A BIRD'S-NEST HUNTER. 91 



male warbler was accompanying me up the 

 hillside, apparently determined to see me 

 safely out of the way. Coming to the same 

 brook again the next morning, I halted for 

 another search ; and lo ! all in a moment 

 my eye fell upon the coveted nest, not on 

 the ground, but perhaps eight inches from 

 it, in a little clump of young golden-rods, 

 which would soon overgrow it completely. 

 The female proprietor was present, and 

 manifested so much concern that I would 

 not tarry, but made rather as if I had seen 

 nothing, and passed on. It was some time 

 before I observed that she was keeping 

 along beside me, precisely as her mate had 

 done the day before. The innocent crea- 

 tures, sorely pestered as they were, could 

 hardly be blamed for such precautions ; yet 

 it is not pleasant to be "shadowed" as a 

 suspicious character, even by Maryland yel- 

 low-throats. 



This was my first nest of a very common 

 warbler, and I felt particularly solicitous 

 for its safety ; but alas ! no sooner was the 

 first egg laid than something or somebody 

 carried it off, and the afflicted couple de- 

 serted the house on which they had ex- 

 pended so much labor and anxiety. 



