252 MOURNING WARBLER. 
Mockingbird and Cardinal were particularly noticeable, I had hardly noticed a little bird 
singing in close proximity to me. Anon it approached very closely and sang with all its 
power. Quite surprised by the audacity of the little songster, I now observed it closely 
and recognized it as a splendid male of the MourNING WARBLER. The bird preferred the 
lower limbs of the trees and occasionally fluttered down into the low bushes, from which 
it emerged with large smooth, green caterpillars, which interfered but little with its 
exceedingly charming singing. It was so fearless that I was able to observe it closely 
for neatly half an hour. Although the nearest relative to the ever restless, suspicious 
Maryland Yellow-throat, this bird is not as rapid in its movements and far less timid. 
It had doubtless been belated in its northward journey. When I visited the same lecality 
the next day I did not find the bird again. The little straggler had evidently taken 
flight, continuing its journey to its northern home. 
Although nowhere particularly abundant, the Mourning Warbler seems to be more 
common in the upper Mississippi valley than elsewhere. In the East it is a rare bird, 
being met with only during the migration. In the large white cedar and tamarack 
swamps of Wisconsin and Minnesota it finds a congeniat home. The very extensive 
Sheboygan marsh, near the beautiful Elkhart Lake, an uninterrupted swamp consisting 
of thousands of acres of tamarack and white cedar lands, is the only place in Wisconsin, 
where I found this gay and agreeable bird rather common. ‘It does not hug the shrub- 
bery so closely” as the Maryland Yellow-throat, but the male may be observed “‘in the 
tops of trees in the mixed woodland, where the undergrowth is convenient for hiding, 
singing a bright, hearty song.” 
According to Dr. Elliott Cowes, the Mourning Warbler is perhaps more abundant 
in the breeding season along the Red River, between Dakota and Minnesota than any- 
where else. There it frequents the dense shrubbery along the banks of the river, and is 
rather difficult to observe, the female especially.— The song of this bird is much superior 
to that of the Maryland Yellow-throat.. It consists of a very bright and cheerful strain 
and is very frequently uttered, usually from the tops of trees or high bushes. 
The nest I have never found. Mr. John Burroughs found this Warbler a not un- 
common bird in the Catskill Mountains. In regard to its nidification he writes as 
follows: ‘‘The nest was in the edge of an old bark-peeling, in a hemlock wood, and was 
placed in some ferns about one foot from the ground. The nest was quite massive, its 
outer portion being composed of small dry stalks and leaves. The cavity was very 
deep, and was lined with fine black roots. I have frequently observed this Warbler in 
that section. About the head of the Neversink and Esopus, in the north-west part of 
Ulster County, New York, they are the prevailing Warbler, and their song may be heard 
all day long. Their song suggests that of the Kentucky Ground Warbler, but is not so 
loud and fine.” The eggs are described as creamy-white, speckled all over with lilac 
and dark brown spots. Mr. Walter Faxon, in his paper “On the Summer Birds of 
Berkshire County, Massachusetts,” gives the following account of the ways and nesting 
habits of the Mourning Warbler: 
“Common. Noted at altitudes from 1000 to 3500 feet, one pair at least being 
established in the edge of the clearing on the summit of Graylock. Especially abundant 
where the forest has been cut on the south side of the ‘Bellows-pipe’ in Adams. Where- 
