, when you finally find the bird, 

 demurely winding his masked way through the 

 low growth, does the voice by any chance proceed 

 from his throat. All warblers are ventriloquists, 

 but I always think the Maryland yellowthroat of 

 the Chocorua thickets the most demure magician 

 of them all. Perhaps the black mask has some- 



