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THE HEMLOCK WARBLER. 



Sylvicola partis, Wils. 

 PLATE LXXXIIL— Male and Female. 



It is to the persevering industry of Wilson that we are indebted for the 

 discovery of this bird. He has briefly described the male, of which he had 

 obtained but a single specimen. Never having met Avith it until I visited 

 the Great Pine Forest, where that ardent ornithologist found it, I followed 

 his track in my rambles there, and had not spent a week among the gigantic 

 hemlocks which ornament that interesting part of our country, before I pro- 

 cured upwards of twenty specimens. I had therefore a fair opportunity of 

 observing its habits, which I shall now attempt to describe. 



The tallest of the hemlock pines are the favourite haunts of this species. 

 It appears first among the highest branches early in May, breeds there, and 

 departs in the beginning of September. Like the Blue Yellow-back War- 

 bler, its station is ever amidst the thickest foliage of the trees, and with as 

 much agility as its diminutive relative, it seeks its food by ascending from 

 one branch to another, examining most carefully the under parts of each leaf 

 as it proceeds. Every insect that escapes is followed on wing, and quickly 

 secured. It now and then, as if for variety or sport, makes a downward 

 flight, alights on a smaller tree, surveys it for awhile, and again ascends to a 

 higher station. During the early part of autumn it frequents, with its young, 

 the margins of rivulets, where insects are then more abundant. 



Its notes are sweet and mellow, and although not numerous, are easily dis- 

 tinguished from those of any other Warbler. Like a true Sylvia, it is often 

 seen hanging at the end of a branch, searching for insects. It never alights 

 on the trunk of a tree, and in this particular differs from every other species 

 of its genus. Its food is altogether of insects. 



To the inimitable skill of the worthy Jediah Irish in the use of the rifle, 

 I am indebted for the possession of a nest of this bird. On discovering one 

 of the birds, we together watched it for hours, and at last had the good for- 

 tune to see itself and its mate repeatedly enter a thick cluster of leaves, where 

 we concluded their nest must be placed. The huntsman's gun was silently 

 raised to his shoulder, the explosion followed in course, and as I saw the twig 

 whirling downwards, I experienced all the enthusiastic anxiety ever present 

 with me on such occasions. Picking up the branch, I found in it a nest, 



