WOOD WARBLERS. 



53 



in the eastern United States, but winters in Central 

 America, as well as Cuba and Jamaica and the Bahamas. 

 Spiders are said to form a great part of its food. If this 

 is true, it ought not to starve on Swan Island, for the 

 woods simply swarm with them. 



Then come a whole host of pretty little insect-eating 

 warblers which belong to the genus Dendroicay a genus 

 which has spread itself all over the West Indies, the 

 whole of Middle and North America, and some parts of 

 South America. All these birds are merely passing the 

 winter here. They have come from various parts of 

 Northern America, arriving about September, and going 

 back to breed in their native haunts as soon as April 

 arrives, bringing its abundance of insect life among the 

 newly bursting foliage up north. 



There, for instance, is the little parula warbler (P. 

 americana) flitting about among the thin leafy stems of 

 herbaceous shrubs — a fairy garbed in a spangled dress 

 of blue, yellow, orange, black, and white. There, again, 

 is a yellow-throat warbler (D. dominica) with a streaky 

 dress of black and white made resplendent with a striking 

 gorget of deep lemon-yellow. Further on you come 

 across a black-throated blue-warbler (Z>. ccerulescens), 

 whose name bespeaks its livery. 



Now you stumble on a bird creeping almost like a 

 mouse, and almost as near the ground, among a tangled 

 mass of low bushes covered with convolvulus. Ornitho- 

 logists know it as Geothlypis trichas, but we -will call it here 

 the Maryland yellow-throat. It is, strictly speaking, 

 the short-winged northern yellow-throat, so if you want 

 to be very precise and scientific, you can tack on the word 

 brachydactyla to the tongue-twisting Greek words above, 

 for there are many varieties of this Uttle bird, which has 

 a habit of varying its plumage and dimensions according 

 to the locahties it is res^ident in, almost as mysteriously 

 or unreasonably as a modern lady. To read a list of the 

 scientific names which have been given to the varieties 

 of this unfortunate bird would give you the impression 



