YELLOW OR ORANGE CONSPICUOUS 539 



and white flits through the clearings in the Sierra Nevada 

 and you are conscious that an Audubon Warbler has 

 flown by. He has all the tricks and manners of a fly- 

 catcher, darting out after insects or dodging about among, 

 the tree tops, always in a hurry, always in a mad chase 

 for something to eat. 

 Unless you go to his 

 summer haunts in the 

 Sierra Nevada you will 

 not see him at his best, 

 for the " winter visitant " 

 of the valleys wears a 

 more sober plumage of 

 dull brown streaked with 

 black and only a little 

 yellow visible. In his 

 breeding grounds among 

 the pines and spruces of 

 the mountains he is a 

 brilliant, happy-go-lucky 

 little chap, not at all shy, 

 but is so absorbed in his 

 own busy life as to care 

 little who watches him. 

 The four nests I have 

 found were all near Tallac on Lake Tahoe, and were all in 

 young spruce trees, within five feet of the ground, along 

 a frequented path. On June 15 one contained young 

 a week old, and three held eggs in various stages of in- 

 cubation. The pair whose young had hatched so early 



656. Audubon Wakblbe. 



"Always in a mad chase /or something 

 to eat.'^ 



