SONG BIRDS OF ORCHARD AND WOODLAND. 193 
to tall trees; but, unlike the other species of Warblers 
hereinbefore considered, it does not commonly go to the 
ground for much of its food. During the breeding season 
it is largelv a bird of the shrubbery on the borders of wood- 
land, and, like the Yellow-throat, is common along bushy 
roadsides. There in warm 
weather it is often seen, with 
its tail elevated and its wings 
drooping, flitting occasionally 
from bush to bush, or catch- 
ing insects in air, after the 
manner of the Myrtle Warbler. 
Its common note is a sharp 
chirp, much like that of other 
Warblers ; but its spring song Fig. 64.—Chestnut.sided Warbler, 
is loud, varied, and distinct, natural sles 
resembling most that of the Yellow Warbler. Its usual 
summer song is a soft, prolonged, rather weak but pleasing 
warble. The nest building of this Warbler is an interesting 
part of its life history. Its nest, though often built in locali- 
ties frequented by the Yellow Warbler, is little like that of 
the latter except in shape. It is situated usually in a much 
lower shrub than is that of the Yellow Warbler, and is built 
more strongly and with more painstaking care. Mr. Mosher 
notes on May 17, 1899, that a pair of these birds had just 
completed a nest. They had been at work upon it for five 
days. The female first laid the foundation at the forking of 
three branches of an arrow-wood bush, about two and one- 
half feet from the ground. She laid a few straws and fibers 
of plants, then bound them to the three branches by means 
of tent caterpillars’ web. Then she brought a few straws 
at a time and placed them around the sides, shaping them 
by turning round and round. She bound them very firmly 
in place with the web, and thus fastened them to the three 
branches. When the sides were all finished she put in the 
lining. This consisted of fine grasses and soft fibers. The 
nest when completed was much less bulky than the Yellow 
Warbler’s, but much firmer; the walls were not more than 
one-fourth as thick. 
