The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1908-05-24
And wiled the bluebird to his Whit
of song"

And wiled the bluebird to his Whit
of song"
OF the tones of this bird. one who is
qualified to speak says they ARE IN
mistakable. quaYering, tentative, un-
certain, a bit tender and sentimental,
I and far more appealing than the robust
ones of the robin"
These birds. are most attractive in
| their ways. | have found them even
more domestic than their eastern rela-
tive.& At the proper time they come
fearlessly about the house and garden
and give their confidence without TAX
ing any surety, by building The nest i'm
the mail box that is nailed to the top
of the gate post. In the spring of 1907
/ repeatedly found nests of these birds
In such places and. SO far as | know,
their confidence was never misplaced
have raised the hinged top of one of
these mail receptacles and photo
graphed the brooding bird as she sat
upon her treasures.
l have also found them, at the, head
of Daniels canyon in July, nesting in
the aspens on the ridge, at the point at
which the road begins to dip down to-
ward Strawberry valley. In one case
pair of these bluebirds had their nest
few feet above that of a pair of red
mapped sapsuckers.
The Warbler Family.
We pass now to a different family.
which must be given a place in the
group we selected for this grade. This
is the warblers.
These insect-eaters cOnfne their Ia
bors mostly to the branches of trees,
and being small and light, they can go
out TO the points of twigs, where other
or larger birds could not go.
There are perhaps nineteen different
warbleFs in our state, and some of
them may be found in almost every
part of Utah. These birds, which are
with us only during the spring and
summer season, go far TO the south
ward for the winter, the black poll
journeying from $500 to 1000 miles
but their migratory Journeys are made
with remarkable degree of regulari-
ty. l have been enabled to go to Echo
and COalville every May-betWeen the
18th and 15th-and l am just as GER
tain Of finding at these places, on the
dates named, the Audubon Warblers
as | am of knowing myself to be there.
Fhey are present then in numbers
and will be found feeding among the
slowly opening leaves of the poplars
that line the streets. For several
years, too, 1 have found these birds
within day or two of dates given
in the streets of Heber. They furnish
real spring calendar.
This family of insect-eating birds is
characterized by slender generally,
sharp pointed, sometimes fiattened,
but never hooked. bills. In this last
particular they may be distinguished
from the Vireos, which otherwise
might be mistaken for warblers. These
birds are far more active, too, than
the vireOs, which are more deliberate
in their movements, and which peer
about when in search of food, while
the warblers spring from twig to twig
with confusing rapidity
The Summer Warbler.
The two members of this family
which are most likely to be known to
one not experienced in warbler ways
are the summer yellow-bird, and the
long tailed chat. OF these two the
summer warbler is much the more nu-
merous and widely distributed. 1t is
to be found in all the settled portions
of our state, as well as along the
rivers and smaller streams-WhereVe
there are trees or bushes.
1t comes Familiarity about buildings,
and often will nest within. a few feet
stances is familiar and domestic in its
habits and apparently without fear.
This warbler is not to be looked for
in Utah much before the middle OF
May. 1t winters all the way from
western Mexico to Dutch Guiana, thus
covering a larger winter range than
almost any other warbler. This bird
ordinarily does not remain TO catch
even a breath of our cool fall nights,
as il starts southwark early-the bulk
of the migration being over with by
the first days of September. and in not
a few localities by the last quarter OF
August.
The food of these birds makes them
of special economic importance. 1t is
practically entirely insectiVerOus, and
as il spends its days in the trees Of the
lawn, the garden and the orchard-as
we'll as along streams where willows
and other bushes grOw-it gives an
exceedingly good account of itself
The insects that attack the fruit trees,
vines and berry bushes have in the
summer warbler a most active, ag-
gressive and persistent foe, and the