OF NEW ENGLAND. 117 



morsel of food. I have often been able to make close observa- 

 tions upon birds, by remaining entirely motionless and allow- 

 ing them to gather about me, and thus have accurately learned 

 their habits, without disturbing their happiness. 



(d). The ordinary note of the "Black-throated Blues" is a 

 simple chip, which is sometimes closely repeated, after the 

 manner of the Chipping Sparrow. They have also a chatter, 

 employed chiefly as a battle-cry, and a loud alarm-note, resem- 

 bling the chuck of the Snow-bird. The males have an unmu- 

 sical song, the tone of which resembles somewhat that of the 

 Blue Yellow-back's song, or that of the Night Hawk's note, 

 being peculiar, and rather harsh or guttural. It usually con- 

 sists of three (rarely four) syllables, of which the last two are ' 

 the highest in tone and the most emphatic, and sounds like 

 "zwee-zwee-zwee." It is sometimes varied and lengthened so 

 as to resemble the syllables [che-wee] che-wee [see] wee-see zwee. 

 It is characteristic in tone, and is wholly unlike the music, of 

 our other warblers, with the exception of one form of the song 

 of the "Black-throated Green." 



(I) VIRENS. Black-throated Green Warbler. "Black-throated 

 Green." 



(In New England a common summer-resident, but "rather 

 confined to certain districts.") 



(a). About five inches long. $ , olive-green above. Wings 

 and tail dark, with white-edged feathers ; former white-barred. 

 Wlwle side of head, rich yellow (with occasional indistinct mark- 

 ings) . Throat and breast, black. ? (and $ in autumn) with 

 the black restricted or wanting. Other under parts, white or 

 yellowish. Outer tail-feathers, largely white. 



(b). The nest is usually placed in a pine, in a horizontal 

 fork near the end of a bough, from twenty to fifty feet above 

 the ground (but sometimes lower). It is finished in June, 

 sometimes in the first week, sometimes not until the last. It is 

 composed outwardly of narrow strips of thin bark, bits of twigs 

 from vines, dried grasses, and such odds and ends as the birds 

 have found convenient to employ, and inwardly of bits of 



