AUTUMNAL WARBLER. 
391 
close of October, at which time they are also seen in the 
Middle States. Their food consists of small insects and 
berries. Late in the season on a fine autumnal morning, 
troops of them may be seen in the fields and lanes, 
sometimes descending to the ground, and busily employ- 
ed in turning over the new fallen leaves, or perambulat- 
ing and searching the chinks of the bark of trees, or the 
holes in the posts of the fence in quest of lurking moths 
and spiders ; and while thus eagerly engaged, they are 
occasionally molested or driven away by the more legiti- 
mate Creepers or Nuthatches, whose jealousy they thus 
arouse by their invasion. Earlier in the season, they 
prey on cynips, flies, and more active game, in pursuit 
of which they may be seen fluttering and darting through 
the verdant boughs of the forest trees. One of these 
little visitors which I obtained, by its flying inadvertent- 
ly into an open chamber, soon became reconciled to con- 
finement, flew vigorously after house flies, and fed greed- 
ily on grasshoppers and ivy-berries (Cissus hcderacea) ; 
at length it became so sociable as to court my acquaint- 
ance, and eat from my hand. Before I restored it to 
liberty, its occasional tiveet attracted several of its social 
companions to the windows of its prison. 
In the autumn, when these birds are most observable, 
they are destitute of song, and only utter a plaintive call 
of recognition. The male, however, in the season of in- 
cubation has a variety of soft and pleasing notes, but 
without much of musical compass. Audubon found 
them breeding in the vincinity of Cayuga lakes, and on 
the borders of Lake Champlain, in the retirement of the 
forest : he has likewise observed them at this season in 
the Great Pine Swamp or forest of Pennsylvania near the 
Blue Mountains. The nest, according to him, is placed 
in the slender fork of a low bush, and is made of the thin 
