390 



SINGING BIRDS. 



Like the Creepers and Nuthatches, these birds are seldom 

 seen to perch upon the branches of trees, but creep spirally 

 around the trunk and larger boughs up and down, in quest of 

 insects which alight upon or hide within the crevices of the 

 bark. In this employment they display all the dexterity of the 

 more regular climbers. For this purpose the hind toe is rather 

 stout, and extends backward so as to balance with the anterior 

 part of the foot, and allow a motion like that of the Creepers, 

 from which genus they are at the same time wholly distinct. 



At the period of breeding, the male scrapes out a little 

 monotonous ditty in recognition of his mate, resembling some- 

 what the syllables te tshe tshe tshe tsK tshete, proceeding from 

 high to low in a tolerably strong and shrill, but somewhat 

 filing tone. As the season of incubation advances, this note, 

 however, becomes more mellow and warbling, and though 

 feeble, is very pleasing, bearing at this time some resemblance 

 to that of the Redstart {Setophaga riiticilla) . This song is like 

 the ascending call of '^wee 'twee 'twee 'twee 'tweet. At the 

 romantic estate of the Cold Spring place in Roxbury the pro- 

 prietor, Mr. Newman, pointed out to me the nest of this bird, 

 which on the 2 7th of June contained four young about a week 

 old. Other birds of this species I had seen fledged this year 

 about the 1 7th of the same month, and as Wilson remarks the 

 flight of the young in July, we may suppose that they raise two 

 broods in the season. The nest was niched in the shelving of 

 a rock on the surface of the ground, and was externally com- 

 posed of coarse strips of the inner bark of the hemlock-trees, 

 which overshadowed the situation. With these were mixed soft, 

 dissected old leaves and a few stalks of dead grass ; the lining 

 was made of a thin layer of black hair. According to Audu- 

 bon, these birds nest in Louisiana in some small hole in a tree, 

 and employ dry moss and a lining of downy substances. The 

 pair fed the young before us with affectionate attention, and 

 did not seem more uneasy at our presence than the common 

 and familiar summer Yellow Bird. They crept about the trunks 

 of the neighboring trees, often head downwards, like the Sittas, 

 and carried large smooth caterpillars to their young. This is, 



