IN THE HEMLOCKS 



marks, the concluding notes, wherein the tone 

 and inflection are changed. The throat and breast 

 of the male are a rich black like velvet, his face 

 yellow, and his back a yellowish green. 



Beyond the Barkpeeling, where the woods are 

 mingled hemlock, beech, and birch, the languid 

 midsummer note of the black-throated blue-back 

 falls on my ear. " Twea, twea, twea-e-e ! " in the up- 

 ward slide, and with the peculiar z-ing of summer 

 insects, but not destitute of a certain plaintive 

 cadence. It is one of the most languid, unhurried 

 sounds in all the woods. I feel like reclining upon 

 the dry leaves at once. Audubon says he has 

 never heard his love-song; but this is all the love- 

 song he has, and he is evidently a very plain hero 

 with his little brown mistress. He assumes few 

 attitudes, and is not a bold and striking gymnast, 

 like many of his kindred. He has a preference for 

 dense woods of beech and maple, moves slowly amid 

 the lower branches and smaller growths, keeping 

 from eight to ten feet from the ground, and repeat- 

 ing now and then his listless, indolent strain. His 

 back and crown are dark blue ; his throat and 

 breast, black; his belly, pure white; and he has a 

 white spot on each wing. 



Here and there I meet the black and white creep- 

 ing warbler, whose fine strain reminds me of hair- 

 wire. It is unquestionably the finest bird-song to 

 be heard. Few insect strains will compare with it 

 111 



