The Wilson Warblers 



you never wished that you were tiny — oh, teeny — with beady black eyes, 

 that you might explore the mysteries of a moss forest? that elderberries 

 might look to you like great blue pippins? and madrone berries like lus- 

 cious fiery pumpkins? that you might pluck a thousand sapid meats at 

 first hand where now you know only a few "staples," disguised by the 

 meretricious arts of cookery? That you might — Ah, here I have you! — 

 that you might pantingly pursue a golden maiden down dim forest aisles, 

 over plunging billows of spiraea blossoms, past corridors of giant sword- 

 fern, into — Oh, where is that maddening creature? She's given me the 

 slip again ! Never mind ; I'll pause and sing: oooooe e e e e 6 e e ooooo. 



Truth to tell, the song just recorded is one of the rarest, — a perfectly 

 modulated swell of sharp staccato notes of little resonance, but greater 

 power and intensity. The ordinary song is a series of monosyllables, 

 uttered with increasing emphasis, chip chip chip chip CHIP CHIP. The 

 singer is very much in earnest, and compels attention in spite of his utter 

 lack of musical ability. Late in August, the 26th it was, I provoked a 

 Black-cap by screeping, until he sang merely to relieve his feelings, chip 

 chip CHIP chip chip chip chip, the precise type of the Pileolated Warbler, 

 W. p. pileolata proper. The only other variant in my collection is tsew 



Taken in Mono County 



516 



NEST AND EGGS OF GOLDEN WARBLER 



Pholo by the Author 



