250 BIRDS—SYLVICOLID A. 
ing their migrations, but as isthe case with other warblers breeding with 
us, appear in pairs and small companies of six or eight. They are some- 
times found in orchards, but usually in high mixed woods. Mr. Brews- 
ter, who observed these birds in West Virginia from May 5-9, 1875, gives 
the following account*: “They inhabit exclusively the tops of the 
highest forest trees, in this respect showing an affinity with D. blackburniz. 
In actions they most resemble D. pennsylvanica, carrying the tail rather 
high and having the same “smart bantam-like appearance.’ Were it 
not for these prominent characteristics, they would be very difficult to 
distinguish in the tree tops, from Parula americana, the songs are so pre- 
cisely alike. That of the latter bird has, however, at least two regular 
variations ; in one, beginning low down, he rolls his guttural little trill 
quickly and evenly up the scale, ending apparently, only when he 
can get no higher; in the other, the commencement of this trill 
is broken or divided into syllables, like, zee, zee, zee, ze-ee-eep. The latter 
variation is the one used by D. ceru/ea, and I could detect little or no dif- 
ference in the songsof adozen of individuals. At best it is a modest little 
strain, and far from deserving the encomium bestowed upon it by 
Audubon, who describes it as being “extremely sweet and mellow ;” 
decidedly it is neither of them, and he must have confounded with it 
some other species. In addition to the song, they utter the almost uni- 
versal Dendroicine lisp, and, also, the characteristic tchep of D. coronata, 
which I had previously supposed entirely peculiar to that bird.” There 
is little to add to this accurate discription of the habits of this bird, ex- 
cept to suggest, that had Mr. Brewster observed it a few days later, he 
would have discovered such a change in its song as to merit the descrip- 
tion, “extremely sweet and mellow,” of Audubon. At the height of the 
breeding season the song looses much of its aspirate, and gains in vocal 
character. I have been accustomed to represent it by the syllables 
ote, ote, ore, ore, ove, chit, chit, chit, tu-wee, the first part being much like a 
low whistling call to a dog, monotonous and rolling but very mellow and 
sweet, that following, quickly and sharply uttered, with a lower note and 
rising inflection at the end. Sometimes only the first part is given, and 
often the last half is repeated. 
The Blue Warbler breeds in retired woods in all parts of the State where 
I have had an opportunity of observing them. I have found the young 
fledged the latter part of June. Dr. Kirtland states that it breeds in the 
vicinity of Cleveland. I have never found the nest, but long before any 
*Some Observations on the Birds of Ritchie County, West Virginia, by William Brews- 
ter, Ann. Lye. Nat. Hist., N. Y., xi, 1875, 135. 
