FEATHERED GEMS 



season. The Hooded and Kentucky Warblers are 

 rather common in parts of the Middle States, and there 

 are several rare or accidental species which one might 

 possibly meet, such as the Prothonotary, Brewster's 

 (probably a hybrid), Caerulean and Yellow -throated 

 Warblers. 



This makes about thirty-five species of this remark- 

 able family which we may meet in the Eastern and 

 Middle States. About twice that number are known 

 to occur in the entire United States, and there are some 

 thirty more tropical species, making about one hundred 

 known species of Wood Warblers, a group which is 

 peculiar to the Western Hemisphere. Thus the group 

 is second with us in number of species to the puzzling 

 finch family, and it has almost as many puzzles for 

 the beginner in bird-study. The task is easiest in 

 spring, when all of them are in their bright and distinc- 

 tive nuptial dress. But by autumn they have become 

 more or less dull-colored and nondescript, especially 

 the young, some of which latter can hardly be identified 

 without shooting — such as young Black-polls and young 

 Bay-breasts. 



Most of the warblers are slender, active little birds, 

 living mostly in dry or swampy woodland, where from 

 the foliage they glean their living of insects, grubs and 

 larvae. They cannot endure much cold, so most of 

 them migrate in autumn to the tropics. A few kinds 

 winter in our Southern States, but only one, the Myrtle 

 Warbler, recognizable by its yellow rump-patch, ever 



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