220 BIRDS—SYLVIID A. 
minute winged insect, their minature imitation of the Catbird’s well- 
known note, and above all their sweetly modulated and well prolonged 
song, so rarely heard, combine to form a most delightful picture of 
bird life. In the breeding season each pair seems to confine itself to the 
immediate vicinity of the nest, and resent the appearance of another of 
their species with all the outcry and momentum so small a body is capable 
of. For their summer home they chose the side of a ravine, or a glen or 
glade in mixed woodland. The nest is placed on the horizontal branch 
of a tree usually about thirty feet from the ground, often at the base of 
an upright twig which supports it, and frequently overhanging a stream 
at the bottom of a ravine. It is only a slight exaggeration of that of the 
Hummingbird, constructed of vegetable down in which are placed a few 
small feathers, and neatly covered with lichen. The eggs are four in num- 
ber, measuring but .56 by .44, rather thickly spotted with lilac and sever- 
al shades of brown. The nest would oftener escape detection from its re- 
semblance to a moss-covered knot, but for the incessant scolding notes 
with which the birds resent even an imnocent intrusion. 
The bay breasted warbler (Sylvia castanea), is still more common with us in the spring, 
and in some seasons protracts its visit for two or three weeks. Its favorite resort is the 
teps of the highest beech trees, at the time the buds are bursting into leaves. 
The willet (Totanus semipalmatus), Mr. Audubon says, ‘“‘ are very seldom met with far 
inland,” and ‘‘I have very little doubt that those seen by Mr. Say on the banks of the 
Missouri, had accidentally visited that country.” 
This bird is a common visitor to the shores of Lake Erie, both in the spring and 
autumn. On the 3d of July, 188%, I shot an o!d specimen from a flock of more than 
twenty individuals, that were in the habit of visiting the marsh in Ohio City, at the 
mouth of the Cuyahoga, for a number of days in succession. 
The young birds appeared here on the first of July of the present year, and consider- 
able numbers have been shot by the sportsmen. 
A few years since, they remained here during the whole of the summer, and probably 
reared their young in the neighborhood. They are very abundant about some of the 
upper lakes. . 
The marbled goodwit (Limosa fedoa) occasionally visits the shores of Lake Erie and 
the Ohio river. The Hon. Mr. Granger has furnished me with a beautiful pair, killed 
near his residence at Fairport. Several young specimens were shot in this vicinity about 
the first of August of the present season. They were associating with a flock of long- 
billed curlews (Numenius longirostris). 
The Hudson curlew (Numenius hudsonicus) has been taken in a few instances in Ohio. 
I have a specimen in my cabinet that alighted in the garden of Mr. A. Hayden, of this 
city, and was shot by him three years since. Another was taken in the vicinity of Cin- 
cinnati. 
The piping plover (Charadrius melodus) L have seen in two instances on the shore of 
Lake Erie, and have specimens in my cabinet both in their winter and summer plumage. 
Mr. Auduboo informs his readers that they never proceed any distance inland, even 
along the sandy margins of our largest rivers.” 
CLEVELAND, OHIO, June 4, 1840. 
