WILDWOOD MINSTRELS* 



N "OTHING affords the bird student more pleasure 

 than settling the identity of species, albeit some- 

 times it is hard and patience-trying work. And 

 of all the birds, none are so provokingly and charmingly 

 elusive as some of the wood warblers. What a time I had 

 for several years in making sure of some of these little 

 nymph-like creatures which were flitting about in the 

 foliage of the trees, concealing themselves by a leafy 

 barrier! Many a weary chase did they lead me through 

 the woods, and more than once I almost un jointed my 

 neck by long-continued looking up. 



For identifying the tree-top flitters an opera glass is 

 scarcely powerful enough. A field glass or a Bausch & 

 Lomb binocular is really a necessity. It draws the bird 

 right down to you, while at the same time the elusive 

 creature remains at what it regards a safe distance. Its 

 conduct will therefore not be constrained, and the 

 observer can study it in its natural poses. 



What an enigma the Tennessee warbler for a long time 

 remained to me! Never still for a moment, yet so indis- 

 tinctly marked that at a distance it looks like a dozen 

 other birds one might name a veritable feathered rebus. 

 But finally I fixed its place in the avian schedule with the 



* Parts of this and several other chapters of this book were first published in The New 

 York Times, whose courtesy in permitting him to reprint, the author hereby acknowledges. 



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