In a recent article Angus Gaines describes so delightfully some of the
characteristics of the Yellow Warbler, or Summer Yellow-bird, sometimes
called the Wild Canary, that we are tempted to make use of part of it.
"Back and forth across the garden the little yellow birds were flitting,
dodging through currant and gooseberry bushes, hiding in the lilacs,
swaying for an instant on swinging sprays of grape vines, and then
flashing out across the garden beds like yellow sunbeams. They were
lithe, slender, dainty little creatures, and were so quick in their
movements that I could not recognize them at first, but when one of them
hopped down before me, lifted a fallen leaf and dragged a cutworm from
beneath it, and, turning his head, gave me a sidewise glance with his
victim still struggling in his beak, I knew him. His gay coat was yellow
without the black cap, wings, and tail which show in such marked
contrast to the bright canary hue of that other yellow bird, the
Gold-finch.
"Small and delicate as these birds are, they had been on a long journey
to the southward to spend the winter, and now on the first of May, they
had returned to their old home to find the land at its fairest--all
blossoms, buds, balmy air, sunshine, and melody. As they flitted about
in their restless way, they sang the soft, low, warbling trills, which
gave them their name of Yellow Warbler."
Mrs. Wright says these beautiful birds come like whirling leaves, half
autumn yellow, half green of spring, the colors blending as in the outer
petals of grass-grown daffodils. "Lovable, cheerful little spirits,
darting about the trees, exclaiming at each morsel that they glean.
Carrying sun glints on their backs wherever they go, they should make
the gloomiest misanthrope feel the season's charm. They are so sociable
and confiding, feeling as much at home in the trees by the house as in
seclusion."
The Yellow-bird builds in bushes, and the nest is a wonderful example of
bird architecture. Milkweed, lint and its strips of fine bark are glued
to twigs, and form the exterior of the nest. Its inner lining is made of
the silky down on dandelion-balls woven together with horse-hair. In
this dainty nest are laid four or five creamy white eggs, speckled with
lilac tints and red-browns. The unwelcome egg of the Cow-bird is often
found in the Yellow-bird's nest, but this Warbler builds a floor over
the egg, repeating the expedient, if the Cow-bird continues her
mischief, until sometimes a third story is erected.
A pair of Summer Yellow-birds, we are told, had built their nest in
a wild rose bush, and were rearing their family in a wilderness of
fragrant blossoms whose tinted petals dropped upon the dainty nest, or
settled upon the back of the brooding mother. The birds, however, did
not stay "to have their pictures taken," but their nest may be seen
among the roses.