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Each Warbler seeks its food within the precincts of its own particular domain, and, except in occasional instances, neither resorts to neutral ground nor makes excursions into the locality immediately surrounding the territory, as does the Bunting.
It was early enough for any ambitious bird to sing, but there were few song-birds in the gardens a palm warbler or two, and a pair of subdued mocking-birds not inclined to be tuneful.
They kept well up among the branches, were rather slow in their movements, and evidently disposed to tarry but a short time. The summer residents here, belonging to this class of birds, are few. I have observed the black and white creeping warbler, the Kentucky warbler, the worm-eating warbler, the redstart, and the gnat-catcher, breeding near Rock Creek.
Thus, allowing for the brief intervals of silence, he sang about 875 times, or some 5,250 notes. I found him singing, and when I departed he showed no signs of ceasing." It is such painstaking observations that add something new and fresh to our knowledge of birds. The Kentucky warbler is fond of walking about on the ground in the woods, seeking for his favorite insects.
At that moment the warbler appeared again, and the wise redstart baby, who at least knew enough to take a good thing when it offered, opened his ever-ready mouth for the bit of a worm he brought. But lo! Madam, who had flown the moment before, returned in hot haste, and flung herself upon that small philanthropist as if he had brought poison; he vanished. Here was indeed a queer complication!
I found the bird at home, as usual, and armed with an opera-glass, I placed myself at some distance to watch her. Half an hour passed before she stirred a feather, but I was not lonely. A mourning-warbler came about, eating and singing alternately, after the manner of his kind, and the pretty trill of the black-throated green warbler came out of the woods.
I have myself heard the golden-crowned thrush, the black-throated green warbler, the black-throated blue, the yellow-rumped, and the chestnut-sided, sing two melodies each, while the blue golden-winged has at least three; and this, of course, without making anything of slight variations such as all birds are more or less accustomed to indulge in.
The Tyrolean warbler had just finished her high-keyed falsetto, bowing backward in her short skirts and stout shoes with silver buckles, and I had just reached the long corridor on my way to the garden, to escape the blare and pound of the band, when a man leaned out of a half-opened door and touched my shoulder. "Pardon, monsieur. May I speak to you a moment?"
All that we see is enchanting, but there is a strange stillness in the groves; rarely does the song of a bird break the silence; indeed, I know but one warbler whose note has any music in it, the uguisu, by some enthusiasts called the Japanese nightingale at best, a king in the kingdom of the blind.
Nevertheless it is only at the meeting places that they have their special positions; there is no evidence to show that each one has a special territory, wherein it seeks its food, as the Warbler has, and therefore some may think that we are here confronted with behaviour of a different order.
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