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THE PINE CREEPING WARBLER. 



Sylvia pinus, Lath. 



PIATE OXL. Male and Female. 



The Pine Creeping Warbler, the most abundant of its tribe, is met 

 with from Louisiana to Maine, more profusely in the warmer, and more 

 sparingly in the colder regions, breeding wherever fir or pine trees are to 

 be found. Although it may occasionally be seen on other trees, yet it 

 always prefers those of that remarkable and interesting tribe. I found 

 it on the sandy barrens bordering St John's River, in East Florida, 

 in full song, early in February. I am pretty certain that they had al- 

 ready formed nests at that early period, and it seems to me not unlikely 

 that this species, as well as some others that breed in that country at the 

 same time, may afterwards travel far to the eastward, and there rear an- 

 other brood the same year. 



In some degree allied to the Certhiae in its habits, it is often seen as- 

 cending the trunks and larger branches of trees, hopping against the bark, 

 in search of the larvae that lurk there. At times it moves sidewise along 

 a branch three or four steps, and turning about, goes on in the same 

 manner, until it has reached a twig, which it immediately examines. 

 Its restless activity is quite surprising : now it gives chace to an in- 

 sect on wing ; now, it is observed spying out those more diminutive 

 species concealed among the blossoms and leaves of the pines ; again, it 

 leaves the topmost branches of a tree, flies downwards, and alights side- 

 wise on the trunk of another, which it ascends, changing its position, 

 from right to left, at every remove. It also visits the ground in quest 

 of food, and occasionally betakes itself to the water, to drink or bathe. 



It is seldom that an individual is seen by itself going through its 

 course of action, for a kind of sympathy seems to exist in a flock, and in 

 autumn and winter especially, thirty or more may be observed, if not on 

 the same tree, at least not far from each other. Although it feeds on in- 

 sects, larvEe, and occasionally small crickets, it seems to give a decided 

 preference to a little red insect of the coleopterous order, which is found 

 inclosed in the leaves or stipules of the pine. Low lands seem to suit it 

 best, for it is much less numerous in mountainous countries than in those 

 bordei'ing the sea. 



