414 THE NASHVILLE WARBLER. 



falls of cedar make my way exceedingly difficult, as I stum- 

 ble and nearly fall, striking the muzzle of my gun on the 

 fallen timber, a Nashville Warbler {Helminthophaga rufica- 

 pilld) flutters over a pile of rubbish with that peculiar 

 tremor of the wings which every oologist well understands. 

 Knowing that this is a ground-builder, I make diligent 

 search for the nest throughout many square feet around me, 

 but all in vain. Meanwhile the bird lingers in the thick 

 bushes in the immediate vicinity, uttering the soft, whistling 

 tsif, quite peculiar to itself. Fearing lest I may crush with 

 my foot the hidden treasure for which I am searching, I re- 

 tire a few rods and hide in the bushes, hoping to detect the 

 nest by means of the bird's return. Presently she ceases 

 her soft alarm-note, and, flitting coyly along, drops down 

 out of sight very near the place where I first saw her. 

 Slowly and softly I approach the site, but again she is on 

 the wing before I can detect her starting point, and again 

 I fail to find the nest. Once more I go back, and, hiding in the 

 bushes amidst a tormenting cloud of mosquitoes, await a 

 much more tardy return of the bird. But I see now, very 

 nearly, where she settles into the nest, and dropping gun 

 and all, and approaching with the utmost stealthiness, 

 I take into my eye the little tract of ground which must 

 contain the mystery, and clapping . my hands by way of 

 alarm, I discover this time exactly where the bird flies out. 

 Parting the dried grasses .which trail thickly along by the 

 roots of a little bush, I find the nest — a frail, shallow, little 

 affair, of fine dried grasses, lined with bright-red stems or 

 pedicels of moss-capsules, and a black vegetable production, 

 looking as if plucked from a man's beard— perhaps old 

 moss-pedicels blackened from the weather; evidently no an- 

 imal product, from the manner in which it burns when held 

 in a flame. This slight structure is tucked away in a thick 



