FRIENDS OF OUR FORESTS 75 
the number of these is small and their 
withdrawal for only a comparatively 
short time, while the majority at all times 
of the year favor the edges of the forest, 
open woods, or brushy clearings. 
Their preference for such situations 
brings many within the bounds of civil- 
ization and renders it comparatively easy 
for any one so inclined to make their ac- 
quaintance. As during migration they 
assemble in flocks, they are, on the whole, 
pretty well known; and since, as a rule, 
they are not shy, they have long been 
favorite objects of observation and study. 
WARBLERS AS SONGSTERS 
Despite their name, which would seem 
to imply musical ability of no mean order, 
our wood warblers, with few exceptions, 
occupy no very high place in the musical 
galaxy. All sing, however, after a fash- 
ion, and the musical efforts of some are 
pleasing, even according to human stand- 
ards. While most warblers are prodigal 
enough with their music and sing early 
and often, especially prior to and during 
the nesting season, their music is fre- 
quently so faint as to be audible only to 
the trained ear of the bird lover. 
As if aware of their musical inferior- 
ity, few display much enthusiasm in their 
vocal efforts, but sing while they work, 
or while pausing for a brief moment as 
they move among the foliage hunting for 
food. With them, singing appears to be 
an audible expression of general content 
and well being, and, no doubt, an effort 
to please and attract their mates. 
Certain members of the thrush and 
~.. thrasher families, on the contrary, which 
“contain in their ranks the prima donnas 
of our bird world, as if conscious of their 
supremacy, are wont to mount a com- 
manding perch when about to sing, and to 
pour out their melody for all the world 
to hear. With them, singing is not merely 
incidental to the day’s work. It is a con- 
scious and supreme effort, and is much 
too important to be slighted or shared 
with any other function. Apparently 
they appreciate to a great extent and en- 
joy their own outpourings, and, if we 
may interpret their feelings by human 
standards, are conscious that their musi- 
cal offerings entitle them to an audience. 
Not only do their bright colors suggest 
a tropical origin of our warblers, but 
their whole make-up is in keeping with 
tropical surroundings. Warblers are 
thinly feathered and delicately organized 
and most of them incapable of withstand- 
ing any great degree of cold. They are 
also almost exclusively insect eaters, only 
a few of the family being at all vege- 
tarian, and these only to a comparatively 
small extent. 
Hence, with them, migration is not a 
matter of choice, but is imperative. They 
come to us on a particular errand for a 
few short months, and when family cares 
are at an end, back they hie to the tropics, 
the lands of warmth and sunshine, which 
lend them to us for a brief season. Thus 
the true home of our warblers is not 
where they nest, but where they spend 
three-fourths of their lives—not the 
north, but the south—not in the temper- 
ate, but in the tropical zones. 
THE SPECTACULAR MIGRATION OF 
WARBLERS 
That wonderful phenomenon, bird mi- 
gration, is illustrated by few birds so 
clearly and convincingly as by our wood 
warblers. Assuredly no other birds— 
unless it be the geese—migrate in such a 
spectacular manner. The stroller, in late 
August or September, finds himself in the 
woods, the silence being broken only by 
the drumming of a distant partridge, the 
chirping of insects, or other familiar 
sounds which only emphasize the general 
quiet that prevails (see pages 180-195). 
Presto! The scene changes! The woods, 
apparently almost tenantless but a mo- 
ment before, are now filled with life of 
the most animated and intense kind. 
Every shrub, every tree, has its feathered 
occupant. Our observer recognizes per- 
haps a dozen or twenty species, represent- 
ing several distinct families; but promi- 
nent among them, by reason of numbers, 
variegated plumage, graceful forms, and 
active motions, are the wood warblers. 
Every individual is alert and busy, 
gliding from one twig to another near by, 
or flying from one tree to the next, while 
from all sides come the soft calls and 
notes of individual members of the flock, 
whose friendly converse has the effect, if 
