■IS2 NoiM'll AMKUUAN lUKDS.- 



It is ^M-Mcfful aiu! r.ii>i<l in uinvi'inciit, and is ol'trn so intent niM»n its Imnt 

 as to !•(' iinniiiitltul of the uvnv jucstMicc of man. 



It is found cliit'tlv in thirkt'ts, l»ut this is |»idi»al>ly owin^' to the fact tliat then* 

 its food is jtrincijially to Ik* ol»tain«'d. It is occasionally seen in more open 

 country, and has lu-en know n t«> hreed in the immediate vicinity ». a dwellinLT. 



Wilson leLjarde* I this hird as a true Creeper, and uhjected to its Ijeinj,' 

 elasse • \Vail»h'r. He even ilenied to it the possession of any sonjjf. In 



tliis lie was «|uite mistaken. Though never loud, ju'olonged, or ])o\verful, the 

 sung of this Warhler is vi'rv sweet and pleasing. It hegins to sing from its 

 first ai>pearance in May, and continues to repeat its hrief retrain at intervals 

 alnu»st until its tleparture in Atigusl and Septend»er. Xuttall speaks of it 

 as bein</ at tiist a monot«»nous dittv, and as uttered in a stnuii; hut shrill and 

 filing tone. These notes, he ad<ls, as the season advances, l»ee«»nie mon» mel- 

 low* and warlding, and, though feehle, are ]»leasing, and are similar to those 

 of the Kedstart. Uut this statement does not do full justice to the varied 

 and agreeable notes with which, in early spring, these hirds accompany their 

 lively hunt for fo-nl among the tops of the forest trees. They are diver- 

 sified and sweet, and seem suggestive of a genial and haj)j>y nature. 



These birds make their api»earance in New Kngland early in May, and 

 remain there, among the thick woods, until the middle of October, and in the 

 Soutlu-rn States until the verge of winter. 



Their movements in search of h»od an* like those of the Titmice, keeping 

 the feet together and moving in a suci'essi{ni of short rai)id hojts up the 

 trunks of trees and along the lind>s, i>assing again to the bottom by longer 

 tlinhts than in the ascent. Thev make l>ut short flights from tree to tree, 

 but are aj>])arently not inca})able of more proh»nged ones. 



So far as I know, these birds always build their nests on the ground. Mr. 

 Xuttall found one in IJoxburv containing young about a week rid. The nest 

 was on the ground, on the surface of a shehing rock, made of coarse strips 

 of the inner bark of the Abies nmffdnisi.s externally, and internally of soft 

 decayed leaves and dry grasses, and lined with a thin layer of black hair. 

 The parents fed their young in his jiresence with atlecti»Miate attention, and 

 manifested no uneasiness, ereej>ing, head downward, about the trunks of the 

 iiei«diborin<^ trees, carrvimj; kuLre smooth cateritillars to their young. The 

 nests of this bird are strongly and com])actly built, externally of coarse strips 

 of yarious kinds of bark, and lined within with hair and fine stems of grasses. 

 In several instances I have known them to be roofed over at the top, in the 

 manner of the (Jolden-crowned Thrush. They measure about three inches 

 in their external diameter, and are equally deep. 



The nests a])pear to be a favorite rece]>tacle for the parasitic eggs of the 

 Cow-Pmnting. Mr. IJobert IJidi^way obtained a nest at Mt. Carmel, III., 

 in which were four eggs of the MolotJirvx and only two of tlu' parent birds ; 

 and ^Ir. T. M. Trii>pe, of Orange, X. Y., also found a nest of this Creeper 

 in w hich were but three of its ow n and five of the parasite. 



