BIRDS THAT PREY AND SOME THAT DO NOT 495 



in color that it was not until I had my face close 

 to it that I really discovered the home of the lit- 

 tle bird which was itself perched on a bush close 

 to my side uttering a mild protest. The white- 

 throats up here are very tame and in the wilderness 

 their song seems to be very much louder than it 

 is when they visit us in the fall and winter, or pos- 

 sibly the silence of the forest makes the birds' 

 notes sound louder, but I really think that they 

 sing with more joy and more volume to their voices 

 when in their northern homes. Not only does the 

 white-throat sing all day in June, but whenever 

 I was awakened in the night and busied myself 

 removing a boot or a hatchet which had been doing 

 duty as a pillow and substituting in its place some 

 softer object, I was sure to hear the piping notes 

 of the white-throated sparrow. For fear that I 

 might not hear him at night he would sometimes 

 perch upon the ridge pole of the tent and sing. 



The one egg in the white-throat's nest which I 

 found by the trail was of a dingy white color finely 

 speckled at the small end and thickly blotched with 

 light rufus brown at the big end. The white- 

 throat lays from three to four eggs, but this sea- 

 son was late and these little birds had evidently 

 just commenced their domestic arrangements. 

 Along the shores of the Ouiatchouanish the alders 

 hang over the water. The leaves had not yet come 

 out and the branches were black and bare on the 

 alders, and, although it was the tenth of June, the 

 dark branches formed a hedge row on both sides 



