ftotts from JPiell) mti ^tutip 



Seventeen Warblers in a Single 

 Willow Tree 



Spring and the migration were extra- 

 ordinarily late this year in Pittsfield, Mass. 

 Until May i8 only April birds — not one 

 species typical of May — was seen by the 

 writer. On that day and the following the 

 usual arrivals of May's first two weeks 

 flooded in, and Sunday, the 20th, came 

 warm but cloudy, promising a high tide of 

 Warblers. About 9 a.m. the writer was 

 standing by a bridge over the dirty little 

 river, with mills above and mills below 

 and trolleys clanging by, where a great 

 willow tree sloped out over the surface. 

 Swifts and Swallows were darting low over 

 the water. Crackles, Robins and Song 

 Sparrows hunted along its banks, an 

 Oriole and a Downy Woodpecker were 

 heard overhead, and the voices of a Cat- 

 bird and a Yellow-throated Vireo were 

 not remote; but in the tree itself sparkled 

 a Warbler treasure! First, a number of 

 Northern Parulas were noted; in the same 

 instant Chestnut-sides and Myrtles were 

 seen to be almost equally numerous; and 

 then several Black-throated Greens ap- 

 peared. Only the two first-named were 

 making any sound; the gray weather 

 seemed to take away the spirit of song, 

 recompensing us by keeping the Warblers 

 low in the leafless but catkin-veiled tree. 

 The fifth species seen was a dun little 

 thing, with a faint flush of yellow on her 

 throat and absolutely no other insignia 

 anywhere. While the idea 'Tennessee?' 

 was still but half-formed — for the writer 

 had never before seen a Tennessee War- 

 bler — a sixth guest fluttered down, cling- 

 ing to the bark. Pulse leapt in arteries, 

 for here at last was a Warbler the observer 

 had fervently sought each May for fifteen 

 years till it had become a symbol for the 

 unattainably rare — a Cape May! Noth- 

 ing could have given more delight; but 

 while avid eyes were watching, a flash of 

 gold brought down a gorgeous Black- 



burnian, a necklace of black diamonds 

 almost tinkled 'Canadian,' and two black- 

 and-salmon male Redstarts scintillated 

 into the tree. For a few minutes the 

 onlooker revelled amid these riches. 

 Then a wiry song heralded the creeping 

 approach of a Black-and- White, and a 

 Magnolia also twinkled into view. Sud- 

 denly a Blackpoll emerged directly under 

 him, and then a Yellow Warbler, flying 

 upstream, paused an instant in the tree. 

 This was unbelievable! Thirteen War- 

 blers in as many minutes in a single tree 

 in such a site? Wasn't it hallucination? 

 One had but to imagine a Warbler, and 

 lo ! he was at hand! And now came a 

 wheezy 'song' preluding a handsome 

 Black-throated Blue. The Chestnut- 

 sides and Parulas were now swarming in 

 the scanty bushes at the willow's base. 

 We looked down, and rubbed our eyes: a 

 Bay-breast — one lone plump ruddy male 

 Bay-breast! Then flitted in and out an 

 ever-agile Wilson's Black-cap; and lastly 

 up peered the black mask of a Northern 

 Yellowthroat. Besides these seventeen 

 Warblers the tree held for a while a War- 

 bling Vireo. Save the three species first 

 noted, none was represented by many 

 individuals. The tree looked like nothing 

 so much as a bird-chart by the Massa- 

 chusetts Audubon Society illustrating the 

 May Warblers of Massachusetts, so 

 vividly alive was its close-bounded area 

 with these clear-marked, brilliant tran- 

 sients, so long halted by the cold and now 

 pouring northward in compact flocks — 

 seventeen species to a flock ! — and eddy- 

 ing through a single city willow on the 

 way. — Samuel A. Eliot, Jr., Pitts- 

 field, Mass. 



Warbler Notes from Bennington, Vt. 



In regard to R. E. Robbins' query in the 

 March-April Bird-Lore concerning the 

 increase in the number of Cape May 

 Warblers, our observations, which are 



(203) 



