166 OUR SOUTHERN BIRDS 



The nest is rather bulky for so small a 

 builder, hidden on the ground, made of leaves 

 and strips of bark, and lined with fine fibres and 

 horsehair ; there are four or five pretty speckled 

 eggs. 



Mr. James Lane Allen, whose understanding 

 of the wild creatures of his native State is 

 equaled by his knowledge of beautiful English, 

 has given the name of The Kentucky "Warbler 

 to one of his books. Of the bird itself he says : 



"For over a hundred years the Kentucky 

 Warbler has worn the name of the State and has 

 carried it all over the world — leading the stu- 

 dents of bird life to form some image of a far 

 country and to fix their thoughts at least for 

 some brief moment on this beautiful spot of the 

 earth's surface. As long as he remains in the 

 forests of the earth, he will keep the name of 

 Kentucky alive, though all else it once meant 

 shall have perished and been forgotten. He is 

 thus, as nearly as anything in nature can be, 

 its winged world-wide emblem, ever young as 

 each spring is young, as the green of the woods 

 is young. 



"Study the warbler while you may; how long 

 he will inhabit the Kentucky forest no one can 

 tell. As civilization advances upon the forest, 

 the wild species retreat; when the forest falls, 

 the wild species are gone — The distant time may 



