Birds of Lewiston-Auburn 27 



FAMILY WARBLERS 



(PROPERLY WOOD-WARBLERS) 



20. (687) AMERICAN REDSTART 



A very common summer resident. May 9 is the 

 earliest I have seen this species and it remains into Sep- 

 tember. I heard one sing September 4 and saw a few 

 September 14. Blanchan's interpretation of the song is 

 "Zee-zee-zeet!" Sometimes I have heard a warble song. 



21. (686) CANADIAN WARBLER 



A fairly common migrant; occasionally nests in this 

 neighborhood. Arrives the middle of May (May 19 the 

 earliest date I have recorded) and may be found for two 

 weeks. If the season is backward I have seen this war- 

 bler migrating the first week in June. Its autumnal flight 

 is early the last of August or first of September. One 

 of my most interesting experiences with the songs of 

 birds was during an afternoon in May. As we walked 

 along a country road, we heard a most beautiful song in 

 a brush heap. I went through tangle and underbrush to 

 reach the spot but found no bird. Silently it had stolen 

 away. But I must know what bird could sing like that, 

 and a few days later a party of us went to the bird re- 

 treat. We had scarcely reached the place when that jubi- 

 lant outburst of sylvan melody greeted our ears, so 

 like a canary but more beautiful and as Chapman 

 says, sweet, loud and spirited. One member of the 

 party crawled cautiously down over old tree trunks, 

 undergrowth and damp places. Soon I caught a glimpse 

 in a nearby tree of the necklace of a Canadian warbler 

 singing the song familiar to me. This gave a suggestion 

 and I passed the word along. Soon the reply came back, 

 "Yes, it's the Canadian for I saw the gray back as the bird 



