way: ''One, two, three-a, four." Mr. 

 Minot wrote : ''There is to me a fascina- 

 tion in watching these birds as they move 

 among the tree tops, and a charm in Hs- 

 tening to their drowsy notes, which 

 (without poetical exaggeration) seems to 

 invite one, on a warm day, to He down 

 and slumber on the pine needles that are 

 strewn over the ground — though to per- 

 sons too practically minded the mosqui- 

 toes at that season permit no such 

 repose." It is usually seen only in the 

 denser woodlands associated with other 

 warblers. 



The Black-throated Blue Warbler 

 (Dendroica caerulescens). An extract 

 from "Wake Robin" covers all points 

 necessary for identification : " 'Twea, 

 twea, twe-ee' in the upward slide, and 

 with its peculiar z-ing of summer insects, 

 but not destitute of a certain plaintive 

 cadence. It is one of the most languid, 

 unhurried sounds in all the woods. I 

 feel like reclining upon the dry leaves at 

 once. Audubon says he has never heard 

 his love-song, but this is all the love- 

 song he has, and he is evidently a very 

 plain hero with his little brown mistress. 

 He assumes few attitudes, and is not a 

 bold and striking gymnast, like many of 

 his kindred. He has a preference for 

 dense woods of beech and maple, moves 

 slowly amid the lower branches and 

 smaller branches, keeping from eight to 

 ten feet from the ground, and repeating 

 now and then his listless, indolent strain. 

 His back and crown are dark blue; his 

 throat and breast, black; his belly, pure 

 white, and he has a white spot on each 

 wing." 



The Water Thrush (Seiiirus noveho- 

 racensis) is distinguished from his coun- 

 terpart, the Louisiana water-thrush, by 

 the buffy instead of white lines over the 

 eye, and yellower under parts. It is a 

 much less gifted singer than the Louisi- 

 ana water-thrush (Seiurus motacilla). 

 Its song is not at all displeasing, but as 

 Mr. Chapman says, "Its song lacked the 

 wildness of that of 6^. motacilla." In qual- 

 ity it is very suggestive of a wood-wind 

 instrument, such as the flute. Generally 

 the first four notes are nearly alike, the 

 fifth is the highest, and the last three are 

 on a descending scale ; indeed, the songs 

 of the water-thrush which I have heard 

 compare well to Mr. Torrey's disparag- 



ing description of the Louisiana water- 

 thrush. 



GROUP II. 



The Yellow Warbler {Dendroica 

 aestiva) is the most abundant warbler of 

 city parks, towns, and "tame" country. 

 Further description than its name tells 

 would be superfl^aous. Mr. Chapman 

 writes : "It is an active bird, and its song 

 — wee-chee, chee, chee, chee-wee — 

 though simple, has a pleasing, happy 

 ring." I know of no bird whose arrival 

 in the spring is more certain. The last 

 week of April is the scheduled date, and 

 it never varies. After the twenty-fifth of 

 April we expect to see it "daily, and we 

 are seldom disappointed long. Its red- 

 start-like song is sure to greet us from 

 an orchard, and a moment later we see a 

 golden missile undulatingly pass from 

 one pink tree to another. 



The Cerulean Warbler (Dendroica 

 caerulea) is one of the daintiest of this 

 dainty tribe. As I have said elsewhere, 

 he frequents the tree-tops and is recog- 

 nized not by his cerulean back and white 

 wingbars, but by his whitish and streaked 

 under parts and bluish necklace. Mr. 

 Brewster writes the song of the parula 

 warbler : "zee, zee, zee, ze-ee-ee-eep," 

 and adds that Dendroica caerulea' s is 

 identical with this. Mr. Burroughs 

 wrote : "The rarest of the species [of 

 warblers] are Swainson's warbler, said 

 to be disappearing ; the Cerulean Warbler, 

 said to be abundant about Niagara ; and 

 the mourning ground warbler, which I 

 have found breeding about the head- 

 waters of the Delaware in New York." 

 Evidently Mr. Burroughs had never vis- 

 ited western Pennsylvania, for here I 

 have found the Cerulean Warbler the 

 most abundant breeding warbler in the 

 well-wooded parts of the country, with the 

 possible exception of the Kentucky warb- 

 ler. Of course, in low country, covered 

 with brush and low trees, the Maryland 

 yellow-throat ranks first, and, as I have 

 mentioned above, the yellow warbler is 

 the most abundant in well-cultivated 

 country. 



The Worm-eating Warbler (Helmin- 

 thophila vermivorus) is described thus by 

 Mr. Chapman : "A black line from the 

 eye to the nape, and two on the crown 

 from either nostril ; an olive-buflFy line 

 over either eye, and a third through the 



ir>o 



