250 BIRDS — STLVICOLID^. 



ing their migrations, but as is the case with other warblers breeding with 

 us, appear in pairs and small companies of six or eight. They are some- 

 times found in orchards, but usually in high mixed woods. Mr. Brews- 

 ter, who observed these birds in West Virginia from May 5-9, 1875, gives 

 the following account* : " They inhabit exclusively the tops of the 

 highest forest trees, in this respect showing an affinity with D. blaclchurnias. 

 In actions they most resemble D. pennsylvanica, carrying the tail rather 

 high and having the same " smart bantam-like appearance." Were it 

 not for these prominent characteristics, they would be very difficult to 

 distinguish in the tree tops, from Parula americana, the gongs are so pre- 

 cisely alike. That of the latter bird has, however, at least two regular 

 variations ; in one, beginning low down, he rolls his guttural little trill 

 quickly and evenly up the scale, ending apparently, only when he 

 can get no higher; in the other, the commencement of this trill 

 is broken or divided into syllables, like, zee, zee, zee, ze-ee-eep. The latter 

 variation is the one used by D. roeruha, and I could detect little or no dif- 

 ference in the songsof a dozen of individuals. At best it is a modest little 

 strain, and far from deserving the encomium bestowed upon it by 

 Audubon, who describes it as being "extremely sweet and mellow;" 

 decidedly it is neither of them, and he must have confounded with it 

 some other species. In addition to the song, they utter the almost uni- 

 versal Dendroicine lisp, and, also, the characteristic tphep of D. coronata, 

 which I had previously supposed entirely peculiar to that bird." There 

 is little to add to this accurate discription of the habits of this bird, ex- 

 cept to suggest, that had Mr. Brewster observed it a few days later, he 

 would have discovered such a change in its song as to merit the descrip- 

 tion, "extremely sweet and mellow," of Audubon. At the height of the 

 breeding season the song looses much of its aspirate, and gains in vocal 

 character. I have been accustomed to represent it by the syllables 

 oie, oie, oie, oie, oie, chit, chit, chit, tu-wee, the first part being much like a 

 low whistling call to a dog, monotonous and rolling but very mellow and 

 sweet, that following, quickly and sharply uttered, with a lower note and 

 rising inflection at the end. Sometimes only the first part is given, and 

 often the last half is repeated. 



The Blue Warbler breeds in retired woods in all parts of the State where 

 I have had an opportunity of observing them. I have found the young 

 fledged the latter part of June. Dr. Kirtland states that it breeds in the 

 vicinity of Cleveland. I have never found the nest, but long before any 



*Some Observations on the Birds of Ritchie County, West Virginia, by William Brews- 

 ter, Ann. Lye. Nat. Hist., N. Y., xi, 1875, 135. 



