WOOD NOTES AND NEST HUNTING. 1 25 



tiful males being continually preferred by the 

 females," this warbler, since it started out thou- 

 sands of generations ago a strong and improved 

 species, has acquired a singular taste, for none of 

 the birds in our woods are colored nearly like him. 

 With one or two exceptions, the sexes in this 

 genus (JDendraeca) are dressed much alike. The 

 males, however, are done up in brighter colors ; 

 as if Nature had given them the insignia of higher 

 rank. 



How far back in its history did those chestnut 

 streaks begin to appear ? It would be interesting 

 to know who among the oldest naturalists first 

 noted this bird, and to compare his account with 

 that of Baird, who is the authority to-day for its 

 scientific name. Linnaeus was the original de- 

 scriber, as far as we read in the ornithological 

 books. He gave him the generic name (^Motacilla) 

 — wagtail. Although this warbler does not, I be- 

 lieve, have the habit of wagging its tail, it moves 

 it up and down, keeping it erect much of the time, 

 similar to the wrens ; and so this " smart, bantam- 

 like appearance," as Burroughs says, must have 

 struck the great classifier. 



It is in this damp, swampy woods that I hear 

 the half-querulous, half-beseeching chirp of the 



