208 BIRDS'-NESTING. 



forget the male bird, how bright he looked, how sharp 

 the contrast as he trailed his painted plumage there 

 on the dry leaves. Apparently he was seriously 

 disabled. He would start up as if exerting every 

 muscle to fly away, but no use ; down he would 

 come with a helpless, fluttering motion before he had 

 gone two yards, and apparently you had only to go 

 and pick him up. But before you could pick him 

 up, he had recovered somewhat and flown a little 

 farther ; and thus, if you were tempted to follow 

 him, you would soon find yourself some distance 

 from the scene of the nest, and both old and young 

 well out of your reach. The female bird was not 

 less solicitous, and practiced the same arts upon us, 

 to decoy us away, but her dull plumage rendered her 

 less noticeable. The male was clad in holiday attire, 

 but his mate in an every-day working-garb. 



The nest was built in the fork of a little hemlock, 

 about fifteen inches from the ground, and was a thick, 

 firm structure, composed of the finer material of the 

 woods, with a lining of very delicate roots or rootlets. 

 There were four young birds and one addled egg. 

 We found it in a locality about the head-waters of 

 the eastern branch of the Delaware, where several 

 other of the rarer species of warblers, such as the 

 mourning-ground, the blackburnian, the chestnut- 

 sided, and the speckled Canada, spend the summer 

 and rear their young. 



Defunct birds'-nests are easy to find; when the 

 leaves fall then they are in every bush and tree ; 



