Wildwood Minstrels 37 



he ventures into their sylvan domain. Hence they are 

 hard to study, and it is not often that their deftly hidden 

 nests can be found. 



One of the most delightful of these hermits is the 

 Kentucky warbler. A brilliant little bird he is, with his 

 golden under parts and superciliary line, his black patch 

 on the cheek just below the eye, his black cap, and his 

 coat of iridescent olive green. You will not mistake 

 him for the Maryland yellow-throat, which also wears 

 a black patch on the side of his head; but this patch 

 lies over the eye and includes it, and its upper border 

 is white, while this bird lacks the yellow and curved 

 superciliary band. Besides, the yellow-throat is not a 

 woodland but a marsh bird. The Kentucky warbler is 

 attractive in many ways. An industrious minstrel, 

 his voice is strong and full for so small a bird, and until 

 you learn to know his tune well, you may mistake it for 

 that of the cardinal. But, as a piper, he lacks the versa- 

 tility of the cardinal, who carries a number of music sheets 

 in his repertory, while the little Kentuckian confines his 

 lyrical efforts principally to one strain. Sometimes he 

 delivers his intermittent aria from a low bush or even 

 from the ground, but his favorite song-perches are the 

 branches of saplings and trees just below the zone of 

 foliage. Here, in the shadows, you may be compelled to 

 look for him for some time before you espy his trig little 

 form, and even then you are likely to see him because 

 he flits to another perch rather than because you first 

 catch the glint of his colors. Whether he means it or not, 



