not with a broken twig on it. I
have sometimes put the bird into this attitude by clapping my hands
loudly near the window. It is an impulse that seems to come to the bird
before flight, especially if the head should be downward. His arrival
is sudden, and seems often to be distinguished by turning a somersault
before alighting, head downward, on the tree trunk, as if he had changed
his mind so suddenly about alighting that it unbalanced him.

"I once saw two Nuthatches at what I then supposed was a new habit.
One spring day some gnats were engaged in their little crazy love
waltzes in the air, forming small whirling clouds, and the birds left
off bark-probing and began capturing insects on the wing. They were
awkward about it with their short wings, and had to alight frequently
to rest. I went out to them, and so absorbed were they that they allowed
me to approach within a yard of a limb that they came to rest upon, where
they would sit and pant till they caught their breath, when they went at
it again. They seemed fairly to revel in a new diet and a new exercise."

SUMMARY

Page 83.

#YELLOW WARBLER.#--_Dendroica aestiva._ Other names:
"Summer Yellow-bird," "Wild Canary," "Yellow-poll Warbler."

RANGE--The whole of North America; breeding throughout its range. In
winter, the whole of middle America and northern South America.

NEST--Built in an apple tree, cup-shaped, neat and compact, composed of
plant fibres, bark, etc.

EGGS--Four or five; greenish-white, spotted.

* * * * *

Page 88.

#HERMIT THRUSH.#--_Turdus aonalaschkae pallasii._ Other names:
"Swamp Angel," "Ground Swamp Robin."

RANGE--Eastern North America, breeding from northern United States
northward; wintering from about latitude 40 deg. to the Gulf coast.

NEST--On the ground, in some low, secluded spot, beneath shelter of deep
shrubbery. Bulky and loosely made of leaves, bark, grasses, mosses,
lined with similar finer material.

EGGS--Three or four; of greenish blue, unspotted.

* * * * *

Page 91.

#SONG SPARROW.#--_Melospiza fasciata._

RANGE--Eastern United States and British Provinces, west to the Plains,
breeding chiefly north of 40 deg., except east of the Alleghenies.

NEST--On the ground, or in low bushes, of grasses, weeds, and leaves,
lined with fine grass stems, roots, and, in some cases, hair.

EGGS--Four to seven; varying in color from greenish or