PINE WARBLER. 
389 
boughs of the pine or cedar in perpetual quest of his un- 
tiring prey. This song is commonly heard at a consid- 
erable distance from his mate and nest, from whom he 
often widely strays, according to the success of his pre- 
carious pursuit. As the sound of the warble varies from 
slender to high or low, it is often difficult to discover the 
retreat of the little busy musician, which appears far or 
near with the modulation of his almost ventriloquous note. 
The female likewise tunes, at times, her more slender 
lay in a wiry tone, almost like that of the S. varia, in 
early spring. 
About the 7th of June (1830) I discovered a nest of 
this species in a Virginian juniper, near Mount Auburn 
in this vicinity, at the height of about 40 feet from the 
ground. It was firmly fixed in the upright twigs of a 
close branch. The nest was thin, but very neat ; the 
principal material was the wiry old stems of the slender 
knot-weed ( Polygonum tenue ), circularly interlaced, and 
connected externally with rough linty fibres of some spe- 
cies of Asclepias , and blended with caterpillars’ webs. 
The lining was made of a few hogs’ bristles, slender 
root-fibres, a mat of the down of Fern stalks, and one or 
two feathers of the Robin’s breast ; a curious medley, 
but all answering the purpose of warmth and shelter for 
the expected brood. I saw several of these nests, which 
had at different times been thrown to the ground, and in 
all, the wiry grass and general material were the same 
as in the one now described ; and this, of course, is en- 
tirely different from that given by Wilson on the author- 
ity of Mr. Abbot. The nest, there mentioned, is noth- 
ing more than the usual pendulous fabric of the Red- 
eyed Warbling Flycatcher. The eggs in ours were 4, 
and, advanced towards hatching, they were white, with a 
slight tinge of green, very full of small pale brown spots, 
33 # 
