THE BLACKBURNIAN WARBLER. 



{Pendroica blackburnice.) 



No foliage is dense enough to hide, and no autumnal tint too brilliant to outshine this 

 luminous little bird that in May, as it migrates northward to its nesting ground, darts in and 

 Dut of the leafy shadows like a tongue of fire. 



— Neltje Blanchan, in "Bird Neighbors." 



Mr. Burroughs has suggested that 

 "Orange-throated Warbler would seem to 

 be his right name, his characteristic cog- 

 nomen ; but no>, he is doomed to wear the 

 name of some discoverer, perhaps the 

 first who robbed his nest or rifled him of 

 his mate — Blackburn; hence, Blackburn- 

 ian Warbler. The burn seems appropri- 

 ate enough, for in these dark evergreens 

 his throat and breast show like flame." 

 And he has been called the Torch-bird — 

 a beautiful and appropriate name, for as 

 Dr. Dawson writes, "Like a beacon light 

 his glowing breast sends a quick answer- 

 ing flash to the first greeting of the east- 

 ern majesty, and drunk with joy, the tiny 

 spark moves off to set the woods on fire. 

 When his back is turned you lose him' in 

 the upper green, but once around and 

 flash ! flash ! come swift messages of 

 beauty from this divinely fashioned helio- 

 graph." He is, indeed, a bird Prome- 

 theus, a torch-bearer. 



Only those lovers of birds who also 

 love the quiet seclusion of our deeper 

 forests may hope to see this, the most 

 beautiful of our warblers, in its native 

 haunts. There it shows its orange-red 

 throat as it flits from branch to branch, 

 examining leaf after leaf in search of its 

 insect-food. It is a shy bird and upon 

 the slightest alarm will retreat to the 

 thickest foliage. It has a happy disposi- 

 tion as befits so charming an ornament 

 of the woods, and, as it hunts, it fre- 

 quently utters a loud and pleasing 

 warble. 



The Blackburnian Warbler, whose 

 bright colors would seem more appro- 

 priate in the tropics, migrates from its 



winter home in Central America and the 

 northern portion of South America, 

 through the eastern United States, to its 

 breeding ground in cooler climes. It 

 prefers to place its nest in the cone- 

 bearing trees of the north and of the 

 higher altitudes. In the coniferous 

 woods of the Alleghanies and from the 

 northern United States northward, they 

 build their nests and raise their brood of 

 four young. Mr. Cooke says that it is 

 one of the few warblers whose migration 

 has been traced through the United 

 States nearly to its nesting grounds. "In 

 the spring of 1884 it appeared at Rodney, 

 Mississippi, April 13 ; advanced to lati- 

 tude 37 , May 2; latitude 39 , May 10; 

 latitude 43 °, May 16 ; and the most north- 

 ern record contributed was latitude 45 °, 

 May 23. This gives an average of twen- 

 ty-three miles a day for nearly a thou- 

 sand miles." 



Its nest is usually placed toward the 

 outer end of a branch from eight to fifty 

 feet above the ground and is constructed 

 with twigs, rootlets, strips of fibrous 

 bark, pine needles and moss. These 

 materials are loosely woven together to 

 form the wall and the nest is softly lined 

 with feathers, grass and horsehair. 



But few persons have the pleasure of 

 seeing this beautiful warbler excepting 

 during its migrations. The words of 

 Mr. Chapman seem very appropriate: 

 "The Blackburnian is uncommon enough 

 to make us appreciate his unusual 

 beauty. Coming in May, before the 

 woods are fully clad, he seems like some 

 bright-plumaged tropical bird who has 

 lost his way and wandered to northern 

 climes." 



