ORDER PASSERES. 31 



warblers, there is none so affectionate to its female as the 

 male of this species. It shews the same affection for its young, 

 and its song is very agreeable and prolonged. It is of this 

 bird that Buffon speaks, when he says, " The warbler 

 (faiivette) was the emblem of transitory love, as the turtle 

 was of fidelity ; nevertheless, this same warbler, lively and 

 gay as it is, is not the less loving, or the less faithfully 

 attached on that account ; nor is the turtle dove, in spite of 

 its melancholy and plaintive character, the less a libertine. 

 The male of the atricapilla lavishes on the female a thousand 

 little cares during the time of incubation. It partakes of 

 her solicitude for the little ones, which have just burst the 

 shell, and does not quit her even after the education of the 

 young, for its love appears to remain after its desires are 

 satisfied.''' 



Nothing can alter its tender affection, not even the loss of 

 liberty, if it is deprived of it with its family. It will then 

 feed the young and the female, even forcing the latter to eat, 

 when the chagrin occasioned by captivity would lead her to 

 refuse all sustenance. 



The males of this species arrive in the early days of April, 

 but the females do not appear until towards the 15th. If, at 

 this epoch, any return of cold should deprive them of insects, 

 they will feed upon the berries of the laurel, the ivy, the 

 privet, and the hawthorn. It is the same way with such of 

 these birds as a late brood, or other accidents, compel to 

 remain during the winter in our climates, which, however, is 

 a circumstance of rare occurrence. 



Immediately after the arrival of the females, these birds 

 employ themselves in the construction of the nest. The male 

 seeks out the most favourable position, and when his choice is 

 made, he appears to announce it to the female, by a sweeter 

 and more tender song. It is almost always in the small bushes 

 of eglantine and hawthorn, at an elevation of two or three 

 feet from the ground, that the female fixes the nest. It is 



