Between sixty and seventy warblers are described by Davie in his
"Nests and Eggs of North American Birds," and the Kentucky Warbler is
recognized as one of the most beautiful of the number, in its manners
almost the counterpart of the Golden Crowned Thrush (soon to delight
the eyes of the readers of BIRDS), though it is altogether a more
conspicuous bird, both on account of its brilliant plumage and
greater activity, the males being, during the season of nesting, very
pugnacious, continually chasing one another about the woods. It lives
near the ground, making its artfully concealed nest among the low
herbage and feeding in the undergrowth, the male singing from some old
log or low bush, his song recalling that of the Cardinal, though much
weaker.
The ordinary note is a soft _schip_, somewhat like the common call of
the Pewee. Considering its great abundance, says an observer, the nest
of this charmer is very difficult to find; the female, he thought,
must slyly leave the nest at the approach of an intruder, running
beneath the herbage until a considerable distance from the nest, when,
joined by her mate, the pair by their evident anxiety mislead the
stranger as to its location.
It has been declared that no group of birds better deserves the
epithet "pretty" than the Warblers. Tanagers are splendid, Humming
Birds refulgent, others brilliant, gaudy, or magnificent, but Warblers
alone are pretty.
The Warblers are migratory birds, the majority of them passing rapidly
across the United States in spring on the way to their northern
nesting grounds, and in autumn to their winter residence within the
tropics. When the apple trees bloom they revel among the flowers,
vieing in activity and numbers with the bees; "now probing the
recesses of a blossom for an insect, then darting to another, where,
poised daintily upon a slender twig, or suspended from it, they
explore hastily but carefully for another morsel. Every movement is
the personification of nervous activity, as if the time for their
journey was short; as, indeed, appears to be the case, for two or
three days at most suffice some species in a single locality."
We recently saw a letter from a gentleman living at Lake Geneva, in
which he referred with enthusiasm to BIRDS, because it had enabled him
to identify a bird which he had often seen in the apple trees among
the blossoms, particularly the present season, with which he was
unacquainted by name. It was the Orchard Oriole, and he was glad to
have a directory of nature which would enable him to add to his
knowledge and correct errors of observation. The idea is a capitol
one, and the beautiful Kentucky Warbler, unknown to many who see it
often, may be recognized in the same way by residents of southern
Indiana and Illinois, Kansas, some localities in Ohio, particularly in
the southwestern portion, in parts of New York and New Jersey, in the
District of Columbia, and in North Carolina. It has not heretofore
been possible, even with the best painted specimens of birds in the
hand, to satisfactorily identify the pretty creatures, but with BIRDS
as a companion, which may readily be consulted, the student cannot be
led into error.