88 ON FAIR CASCO BAY 



rapidly moving line crosses his vision to 

 follow it instantly, in the hope that it will 

 materialize on the next tree in the shape of 

 a bird. The usual mode of progression in 

 this remarkable family is a series of flashes 

 in the air, streaks across the landscape, and 

 one must be very alert to see even so much 

 as that. Ordinarily the first intimation of 

 the presence of a new warbler is a new 

 song, a baffling, elusive strain that cannot 

 be placed, that the eager student knows will 

 end abruptly, perhaps before he can see the 

 rustle of a leaf or the sway of a twig. Some- 

 times he will be so happy as to turn his eyes 

 at once upon the little creature bustling 

 about among the leaves and twigs, and if his 

 lucky star is in the ascendant he may be 

 able to note some conspicuous feature by 

 which the midget may be identified. For 

 happily warblers are so strikingly marked 

 that one can recognize at a glance the bril- 

 liant orange of the Blackburnian's throat, 

 the eccentric yellow patches of the myrtle, 

 or the showy necklace of the Canadian. If 

 they were in the dull dress of vireos, or the 

 undecided mixture of sparrow garb, one 



