Cambridge, Mass.
1908.
Sept. 8
(No 2)
  As I was writing in my study this afternoon I heard
a Water Thrush chirping excitedly in the Jungle. I think
there was a cat hidden there among asters and
Eupatoriums for when I got to the spot the Water Thrush was
in a low tree behaving as if something had disturbed him and
was preventing him from returning to the densely-shaded, weed
covered ground beneath. Within a few yards of him in a bush
(Virburnum lentago) was another bird which I have been long
expecting to find in just this place but have never before noted
anywhere in our grounds, viz. a Connecticut Warbler. He, too,
seemed to be apprehensive of some hidden danger on or near the
ground for he was regarding it intently with head bent down
and was twisting and flitting his tail unevenly and incessantly
but for a time he made no sound. I could not see him
very well at first because of the density of the Viburnum foliage
but he soon flitted up into an apple tree and hopping out
into the sunlight, within less than twenty feet of where I stood,
gave me a splendid opportunity to study him long and carefully
through my glass. I now saw his broad buffy eye ring, his
yellowish throat, the brownish yellow of the breast and all the
other details of his plumage which was either that of a very
large, mildly colored female or a young male in fresh autumn
plumage - the latter, I think. When at length he took wing
and flew out of sight high among the trees he gave a single
loud, full chirp exactly like that of an autumnal Black-poll.
This call is not often uttered by a Connecticut Warbler
but I remember hearing it (and fully identifying birds that
uttered it) during the early '70's when Henshaw and I gave
so much attention to Connecticut Warblers in the old Maple swamp.
It is interesting that the species has at length occurred in our Jungle
for when I planted it I had especially in mind attracting them here if possible.
Connecticut Warbler seen in the Jungle in our Garden