SONG-BIRDS. Warblers 



head masked with black, separated by ash-white line from 



crown. Black bill ; flesh-coloured feet. 

 Female : Smaller, and colours less distinct ; mask wanting, as it is 



also in the young. 



Song : "Follow me, follow me, follow me ! " 

 Season : From May to September. Common summer resident. 

 Breeds : From Georgia northward. 

 Nest : Large and deep, sometimes partly roofed over ; made of broad 



grasses, either on ground or in bushy tangles. 

 Eggs : 4-6, white, sparsely sprinkled with brown. 

 Range : Eastern United States, mainly east of the Alleghanies, north 



to Ontario' and Nova Scotia ; in winter, South Atlantic and 



Gulf States and the West Indies. 



Next to the Yellow-Wood Warbler, this Ground Warbler 

 is the best known and merriest of the entire clan, and easily 

 identified by his mask, yellow throat, and distinctive song. 



Early in May you will see a flash of yellow among the 

 white flowers of the dogwood (Cornus florida), or quivering 

 in the willows, and a bright eye peers through the black 

 mask and a sweet, persuasive voice calls, "Follow me, fol- 

 low me, follow ! " If you wisely accept the invitation, you 

 will become so well acquainted with all of his little innocent 

 airs and graces that before the summer has passed you will 

 recognize his plainer, maskless mate, and perhaps note the 

 plumage development of the young. 



In following this Merry Andrew across some old pasture 

 or along a thickly shrubbed fence, you will also discover his 

 nest. The nest that I have now before me was found not 

 far below the garden wall, in an old meadow, where a tangle 

 follows the watercourse, and was lodged between tall weeds 

 and grasses at a little distance from the ground. It is of a 

 long cup-shape, the form of the little baskets in which straw- 

 berries used to be sold, and which were called pottles. It is 

 quite bulky, made of wide grass-blades and leaves, and very 

 thick at the bottom, the nest being shallow in the interior 

 and lined with vanilla grass. This nest is not roofed over, 

 but shows a tendency to it by being higher and slightly 

 curved on one side, as if the bird had intended to form a 

 roof and then changed its mind. 



Ill 



