210 MAGNOLIA WARBLER. 
the White Mountains of New Hampshire they are everywhere common during the 
summer, but it is not until we reach the latitude of the Umbagog lakes, in western 
Maine, that we find them evenly distributed over high and low country alike. In this 
region summer succeeds winter so quickly that there is almost no spring. Thus when I 
reached Upton on the 25th of May, 1876, I found that the lakes had broken up but 
four days previously; not a leaf had unfolded, even in the most sheltered places, and 
snow lay in large masses everywhere in the hollows and on northern exposures. Yet 
many species of Warblers had already arrived, and among them the subject of the 
present sketch was well represented. They kept closely about the buildings, and although 
the day was warm, maintained an almost perfect silence. Dozens at a time were hop- 
ping about the manure heap behind the stables and around the sink-spout, while all 
showed a certain apprehensiveness of manner, as if they feared the issue of their temer- 
ity in penetrating into so bleak and dreary a region. Taking a short walk into the 
woods, I found them untenanted, save by a few Titmice, Woodpeckers, and some of the 
earlier Sparrows. But in the course of the next week wonderful changes took place. 
The birches first, afterwards the maples, beech trees, and poplars, put on a feathery 
drapery of the most delicate green. The shad-bush! and the moosewood? became white 
with blossoms, and looked at a distance like fleecy summer clouds entangled among the 
trees. Underfoot, beautiful trilliums of both the purple* and white‘ species, were con- 
spicuous among a host of other wild flowers. Bees hummed among the blossoms, and 
butterflies flitted airily through the forest glades. Everything was fresh, lovely, and 
suggestive of the calm, changes that, farther south, are often extended through nearly 
thrice the time. All this while the birds had kept ample pace with the advance of the 
season. Hundreds were daily arriving, passing on, or settling into their accustomed 
summer haunts, and the woods fairly rang with the first burst’ of their melody. During 
the next week all the Warblers, and most of the smaller birds generally were occupied 
in pairing and constructing their nests. Then came the harvest time for the odlogist, 
and rarities were in order. But how brief it all was! A dozen or so days only, and 
‘the young were hatched out: the woods swarmed with mosquitoes, black flies, and 
other blood-thirsty insects, and ‘the season’ was at an end. Nothing remained but to 
pack up the accumulated treasures, and get them safely home for future comparison 
and investigation. Before taking out our cabinet specimens, however, and diving into 
the dry details of description, let us return to the woods, and contemplate for a few 
moments the undisturbed nest. We shall be most likely to find one along this old wood 
road, for the removal of the taller trees has let in the sunlight a little, and birds love 
such places. You will rarely find the interior of a forest so well peopled as the edges 
and little openings, and the birds are not singular in this respect. Men always choose 
the shores of rivers, ponds, or the sea, for their first settlements in a new country, I 
fancy it is not entirely from considerations of utility, but partly because they crave an 
adjacent breathing space, where the sun and wind may have fair sweep. There are 
some exceptions to the rule‘among the birds, of course, there being some morbidly dis- 
posed individuals that can find no place too dark or too secluded. As we follow the 
old wood path, you shall take one side when I make good the other. These little 
1 Amelanchier Canadensis, 2 Cornus circinata. 3 Trillium erectum, 4 T. grandifiorum, 
