220 BIRDS — SYLVIIDJE. 



minute winged insect, their minature imitation of the Catbird's well- 

 known note, and above all their sweetly modulated and well prolonged 

 song, so rarely heard, combine to form a moit delightful picture of 

 bird life. In the breeding season each pair seems to confine itself to the 

 immediate vicinity of the nest, and resent the appearance of another of 

 their species with all the outcry and momentum so small a body is capable 

 of. For their summer home they chose the side of a ravine, or a glen or 

 glade in mixed woodland. The nest is placed on the horizontal branch 

 of a tree usually about thirty feet from the ground, often at the base of 

 an upright twig which supports it, and frequently overhanging a stream 

 at the bottom of a ravine. It is only a slight exaggeration of that of the 

 Hummingbird, constructed of vegetable down in which are placed a few 

 small feathers, and neatly covered with lichen. The eggs are four in num- 

 ber, measuring but .56 by .44, rather thickly spotted with lilac and sever- 

 al shades of brown. The nest would oftener escape detection from its re- 

 semblance to a moss-covered knot, but for the incessant scolding notes 

 with which the birds resent even an innocent intrusion. 



The bay breasted warbler {Sylvia castanea), is still more common with us in the spring, 

 and in some seasons protracts its visit for two or three weeks. Its favorite resort is the 

 tops of the highest beech trees, at the time the buds are bursting into leaves. 



The willet (Totanus semipalmatus), Mr. Anrtnbou says, " are very seldom met with far 

 inland," and " I have very little doubt chat those seen by Mr. Say on the banks oi the 

 Missouri, had aecidentally visited that country." 



This bird is a common visitor to the shores of Lake Erie, both in the spring and 

 autumn. On the 3d of July, 1838, I shot an old specimen from a flock of more than 

 twenty individuals, that were in the habit of visiting the marsh in Ohio City, at the 

 month of the Cuyahoga, for a number of days in, succession. 



The young birds appeared here on the first of July of the present year, and consider- 

 able numbers have been shot by the sportsmen. 



A few years since, they remained here during the whole of the summer, and probably 

 reared their young in the neighborhood. They are very abundant about some of the 

 upper lakes. 



The marbled goodwit {Limosa fedoa) occasionally visits the shores of Lake Erie and 

 the Ohio river. The Hon. Mr. Granger has furnished me with a beautiful pair, killed 

 near his residence at Fairpnrt. Several young specimens were shot in this vicinity about 

 the first of August of the present season. They were associating -with a flock of long- 

 billed curlews (Numenius longirostris). 



The Hudson curlew {Numtnius hudsonicus) has been taken in a few instances in Ohio. 

 I have a specimen in my cabinet that alighted in the garden of Mr. A. Hayden, of this 

 city, and was shot by him three years since. Another was taken in the vicinity of Cin- 

 cinnati. 



The piping plover {Charadrius melodne) I have seen in two instances on the shore of 

 Lake Erie, and have specimens in my cabinet both in their winter and summer plumage. 



Mr. Audubon informs his readers that they never proceed any distance inland, even 

 along the sandy margins of our largest rivers." 

 Cleveland, Ohio, June 4, 1840. 



