Relation of Summer Birds to Western Adirondack Forest 449 



Chestnut-sided Warbler. Dcndroica pensylvanica (Linn.) 



Length 5. Back streaked; cap yellow, bordered at the eye with black; 

 under surface white ; sides broadly splashed with chestnut-brown. 



The Chestnut-sided Warbler is associated with all kinds of clear- 

 ings. It is one of the commonest birds of the Burn. If it can 

 find berry bushes in which to nest, and saplings in which to forage 

 and sing, it is immediately at home. It inhabits a zone or level in 

 the scrub just above that of the Mourning Warblers, but nests in 

 low shrubbery, commonly among the stems of raspberry and black- 

 berry bushes at a foot or two from the ground. It lacks the fear 

 and shyness of the other bush-dwelling warblers, and will carry on 

 its activities regardless of the presence of an observer, much like a 

 Chickadee. It scarcely ever gives forth any calls or notes of alarm 

 when disturbed in feeding its young, but quietly continues its work 

 as if accustomed to observation, singing contentedly as it works 

 among saplings or the lower branches of trees. A representative 

 song of this warbler sounds to me like sivee szvee szvee szvee-swee- 

 see-chezv, consisting of four or five uniform notes, followed by the 

 short, hurried sentence of three notes, stressed on the second. The 

 song is frequently only the introductory series of notes, like see see 

 see see see, with the short closing sentence omitted ; at other times 

 merely the seet see chezv is heard, strongly accented on the second 

 note. Three forms of the song are thus recognizable. Singing 

 continues while the father is feeding the young recently out of the 

 nest ; and usually after carrying a bit of food to a fledgling skulking 

 in the shrubbery the male will fly to a convenient station and utter 

 an abbreviated song before continuing his duties. 



The Chestnut-sided Warbler leads a happy, homelike life for 

 several weeks after the young leave the nest, the adults attending 

 the juveniles with parental interest in the saplings near the nest. 

 At this season the male sings a quiet little strain, a low murmured 

 chatter or warble. When I first heard it I felt certain that a small 

 Vireo, Bell's, as I had heard it in the Illinois berry thickets, was in 

 the patch of alders. A family of this warbler will remain in the 

 same clump of saplings for several days, if undisturbed. 



The Chestnut-sided W'arbler seems to be nearly altogether insec- 

 tivorous. On one occasion this summer, however, I observed a male 

 pick and eat two elderberries while gleaning leisurely among sapling 

 foliage in which the berries were temptingly drooping ; indeed, the 

 bird's manner gave me the impression that it was eating the fruit 

 more as an experiment than because of an established taste for the 

 berries. 



Magnolia Warbler. Dcndroica magnolia (Wils.) 



Length 5.1. Head ash-gray; back and cheeks black; large patches of 

 white on the wings and tail; tail broadly tipped with black; under parts 

 yellow ; breast and sides heavily streaked. 



The Magnolia, or Black and Yellow W'arbler, is an inhabitant ot 

 the mixed woods where conifers predominate, preferably in the 

 more open lighted areas. Its most favored habitat here was the 



