AMERICAN OBNITHOLOGY. ^^ 69 



found. While the female was sitting, both she and the male were very 

 watchful and the chances of the nest being found through any act of 

 theirs, was very slim. If you were walking directly towards the nest 

 she would quietly slip off through the sweet fern that formed the lower 

 strata of vegetation; if your course lay a little to either side she would 

 hug closer to the nest and let you go by even if within two or three 

 feet, in either case leaving you wholly unaware of its existence. As 

 soon as the little warblers had hatched, the parents seemed to nave 

 little fear and would feed their charges while you were watching. 



When bringing food for their young they approached the nest cau- 

 tiously, keeping near the ground where the swaying of the fern tops 

 - would show their progress until a slight tremor of the young walnut 

 announced that they had reached their goal and a moment later they 

 would hop to the edge of the nest and administer an antidote for hun- 

 ger to the little wide open mouths. All manner of insects are included, 

 in their menu. Ants, plant lice, flies, moths, and even repulsive look- 

 ing worms such as the male bird has brought in one of the illustrations ^ 

 all follow each other down the seemingly bottomless yellow caverns, 

 that are eagerly presented upon the parents return. 



The young Prairie Warblers, as soon as they leave the nest are very 

 smart little chaps and will successfully hide away under the leaves. 

 One little fellow whose picture I was trying to take obeyed his parents 

 commands even more literally than they had intended. I imagine from 

 their excited chirpings and his actions that they were telling him to 

 climb to the highest point of the bush so that he might have a good 

 vantage point from which to begin his flight. Having reached the 

 highest branch he looked about for something more elevated, which he 

 found on the top of my head from which he made his maiden flight. 



The good fellowship that exists between most of the different spe- 

 cies of birds can be judged by the variety that nested in company with 

 the Prairie Warblers. They included Indigo Buntings, Towhees, Wil- 

 son's Thrush, Brown Thrasher, Vireos, Black and White and Chestnut- 

 sided Warblers, Field and Song Sparrows, a Chickadee, Bluebird and 

 Scarlet Tanager. As a general thing this variety of birds lived to- 

 gether very peaceably, varying the monotony with an occasional set-to 

 between two or more of them, these tilts being of no serious conse- 

 quence and in no ways disturbing the social equilibrium of the com- 

 munity. 



