92 



Black and White Warbler 



never faltering in their good work. They 

 peer into the crevices of the bark, scruti- 

 nize each leaf, and explore the very heart 

 of the buds to detect, drag forth, and de- 

 stroy those tiny creatures, singly insignifi- 

 cant, collectively a scourge, which i)rey 

 upon the hopes of the fruit grower, and 

 which, if undisturbed, would bring his care 

 to nought. Some Warblers flit incessantly 

 in the terminal foliage of the tallest trees; 

 others hug close to the scored trunks and 

 gnarled boughs of the forest kings; some 

 peep from the thicket, the coppice, the im- 

 penetrable mantle of shrubbery that decks 

 tiny watercourses, playing at hide and seek 

 with all comers; others more humble still 

 descend to the ground, where they glide 

 with pretty mincing steps and affected turn- 

 ings of the head this way and that, their 

 delicate flesh-tinted feet just stirring the 

 layer of withered leaves with which a past 

 season carpeted the ground. We may seek 

 Warblers everywhere in their season; we 

 shall find them a continual surprise — all 

 mood and circumstance is theirs." 



The Black and White Warbler is in many 

 ways an interesting bird. His relationship 

 to the ordinary brown creeper, so common 

 in our forests in winter, is not distant, and 

 he seems also to connect the Ccerclndte or 

 honey creepers, tiny tropical birds of brill- 

 iant plumage, with the true warblers. In 

 many of its habits it closely resembles the 

 brown creeper, and like it gleans its living 

 chiefly from the trunks of trees, which it 

 ascends by short hops, supporting itself as 

 it goes up, by pressing its tail against the 

 bark, somewhat as the woodpeckers do. 

 It is an active, vivacious bird, almo.st con- 

 stantly at work, now clambering about the 

 moss-covered tree trunk in a most business- 

 like way, and again making short dashes 

 into the air to capture some passing insect 

 which its quick eye has noted. 



This bird is one of the earliest of its tribe 

 to reach the Northern States, and often 

 makes its appearance in New York and 



southern New England about the middle of 

 April, and so before the trees show signs of 

 bursting into leaf, and while the whole 

 landscape is brown and bare. It is then an 

 attractive feature of the woods and fields, 

 and its active movements, and even its thin, 

 nasal song help to brighten up the dreary 

 season of waiting. Later, when his more 

 richly clad companions fill the woodlands 

 and the shrubbery, we should not miss the 

 Black and White Creeper if he were to be 

 taken away, but when he first comes he is 

 very welcome. 



This bird breeds with us, though perhaps 

 not in great numbers. He is a ground 

 nester by preference, though sometimes he 

 builds a few feet higher. Audubon tells us 

 of nests in a hole in a tree. Mr. H. D. 

 IMinot found one " in the cavity of a tree 

 rent by lightning and about five feet from 

 the ground," as well as one "on the top of 

 a low birch stump." Wherever placed, 

 the nest is a strong, substantial structure, 

 built of dry leaves and strips of bark which 

 are so similar in character to its surround- 

 ings as to admirably conceal it, and make 

 it very difficult to detect. Four eggs are 

 usually laid, about .7 X .5 inches in length. 

 They are creamy white, and are finely dot- 

 ted with brown and lilac, the spots being 

 most numerous about the larger end. 



The Black and White Warbler is about 

 five inches long, and its outspread wings 

 measure seven and one-half inches across. 

 As implied in the name the bird's color is 

 black and white, the white seeming to be 

 the ground color and the black being laid 

 on in streaks. The top of the head is white 

 bounded by a line of black on either side, 

 and this by a line of white passing over 

 the eye. The chin, throat and wings are 

 black, the latter crossed by two white bars. 

 The belly is white. All other parts are 

 streaked with black and white. The bill is 

 black and the feet and legs brown. The 

 females and young of the year lack the 

 black throat, which in them is white. 



