Birds of Lewiston-Auburn 27 



FAMILY WARBLERS 



(PROPERLY WOOD-WARBLERS) 



20. (687) AMERICAN REDSTART 



A very common summer resident. May 9 is the 

 earliest I have seen this species and it remains into Sep- 

 tember. I heard one sing September 4 and saw a few 

 September 14. Blanchan's interpretation of the song is 

 "Zee-see-seet!" Sometimes I have heard a warble song. 



21 . (686) CANADIAN WARBLER 



A fairly common migrant; occasionally nests in this 

 neighborhood. Arrives the middle of May (May 19 the 

 earliest date I have recorded) and may be found for two 

 weeks. If the season is backward I have seen this war- 

 bler migrating the first week in June. Its autumnal flight 

 is early — the last of August or first of September. One 

 of my most interesting experiences with the songs of 

 birds was during an afternoon in May. As we walked 

 along a country road, we heard a most beautiful song in 

 a brush heap. I went through tangle and underbrush to 

 reach the spot but found no bird. Silently it had stolen 

 away. But I must know what bird could sing like that, 

 and a few days later a party of us went to the bird re- 

 treat. We had scarcely reached the place when that jubi- 

 lant outburst of sylvan melody greeted our ears, so 

 like a canary but more beautiful and as Chapman 

 says, sweet, loud and spirited. One member of the 

 party crawled cautiously down over old tree trunks, 

 undergrowth and damp places. Soon I caught a glimpse 

 in a nearby tree of the necklace of a Canadian warbler 

 singing the song familiar to me. This gave a suggestion 

 and I passed the word along. Soon the reply came back, 

 "Yes, it's the Canadian for I saw the gray back as the bird 



