250 XUKTll AMKlilCAX JUIJD.S. 



but tliis liiis never l)eeii ((HitiiiiKHl. He reganled it as a silent bird, and 

 Mr. AuduliDn dues not edniplinient its vocal powers. Vet it is a pleasinj^- 

 and varied, it' not a powerful singer. Mr. Tri|t])e speaks of its song as faint 

 and lisping, o';' ms consisting of four or live syllables. 



None of our liinls, before its history was well known, lias been made the 

 occasion for nioi'e ill-foundi'd conjectures than the Lilack-l'oll. Wil.son was at 

 fault as to its song and its Soutliern breeding, and imagined it would be found 

 to ne.st in high tree-tops, .so as not to lie readily delected. Xuttall, on the 

 otiier hand, jireilieted that it would be founil to breed on the ground, after the 

 manner of the Mniutiltnc, or else in IkjIIow trees Mr. Audubon, finding its 

 nest in Labrador, imUdges in flights of fancy over its supposed rarity, which, 

 .seen in the ligliL of our jtresent knowledge, as an abundant bird in the local- 

 ity wiiere his expedition was fitted out, are .somewhat annising. Tiiat nest 

 was in a thicket of low trees, containeil four eggs, and was phiced about four 

 I'eet from the ground, in the fork of a small bianch, close to the main stcMu 

 of a fir-tree. Its internal diameter was two inches, and its depth one and 

 a lialf. It was formed, externally, of green and winte moss and lichens, in- 

 termingled with coarse dry grasses. It was lined, with great care, with fine, 

 dry, dark-colored mosses, resemliling horse-hair, with a tiiick bed of soft 

 feathers of ducks and wilhnv grouse. 



In pa.ssing north, these Warblers, says Audubon, reacli Louisiana early in 

 February, where they glean their food among the upper liranclies (jf tiie trees 

 overhanging the water, lie never met with lliem in maritime parts of the 

 South, yet they are al)undant in tlu; State of New Jersey near the ,sea-shore. 

 As they pass nortliward their haliits seem to undergo a change, and to ])ar- 

 take more of the nature of ('reei)ers. They move along tlie tninks and lower 

 lindis, .searching in their chiid<s for larva- and iiujia;. Later in the .season, in 

 more northern h)calitie.s, we again find them expert liycatchers, darting after 

 insects in all directions, chasing them while on tlie wing, and making tiie 

 clicking sound of the triui Flycatcher. 



Tliey usually reacli IMa.s.sachu.setts after the middle of May, and their stay 

 varies from one, usually, to nearly four weeks, esiiecially when their insect- 

 food is abundant. In our ortihanls they feed eagerly u])on the canker-worm, 

 which is just ai>])earing as tliey puss tlirough. 



Around Kast]iort and at (irand Menan they confine themselves to the tliick 

 swampy groves of evergreens, where they breed on the edges of the woods. 

 All of the .several nests I met with in these localities were built in thick 

 spruce-trees, about eight feet from the ground, and in the midst of foliage; so 

 (K'nse as iiardly to be noticeable. Yet the nests were large and bulky for s(» 

 small a bird, In'ing nearly five inches in iliametiM' and three in heiglit. The 

 cavity is, howevi'r, small, lieing only two inches in diameter, and one and a 

 fourtli to one and a half in (h'pth. They were constructed cliiefly of a 

 collection of slendci' young ends of laanclies of jiines, firs, and spruce, 

 interwoven wilii aiul tied togi'liier liy long liranches of the ('luifiiniii licliens, 



