PINE WARBLER. 
Dendroica vigorsii STEJNEGER. 
ZISSHE Prinz WarsBLER is a common bird of the coniferous woods of the Eastern 
‘ee States, west to the Plains and north to Manitoba, Ontario, and New Brunswick, 
wintering in the Southern and Gulf States and in the Bahamas. It seems to be especi- 
ally abundant in the pine barrens of the South Atlantic and Middle States. Although 
devoid of bold, romantic scenery, these pine woods are exceedingly attractive to the 
friend of birds and flowers. Here the holly, the fragrant swamp magnolia and pepper 
bush, the delicate andromeda and the gorgeous kaimia or mountain laurel, the charm- 
ing sand myrtle and the flowering dogwood find a most congenial home. The fringe 
trees in full bloom look at a little distance like snowbanks. The pyxie', the trailing 
arbutus, the partridge berry*, and the wintergreen* cover the ground in charming 
masses underneath the pines. In low places the stat:ly helonias* is throwing up its 
spikes of purplish flowers by the side of the golden club’. I cannot refrain from quoting 
here a passage from a charmingly written article ‘April in the Pine Barrens” by Mrs. 
Mary Treat. She writes: ‘‘The aroma of these low woodlands in spring is delicious. 
The fragrance of the swaying pines overhead, intermingled with the spicy breath of the 
wax myrtle and sweet fern, already waving its plumy catki1s, together with odors of 
sassafras and the more subtle fragrance of other shrubs, all combine to make a perfume 
that can only be produced in nature’s laboratory. The deciduous trees are still leafless, 
and comparatively few of our plants are in bloom—April 20—, yet there is an atmos- 
phere of delicate color all about—on every twig aud swelling bud, and on the lowly 
growth that carpets the earth. The barrens will be almost vivid with bright flowers 
by and by, but the place will be hardly more attractive than at this spring opening 
with its freshness, its modest beauty, and its promise.” 
The Pine Warbler arrives here by the middle of April, when the woods begin to 
put on their spring garment and when the flowers of the far-famed trailing arbutus 
perfume the air. Many individuals return even much earlier, leading the van of the 
Warbler hosts in spring. I have observed several as early as April 20 in Wisconsin and 
northern Illinois. In the pine woods near Houston, Texas, they winter in great num- 
bers. During very cold weather they visit, in company of Myrtle Birds and Palm 
Warblers, the rose-embowered city gardens, where they hunt for food in the pittos- 
porum, loquat and tea olive bushes, and among the magnolias and live oaks. They 
even visit the rubbish piles of the door yards to look for food and search the corners 
of the windows for hidden inseéts.—The Pine Warbler is a robust and plain bird, “for 
a member of the Warbler family, with little of the delicacy and ornament for which most 
of its relatives are so justly famed.” ; 
Their habits do not differ very much from those of other Wood Warblers. During 
winter they search the tops of tall trees as well as the low shrubbery, but in spring: 
and summer they look for food among the higher branches of coniferous _trees, rarely 
1 Pyxidanthera barbulata. 2 Mitchella repens. % Gaultheria procumbens. 4 Helonias bullata. 6 Orontium aquaticum 
