THE IOWA ORNITHOI,OGIST. 



67 



The Hooded Warbler. 



A small sloug-h running- along- 

 at the foot of the hills, receiving- 

 from them their surplus water, 

 and acting as an outlet for several 

 ponds and small springs, further 

 up the "bottom", then in its turn 

 emptying- into a larg-er slough 

 which has direct connection with 

 the Des Moines River. The 

 amount of water in the whole 

 controlled by the stage of the 

 Mississippi a few miles away. 



In the wet lowland, the ground 

 is not fit for cultivation and the 

 orig-inal timber still stands. In 

 the hig-her places it has been cut 

 away and the land is always in 

 corn. 



This leaves an irreg-ular strip 

 of wet woodland, in places where 

 the g-iant elms, sycamore and 

 locusts stand it is dark and shady, 

 with little underbrush, but where 

 the smaller maples, willows, hack- 

 berry, etc., stand it is much g-rown 

 up to underbrush, covered with 

 wild g-rape, ivy and other creepers, 

 which selecting- some small 

 tree soon smother it. Then in 

 the summer this whole woodland 

 is covered with a g-rowth of the 

 3 , from one to four feet hig-h, 

 r aking- a dense tang-le of smart- 

 weed, nettles and a tall slender, 

 transparent weed with larg-e 

 leaves, apparently joined onto the 

 main stalk without a stem, which 

 grow in g-reat patches in the 

 darker and more shady places. 



Such a place is the home of 

 Sylvania mitrata. In the center 

 of this jung-le he builds his nest; 

 from the trees overhead he sings 

 to his mate, while with restless 

 energ-y he catches his favorite in- 

 sects. From their arrival in May 

 to their departure in Aug-ust, they 

 seldom wander further than the 

 edg-e of their thicket. Why 

 should they? Their home is there, 

 their favorite food is plentiful, 

 while such nooks are a long- dis- 

 tance apart. They are a very 

 active bird and in song- constantly 

 while here. In their g-eneral 

 habits and song- they resemble 

 the Red-start, but they are more 

 frequently near the ground than 

 the former, and the nest is always 

 low. As to the date of their arri- 

 val. May 7, is the earliest I have 

 any record of; May 12 and 13, the 

 next, but by the 25th of this month 

 they are common, and soon begin 

 selecting their mates. By the 

 end of the first week in June they 

 are paired, and some have selected 

 a nesting place. Really, I have 

 seen nests complete on the third 

 day of June, and containing eggs 

 by the 10th of the month, but I 

 find that the best time to take 

 full sets is about the third week 

 in June. 



The nest, on account of its sit- 

 uation, was at first very hard for 

 me to find. You can tell little 

 from the action of the birds, how 

 near you are to the nest, for while 

 they resent 3'our presence any- 



