The burn seems appropriate enough, for in these
dark evergreens his throat and breast show like flame. He has a very
fine warble, suggesting that of the redstart, but not especially
musical. I find him in not other woods in this vicinity.
I am attracted by another warble in the same locality, and experience
a like difficulty in getting a good view of the author of it. It is
quite a noticeable strain, sharp and sibilant, and sounds well amid
the the old trees. In the upland woods of beech and maple it is a more
familiar sound than in these solitudes. On taking the bird in hand,
one can not help exclaiming, "How beautiful!" So tiny and elegant, the
smallest of the warblers; a delicate blue back, with a slight
bronze-colored triangular spot between the shoulders; upper mandible
black; lower mandible yellow as gold; throat yellow, becoming a dark
bronze on the breast. Blue yellow-back he is called, though the yellow
is much nearer a bronze. He is remarkably delicate and beautiful,--the
handsomest as he is the smallest of the warblers known to me. It is
never without surprise that I find amid these rugged, savage aspects
of nature creatures so fairy and delicate.
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