116 LAND-BIRDS AND GAME-BIRDS 



purple. A few smaller clottings of the same are sparingly 

 distributed over the rest of the egg. Its measurements are 

 70 by -50 of an inch." 



(c). The Black-throated Blue Warblers are not only summer- 

 residents in the more northern New England States, but also 

 in Massachusetts, where, however, they are very rare as such, 

 unless in the western and more mountainous portions. They 

 reach the neighborhood of Boston in the third week of May, 

 and are more common here from that date until the first of 

 June than at any other period of the year. They return to 

 the South in September, and I have seen them as late as the 

 last day of that month. An instance has been reported of a 

 pair passing the winter in Boston, which was a most extraor- 

 dinary circumstance, since their usual habitat at that season is, 

 I believe, beyond the United States. Birds, however, often 

 wander, so far as direct evidence goes, more than a thousand 

 miles from their usual homes, sometimes perhaps intention- 

 ally, but more often, probably, because forced to do so in 

 search of food,' or by adverse weather. It is generally diffi- 

 cult to understand their eccentric movements on land, whereas 

 it is easy to understand why birds, who have ventured out to 

 sea, should be compelled by winds to deviate from their course. 

 When with us in spring, the "Black-throated Blues" are to be 

 seen generally in pairs or singly, but occasionally in small 

 companies of three or four, in which latter case quarrels fre- 

 quently arise between the males. They are very dexterous in 

 obtaining their insect-prey ; sometimes seizing it in the air, 

 with the skill of a true flycatcher, and at other times finding 

 it among the branches of the various trees which they frequent. 

 Now they twist their heads into seemingly painful postures, 

 the better to search the crannies in the bark or blossoms, now 

 spring from a twig to snap up an insect in the foliage above 

 their heads, instantly returning, and now flutter before a cluster 

 of opening leaves, with the grace of a hummingbird. Oc- 

 casionally they descend to the ground, and are so very tame 

 that once, when I was standing motionless, observing some war- 

 blers near me, one hopped between my feet to pick up some 



