200 USEFUL BIRDS. 
and places them on a branch in plain sight of the observer, 
in order to deceive him, and draw his attention away from 
the nest. He states that he has known of more than one 
occurrence of this kind. His observations seem to be cor- 
roborated by the actions of a bird that was nesting in our pine 
grove. When watched, it began carrying nesting material 
into an old tin can that was suspended ina large pine tree ; 
but when the attention of the observer was attracted else- 
where, it went no farther with its nest in the can. While 
the birds are building, the male brings some nesting mate- 
rial, but the female does the work of construction. The 
food of this Warbler, like that of others of the family, con- 
sists of caterpillars and other larve of many kinds, beetles, 
small bugs, and flies. Professor Aughey says that the stom- 
achs of five specimens taken in Nebraska contained two hun- 
dred and twenty insects, —an average of forty-four to each 
bird; a large number of these insects were young locusts. 
Pine Warbler. Pine-creeping Warbler. 
Dendroica vigorsit. 
Length. — Five and one-half to six inches. 
Adult Male.— Above, olive; wings and tail dusky ; two white wing bars; throat, 
breast, and line over eye bright yellow, somewhat clouded or streaked on 
sides with a darker shade. , 
Adult Female.—Duller; often with little or no yellow below; large white spots 
on two outer tail feathers of both sexes. 
Nest. — In much the same situation as that of the Black-throated Green Warbler, 
but oftener in pitch pines; it is sometimes saddled on a horizontal limb, 
and is then flat and rather slovenly in build; usually lined with feathers. 
Eggs.— White with brown markings, chiefly at larger end. 
Season. — April to October. 
The Pine Warbler has a marked preference for pine woods 
and groves; but, unlike the Black-throated Green Warbler, 
it seems to prefer the pitch pines, and is one of the few birds 
that habitually live and breed in the woods of this charac- 
ter that exist on dry and sandy lands, like those of Cape 
Cod. It has been called the Pine-creeping Warbler, from 
its habit of creeping along the branches, and occasionally 
up and around the trunks of pines. For a Warbler it 
seems a rather slow and indolent bird; still, at times it is 
remarkably active. Its alarm note is a sharp chirp; its 
other notes are few and weak. ‘The song is one of the most 
