218 



THE BLVE-THROATED WARBLER. 



While hopping and feeding about the ground, it is wonderful to see what large worms 

 and insects the little bird will devour. Should the worm be too large for him to swallow- 

 entire, as indeed is mostly the case, he tosses it about with his beak, bangs it against the 

 ground, flings it over his head, jumps on it, and when he has thus mashed it into a pulp, pulls 

 it to bits, and devours it piecemeal. 



Tlie color of the male Eobin is bright oliVe-brown on the back, orange-red on the throat, 

 chin, breast, forehead, and round the eye. A strii)e of blue-gray runs round the red, and the 

 abdomen and lower part of the breast are white. The bill and eyes |ire black. The female 

 is colored after the same manner, but the tints are not so vivid as in her mate. The total 

 length of the bird is nearly six inches, and its weight about half an ounce. 



The Bltje-tiiroatkd Warbler is very common in the southern parts of Europe, but is 

 extremely rare in the north. 



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BLUE-THKOATED WARBLER.— C^a«e(r«;o swdco ; and CkTAAOVE. — Calliope katyitschatkensis. 



It is a sweet songster, the notes having some resemblance to those of the whinchat, l)ut 

 being more powerful. It prefers to haunt low -lying, marshy grounds, and places its nest 

 among tufts of the rank herbage that generally grows in such localities. The nest is most 

 carefully hidden, and cannot readily be discovered. The materials of which it is composed 

 are dried grass and mosses, and it is lined -nith grass of a finer character. The eggs are 

 greenish-blue, something like those of the redstart. The bii'd has a curious habit of rising 

 into the air wliile singing, spreading its tail widely, and sailing with quivering wings and 

 spread tail to a spot at some distance from that at wMch it rose. It begins its song early in 

 the morning, and does not cease until late in the evening, being in tliis respect similar to the 

 redbreast. 



The color of this bird is rather varied, and is briefly as follows : The upper part of the 

 body is rich brown, a color which extends to the two central tail-feathers, all the other rectrices 

 being bright chestnut at the basal half, and black at the extremity. The chin, throat, and 



