Take a lump of molten gold fashioned like a bird, impress upon it a hood 

 of steel, oxidized, as black as jet, overlay this in turn with a half-mask of the 

 gold, tool out each shining scale and shaft and filament with exquisite care, and 

 you may have the equal of one of those ten thousand-dollar vases of encrusted 

 steel and gold, which the Spanish are so clever at making, an heirloom to be 

 handed down from father to son. But let Nature breathe upon it ; let the Author 

 of Life give it motion and song: and you will have a Hooded Warbler, not less 

 beautiful that you cannot handle it, but infinitely more so in that its beauty takes 

 a thousand forms, a fresh one for every turn of fancy that may stir an avian 

 breast. 



The further charm of comparative rarity is added to this exquisite creation, 

 so that not a few of us count upon our fingers the occasions upon which we 

 have been granted a sight of it. To me the bird first came as a voice, a sweet 

 and pure, but altogether puzzling sound, tossed down from a tree-top on a foggy 

 morning, an hour before dawn. The bird was at an unheard-of distance from 

 his chosen range, so when the sun dissolved the mist and disclosed the singer, 

 sitting quietly, and piping in accents unconstrained, it seemed to us as though we 

 had caught a fairy overstaying his time limit. 



The Hooded Warbler shows a decided preference for damp woods, where 

 there is plenty of undergrowth. Beech woods are favorite places if the other 

 conditions are suitable. Here the birds spend their time fly-catching along the 

 middle levels, or descend to search the brush. The tail is sometimes carried 

 half-open after Redstart's well-known fashion : but otherwise the birds are 

 much less fussy than their salmon-spotted neighbors. 



Like most ^^'arblers the Hooded has a cliip note of alarm which is distinctive 

 to practiced ears, while the male has a song which is quite marked, tsue-e, tsu-e. 

 tsu-c, tsii-z^'ce-tsii. The notes are ringing and musical, but the last two contain 

 a sort of vocal somersault, as though the bird were attacked by a sudden inclina- 

 tion to sneeze. These last notes, therefore, closely resemble the dainty cachination 

 of the Acadian Flycatcher, and would undoubtedly be mistaken for those of the 

 latter bird if heard alone. This is the common song, but some, probably many, 

 variant forms occur. One bird, which haunted the beech-woods shown in the 

 first illustration, rendered the typical song, but had also a fashion of bringing in 

 the sneeze early, and finishing strong in spite of the interruption. 



The nests in the illustration speak for themselves, and it is only necessary 

 to add that they were placed, the one in an oak and the other in an alder sapling, 

 at a height of about two feet from the ground. In feeding the young in the 

 Sugar Grove nest the parents would invariably appear upon a certain bare twig 

 some fifty feet above ; here, if observed, the bird would chirp apprehensively for 

 a minute or two, and then without further precaution launch straight for the nest. 



The Hooded Warbler is possibly on the increase. I have seen it twice at 

 Columbus and twice at Oberlin within three years, but have not suspected it of 

 nesting at either place. ^Ir. Robert J. Sim reports it as a regular breeder in 

 Ashtabula county, while Rev. W. F. Henninger reports it as rare in Scioto county 

 in summer. 



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