6o 
THE NATURALIST AND COLLECTOR 
The Myrtle Warbler. 
T HE Myrtle Warbler (Dendroica 
Coronata) may often be seen in 
winter, when the ground is cov¬ 
ered with snow, in the dooryards in 
company with the snowbirds, the spar, 
rows and other familiar species, 
picking- up bread crumbs from off the 
door steps, or exploring- the nooks in 
the fence corners, or the crevices of 
trees for insects, and at evening flying 
in flocks to some sheltering tree to 
pass the night. They not infrequently 
roost in odd nooks and crannies in the 
barn or even in holes in some hay stack. 
During the early part of the winter 
they feed extensively on the berries of 
the Poison-vine (Rhus toxicodendron), 
large flocks of them being seen wher¬ 
ever this species is abundant. 
During the winter the plumage 
becomes dull and unattractive, one 
being scarcely able to distinguish the 
sexes; but when the first flowers ap¬ 
pear and the sunshine becomes warm, 
and the Canada goose in his north¬ 
ward flight heralds the approach of 
returning spring,, his plumage assumes 
a gay appearance, being decked in 
black, white and yellow. At this 
season he is one of the most beautiful 
and striking among the feathered 
rivals of the bees which hum among 
the blooming apple trees. To be har¬ 
monious with nature at this time, he 
has an attractive song, somewhat re¬ 
sembling that of the Yellow Warbler, 
but possessing more sweetness and 
pertaining more of a warble than the 
Summer Yellow bird can boast of. 
It usually constructs its nests on a 
horizontal branch, the smaller twigs of 
which are utilized in strengthening- the 
rim. Its base and external portions 
consist of fine dry stalks of wild 
grasses and slender twigs and roots. 
It is lined with soft, fine grasses, 
downy feathers and the fur of small 
mammals. The eggs are four or five 
in number, rosy-white, sprinkled at 
the larger end with reddish-brown. 
Wcihltre Behym. 
The Grosbeak. 
B EING decked with a tri-colored 
livery, of deep black, pure white 
and rose red, the Rose Breasted 
Grosbeak (Habia ludoviciana) is one 
of our most beautiful and interesting- 
birds. In the northern part, it is a 
summer resident, but in the southern 
part it hurries through as a transient 
visitor in the spring and fall. Its 
song is as remarkable as its plumage, 
and on this account is highly esteemed 
as a cage bird. 
The nidification of this bird is as 
odd as its plumage. They usually se¬ 
lect a low branching tree, sometimes 
an elm but more often a thorn tree, 
and here they lay together a few sticks 
and deposit a few stems of grass as a 
lining. The male assists the female in 
incubating the eggs and out of seven 
nests obtained by me, four of the 
parent birds secured on the nest were 
males. When a nest is disturbed, the 
parent birds all assemble in a neigh¬ 
boring tree and seem to be evry inter¬ 
ested -in the operation of removing the 
eggs. The eggs so closely resemble 
those of the Tanagers that it is some¬ 
times difficult to distinguish them. 
The position of the nest is usually dif¬ 
ferent however, the Grosbeaks gener¬ 
ally nesting* on the central part of the 
tree, while the Tanagers seem to pre¬ 
fer the extremity of a horizontal 
branch. 
Besides possessing great beauty of 
plumage and richness of song, he 
makes himself useful b t y destroying 
noxious insects. He is passionately 
fond of potato-bugs, and in some parts 
of the Mississippi valley he has ac¬ 
quired the name of “Potato-bug Bird.” 
Watson Blakesley. 
