IN THE HEMLOCKS 49 



and a few rods off his breast presents only a dull yel- 

 lowish appearance. To get a good view of him you 

 have only to sit down in his haunts, as in such cases 

 he seems equally anxious to get a good view of you. 



From those tall hemlocks proceeds a very fine insect- 

 like warble, and occasionally I see a spray tremble, or 

 catch the flit of a wing. I watch and watch till my 

 head grows dizzy and my neck is in danger of perma- 

 nent displacement, and still do not get a good view. 

 Presently the bird darts, or, as it seems, falls down a 

 few feet in pursuit of a fly or a moth, and I see the 

 whole of it, but in the dim light am undecided. It is 

 for such emergencies that I have brought my gun. A 

 bird in the hand' is worth half a dozen in the bush, 

 even for ornithological purposes ; and no sure and 

 rapid progress can be made in the study without tak- 

 ing life, without procuring specimens. This bird is a 

 warbler, plainly enough, from his habits and manner ; 

 but what kind of warbler ? Look on him and name 

 him : a deep orange or flame-colored throat and breast ; 

 the same color showing also in a line over the eye and 

 in his crown ; back variegated black and white. The 

 female is less marked and brilliant. The orange- 

 throated warbler would seem to be his right name, his 

 characteristic cognomen ; but no, he is doomed to wear 

 the name of some discoverer, perhaps the first who 

 robbed his nest or rifled him of his mate, — Blackburn ; 

 hence, Blackburnian warbler. The burn seems appro- 

 priate enough, for in these dark evergreens his throat 

 4 



