Yellow Warbler 
55 
branch and from twig to twig in a never-ending 
search for small insects. As well try to catch 
a weasel asleep as a warbler at rest. People 
who live in the tropics, even for a little while, 
soon become lazy. Not so the warblers, whose 
energy, like a steam engine’s, seems to be in- 
creased by heat. Of course they do not undertake 
long journeys merely for pleasure, as wealthy 
human tourists do. They must migrate to find 
food ; and as insects are most plentiful in warm 
weather, you see why these atoms of animation 
keep in perpetual motion. They are among the 
last migrants to come north in the spring and 
among the first to leave in the autumn because 
insects don’t hatch out in cool weather, and 
the birds must always be sure of plenty to eat. 
Travelling as they do, chiefly by night, they are 
killed in numbers against the lighthouses and 
electric light towers which especially fascinate 
these poor little victims. 
Who first misled us by calling these birds 
warblers? The truth is there is not one really 
fine singer, like a thrush, in the whole family. 
The yellow-breasted chat has remarkable vocal 
ability, but he is not a real musician like the 
mockingbird, who also likes to have fun with 
his voice. The warblers, as a rule, have weak, 
squeaky, or wiry songs and lisping tseep call 
notes, neither of which ought to be called a 
warble. The yellow warbler sings as acceptably 
