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THE PINE CREEPING WOOD- WARBLER. 



- Sylvicola pinits, Lath. 

 PLATE LXXXII.— Male and Female. 



The Pine Creeping Wood-Warbler, the most abundant of its tribe, is met 

 with from Louisiana to Maine, more profusely in the warmer, and more 

 sparingly in the colder regions, breeding wherever fir or pine trees are to be 

 found. Although it may occasionally be seen on other trees, yet it always 

 prefers those of that remarkable and interesting tribe. I found it on the 

 sandy barrens bordering St. John's River, in East Florida, in full song, early 

 in February. I am pretty certain that they had already formed nests at that 

 early period, and it seems to me not unlikely that this species, as well as 

 some others that breed in that country at the same time, may afterwards 

 travel far to the eastward, and there rear another brood the same year. 



In some degree allied to the Certhise in its habits, it is often seen ascend- 

 ing the trunks and larger branches of trees, hopping against the bark, in 

 search of the larvae that lurk there. At times it moves sidewise along a 

 branch three or four steps, and turning about, goes on in the same manner, 

 until it has reached a twig, which it immediately examines. Its restless ac- 

 tivity is quite surprising: now it gives chase to an insect on wing; now, it is 

 observed spying out those more diminutive species concealed among the 

 blossoms and leaves of the pines; again, it leaves the topmost branches of a 

 tree, flies downwards, and alights sidewise on the trunk of another, which it 

 ascends, changing its position, from right to left, at every remove. It also 

 visits the ground in quest of food, and occasionally betakes itself to the wa- 

 ter, to drink or bathe. 



It is seldom that an individual is seen by itself going through its course of 

 action, for a kind of sympathy seems to exist in a flock, and in autumn and 

 winter especially, thirty or more may be observed, if not on the same tree, 

 at least not far from each other. Although it feeds on insects, larvse, and 

 occasionally small crickets, it seems to give a decided preference to a little 

 red insect of the coleopterous order, which is found inclosed in the leaves or 

 stipules of the pine. Low lands seem to suit it best, for it is much less nu- 

 merous in mountainous countries than in those bordering the sea. 



Like many other birds, the Pine Creeping Warbler constructs its nest of 

 different materials, nay even makes it of a different form, in the Southern 



Vol. II. 6 



