THE PRAIRIE AND PINE-CREEPING WARBLER. 267 



is suspended by part of the rim to the bend of a species of smi- 

 lax, that is popularly called the prickly vine, and which grows 

 in low thickets. The bird is very fond of this smilax, and rarely 

 chooses any other tree for the reception of its nest, so that the 

 home of the White-eyed Fly -catcher is not very difficult to find ; 

 moreover, the bird is so jealous and so bold when engaged in 

 rearing its young, that it betrays the position of the nest by scold- 

 ing angrily as soon as a human being approaches the thicket, and 

 by dashing violently at the intruder with impotent rage. 



Another pensile species is the Prairie Warbler (Sylvia mi- 

 nuta), a bird which, as its specific name denotes, is of very small 

 size, not reaching five inches in total length. 



It is a lively little bird, but withal deliberately cool in its move- 

 ments, flitting about among the foliage and grass with a quick, 

 though jerking, regular movement, and yet inspecting every leaf 

 and blade with perfect composure; chirping feebly all the while, 

 and allowing itself to be watched without betraying any alarm. 

 The nest of this little bird is unusually small, even when the size 

 of the feathered architect is taken into consideration, and when 

 dry weighs scarcely a quarter of an ounce. The materials of 

 which it is made are moss, mixed with rotten and very dry wood, 

 fastened together with caterpillar silk, and the lining is made of 

 very fine and delicate fibres of grape-vine bark. 



Our last example of American pensile birds is the Pine- 

 creeping Warbler (Sylvia pinus), a pretty little species, which 

 has many of the actions that characterize the titmice, flitting 

 among the branches like these birds, and hanging head down- 

 ward from the twigs while looking for insects. Sometimes it 

 runs along the ground, and is equally active there ; and when 

 disturbed, it flies upward, and clings to the trunk of the nearest 

 tree, the whole movement being so peculiar that the bird can be 

 distinguished at a long distance. 



The Pine-creeping Warbler is found in the pine-woods of the 

 Southern States, where it assembles in little flocks of twenty or 

 thirty in number. Its nest is suspended from the horizontal fork 

 of some small branch, and is made of strips of grape-vine bark 

 and rotten wood, tied firmly together with caterpillar silk. Some- 

 times the bird finds a hornet's nest, and rightly considering that 

 the substance of which it is made is the driest and lightest rotten 



