280 Roosevelt Wild Life Bulletin 



ity, and when sung in its most typical form thoroughly distinctive. 

 It consists of six to ten notes, with the next to the last note highest 

 in pitch, longest in time, and loudest in accent. The last note is 

 dropped suddenly in pitch and not accented. It may he written 

 " cherwee cherwee cherwee cherwee chencccchy." Other varia- 

 tions of the song are less commonly heard, less definite in form, and 

 consequently less easily recognized. 



The nest of this bird is placed in a low bush such as blueberry, 

 azalea or Ceanotluis, very near the ground. It is the usual warbler 

 nest, a cup-shaped structure of bark, fibres, leaves and grasses. 



Brown Thrasher. Toxostoma rufum (Linn.) 



The Brown Thrasher, erroneously called also Brown Thrush, is 

 a little longer than the Robin. It is a long-tailed but rather short- 

 winged bird, with a long, sharp, somewhat curved bill. The upper 

 parts are bright reddish brown, with two white bars on the wing. 

 The under parts are white, streaked on the breast and sides, but not 

 the throat, with brown. While colored like a thrush this bird is 

 distinctly different in shape, as well as in habits and song. 



This bird is fairly common in the Park, living in thickets of low 

 dense briery bushes. It is easily found in early summer when it is 

 singing at the best, but the song ceases earlier than most species, 

 after which the bird is seldom seen. It does not often go far above 

 the ground, but when singing chooses as high a perch as there is in 

 its vicinity. 



The song is loud, clear, long-continued and greatly varied. It 

 consists of short, quick phrases, each repeated rapidly two or three 

 times, then a short pause before the next phrase is taken up. The 

 time is now accelerated, now retarded ; the pitch may vary as much 

 as two octaves from highest to lowest notes, and even the quality 

 changes, most of the notes being musical, but occasional harsh or 

 squeaky sounds are uttered. The bird is a master musician when he 

 chooses to be. but has nothing like the quiet song so greatly loved 

 and admired in the thrushes. 



The nest is placed in a low, thick bush or on the ground under 

 such a -bush. It is seldom more than three feet from the ground, 

 and is built of sticks and twigs and lined with roots. The eggs are 

 thickly spotted with fine brown spots on a bluish ground. 



Mournixg Warbler. Oporornis Philadelphia (Wils.) 



This beautiful little bird is plain olive-green above. The throat 

 and upper breast are gray, shading in the male to black across the 

 center of the breast. The lower breast and under parts are bright 

 yellow, the line between black and yellow being abrupt and dis- 

 tinct. The female may be known by her gray throat, without black. 

 This warbler is well distributed in various parts of the Park, but 

 not particularly common anvwhere. I found it most frequently in 

 open spots on the border of forests of both maple-beech and oak- 

 chestnut types, where there were dense thickets of raspberry and 

 blackberry bushes. It is evidently an inhabitant of thickets rather 

 than of true forests. 



