308 BIRDS OF MASSACHUSETTS. 



toward the larger end. This bird is very much annoyed by 

 the cow-bird. Sometimes, when it finds the strange egg, it 

 buries it by making a new lining to its nest ; but if this be 

 impracticable, it feeds and protects the foundling with as much 

 kindness as its own young. In its migrations, this little bird 

 travels by night. 



The SPOTTED WARBLER, Sylvia maculosa, is a beautiful 

 bird, which passes through the State in May, on its way to the 

 north, where it rears its young. Here they are always rare ; 

 but in Maine they are sometimes exceedingly common, being 

 detained there, waiting till the season is sufficiently advanced 

 to permit them to go farther. This bird excels in song as well 

 as in beauty of plumage j its motions are graceful, and, when on 

 the ground, it holds its wings drooping, as if to display their 

 markings to advantage. They pass but a few days with us, 

 and on their return do not visit us ; they probably, in returning, 

 avoid the coast, and make their way along the course of the 

 great western rivers. 



The BLACK-THROATED GREEN WARBLER, Sylvia virens, is 

 not common in Massachusetts. It comes from the south in 

 May, and may be seen searching the blossoms of the apple tree 

 for food, so intent upon its employment as to pay no regard to 

 the presence of any observer. Sometimes the chipping-sparrow, 

 delighted to find a bird weaker than itself, puts on airs of state, 

 and orders the little warbler away from the tree. A few spend 

 the summer in the northern states. Their nests are not easily 

 discovered, but Nuttall met with one in a juniper, on the Blue 

 Hills in Milton. It was made with strips of bark, horsehair, 

 and feathers, and contained four eggs, inclining to flesh-color, 

 dotted with purple together with large spots of brown. There 

 was no othe? nest of the kind near it. These birds are seen 

 roving in the Icrests, on their way to the south, in October. 



The BLACKBURNIA^T WARBLER, Sylvia Blackburniae, is 

 sometimes seen in this State, and, whenever it appears, its ele- 



