392 



DIVISION I. VERTEBRAL ANniALS. — CLASS II. AVES. 



The Black and Wliite Creeper (3IiiioliIla varia) is common in tlie 

 United States, east of the ^Missouri. In its habits, it resembles bcjtii the 

 creepers and warblers ; moving about the bodies and limbs of trees with the 

 ease of the former, and gleaning amongst the foliage the insect hosts like the 

 latter. We have sometimes seen it seize a flying insect while on the win"-, 

 although this must have been a dc[)arture from its general habits. 



The song of the male during the mating season is a sort of lisping rendi- 

 tion of the syllables icln'-fhee, w/u'-chce, whe-nkee, whe-chrc, uttered at first 

 loud, and gradually weakening to a subdued note, like clicel. At other 

 times it has only a faint chirp or chink, which is uttered by both sexes. 

 About the 10th of May, after the birds have paired, they commence buildino- 

 the nest. This, Audubon says, in Louisiana, " is usually placed in some 

 small hole in a tree, and is composed of mosses in a dry state, and lined 

 with cottony substances." In Kew England it is ahuost always built, or 

 rather placed, on the ground; the situation is chosen usually beneath an 

 overhanging point of rock, or beneath a fallen truidc of a tree. It is made 

 of mosses, straw, leaves, and other soft materials, and is lined with cotton 

 from ferns, soft grass, or hair. The eggs are lai<l by the middle of May. 

 They are usuall)' four or five in number. Their color is white, with a slight 

 cream tinge ; and they are spotted irregularly with fine dots and confluent 

 blotches of reddish-brown, thickest near the largest end of the egg. Dimen- 

 sions of the eggs average about .()."> by .;V1 inch. 



The Blue Yellow-backed ^^'arbler [I'drnla Amcricanci) is rather com- 

 mon, as a summer resident of eastern North America to the Missouri River. 



In the Northern .States it arrives f'r(jm the south about the middle of 

 !May, sometimes a little earlier. The birds, on their arrival, seem to be 

 mated ; for they are almost always seen in pairs, often two males with one 

 feujale. Their habits are very similar to those of the titmice, and they are 

 erpiully at home in the high foliage of trees and in the low thickets and 

 shrubbery. When travelling through the trees, they run nimbly both across 

 and along the branches, sometimes hanging head downwards, sometimes 

 fluttering at the extremity of a small twig. They are very nervous and 

 active, and are almost continually em[iloycd in catching caterpillars and 

 insects, of which their food consists. While thus engaged, they emit, occa- 

 sionally, a feeljlc note, like tlie syllables c/ie-wcrc/i, clip-wecc/i, c/ic-wvrch, 

 uttered at first low, and rapidly increasing in volume. AVhen passing 

 through the forests of jNIaine and New Hampshire, we have seen numbers 

 of these birds, particularly in the neighborhood of swamps, flying from the 

 tops of the huge hendocks, and seizing the small lacewinged flies (ejihe- 

 merides) that are abundant in those regions in iNIay and June. We also 

 noticed that they fed largely upon the small caterpillars (^(jeometridoi) ; and 



