THE WARBLERS AND THE VIREOS. 113 



flesh-tinted feet just stirring the layer of withered leaves with 

 which a past season carpeted the ground." 



The Black and White Creeping Warbler, sometimes called 

 the black and white creeper, is abundant in most wooded 

 portions of eastern America, extending westward to Dakota 

 and Nebraska. It resembles the creepers and nuthatches in . 

 its manner of taking food, searching every cranny and crevice 

 of the bark of trees for the insects sheltered there, occasion- 

 ally chasing for short distances moths or other creatures 

 frightened from their hiding-places ; and sometimes scruti- 

 nizing the foliage, like other warblers. The nest is placed on 

 or near the ground, very often on a rocky ledge. Four or 

 five young are reared. The insects eaten by the bird belong 

 mostly to species of small size. 



Seventeen Wisconsin specimens had eaten five ants, twenty 

 small measuring worms and one other caterpillar, four moths, 

 five two-winged flies, one curculio and fifteen other beetles, 

 seven bugs, a caddis-fly, and a small snail, besides more than 

 a hundred insects' eggs. One Nebraska bird had swallowed 

 forty-one locusts and twelve other insects, together with a 

 few seeds. 



The Blue Yellow-backed Warbler is a beautiful little bird 

 which spends much of its feeding time among the topmost 

 twigs of the tallest trees. It is common in eastern America 

 and is found as far west as the Rocky Mountains. In New 

 England it has been observed feeding on May-flies, measuring 

 worms, and spiders ; in Wisconsin six small insects were 

 taken from a single stomach, and in Nebraska it has frequently 

 been seen picking up locusts and other insects. A picture of 

 it is shown in the frontispiece of this book. 



The Nashville Warbler is found, occasionally at least, 

 throughout almost the whole of North America, specimens 

 of it having been taken as far north as Greenland, as far west 

 as Utah, Nevada, and California, and as far south as Mexico. 

 Its chief distribution, however, is in the region east of the 



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