24 THE ORNITHOLOGISTS’ AND OOoLocists’ SEMI-ANNUAL. 
pended back downward, while searching for the prey that may be 
concealed in the crevices of the bark. Its food-seeking employment 
is often varied in the early season by its perching on a small branch 
and warbling its song ina cheery and pleasing manner. At other 
times, it will alight upon the ground and feed upon the various species 
of insects that it finds there, and again it may be seen running -along 
old logs and fallen brushwood, foraging for food, or seeking a nesting 
place, or material for its nest. 
It arrives in this vicinity about the middle of May, and for a time 
it may be observed pursuing its various avocations, in company with 
many other small birds, along the fences and the borderings of the 
woods. As the season advances, it seems to prefer to glean more 
amongst the higher timber, though it is never very shy, or manifests 
much alarm at the approach of human kind, and when incubating, 
the female will remain upon the nest until she may be caught, or al- 
most trodden upon before she flushes. When nesting or incubating, 
she remains very quiet, so that the nest might be within a few feet, 
and yet the person not be aware of the bird’s existence ; but as soon 
as the young begin to assume their nesting plumage, the old birds 
soon betray their nesting place by their noisy notes. 
The nesting sites of this species are much similar to those of the 
Slate-colored Junco and Connecticut Warbler, being either in the root 
of a fallen tree, the side of a small bank, at the root of a bush, or 
some other partially covered spot, somewhat like that of the Oven- 
bird. The nest is generally formed of some fine materials, as dry 
leaves, bits of moss, fibres of bark, fine, dry grass, rootlets and differ- 
ent kinds of hair. The set of eggs numbers four or five; these are 
of a creamy-white hue, dotted around the larger end with a circle of 
pale reddish-brown spots. In size they average .63x.53 inches. The 
bird itself is about five inches in length. ‘The plumage on the upper 
parts is black and white, in alternate specks. The lower parts are 
white, the tail is spotted and the wings are barred. 
[B. S. 0.] 
