156 AMERICAN ORNITHOLOGY. 



THE KENTUCKY WARBLER. 



By Isaac E. Hess. 



Of all the summer-resident Warblers of central Illinois, only one (the 

 Prothonotary) may be considered more attractive than the beautiful 

 Kentucky. Both of these yellow charmers are lovers of the deep, damp 

 woods, and although the former penetrates farther northward, their 

 tastes are so similar that in localities where one is found, you may usu. 

 ally hope to see the other. 



During migration it is not unusual to note both of these golden beau- 

 ties gleaning in the maples and box-elders of the towns and villages, 

 but only for a few days at most, and if a closer acquaintance is desired, 

 you must follow them to their haunts in the wild swampy woodland. 



About us we have three types of timber-land, but only in the lower 

 woods in close proximity to a creek have I been able to find the Ken- 

 tucky Warbler during the nesting season. In upland Lynn Grove — an 

 ideal bit of bird-land where I have located the nests of sixty-one species 

 — the persistent nesting song of the Kentucky is never heard. Only 

 four miles distant from this point, where Salt Creek winds its way 

 through the willows and oaks and giant sycamores, the May and June 

 woods ring with his loud cheery song. He is not an early arrival from 

 the south — in fact he is one of the very last to come and April has 

 lengthened almost into May when he returns. 



Unlike the Robin and Bluebird whose impatience brings them weary 

 weeks of waiting for the balmy days they love so well, the Kentucky 

 bides his time and when at last we hear his voice, we know the woods 

 are perfect and summer is here. Quietly slipping into the woods at 

 this season we may catch him at his love song when he sits on his sap- 

 ling perch and pours out his heart's happiness by the hour. 



His song is bright and attractive and as Mr. Ridgway says recalls 

 the song of the Cardinal. It reminds me however, more of the song of 

 the Carolina Wren and at first I had considerable diiSculty in separa- 

 ting them. I was especially troubled by the fact that both birds favor 

 the same local surroundings. 



Quite often one may see two males in rapid flight — one chasing the 

 other out of the territory into which he has intruded. In this trait one 

 is reminded of the Prothonotary and when the chase so often ends with 

 painful cries and a loss of feathers, the observer is forced to admit that 

 he has witnessed a fight and not merely an over-exuberant spirit of 

 playfulness. 



Yet I am loathe to believe the Kentucky Warbler a quarrelsome 

 bird. He merely exercises his right to enforce the "Kentucky law" re- 

 lating to intrusion upon lawful domains. That they have some such 



