File:Birds of the water, wood and waste (1910) (14563751349).jpg

Identifier: birdsofwaterwood00guth (find matches)
Title: Birds of the water, wood & waste
Year: 1910 (1910s)
Authors: Guthrie-Smith, H. (Herbert), 1861-1940
Subjects: Birds Photography of birds
Publisher: Wellington, N. Z. : Whitcombe & Tombs
Contributing Library: Smithsonian Libraries
Digitizing Sponsor: Smithsonian Libraries

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The Warbler ;UE most perfect winter andearly spring weather comeswhen the wind blows directlyoff the snow-clad RuahineRange, the nights are frosty,the days are still, the lake a sheet of glass,the blue sky cloudless. During weather suchas this in early August, everywhere on therun may be heard the long, tremulous trillof the Warbler, rather a crickets cry thana birds. Presently, from some manuka thicket, asombre plumaged little bird will emerge,light on some topmost twig, and pour forthto three-quarters of the globe—for in hisecstasy he nearly sings a circle—this faintsweet trill that heralds fuller spring. Although a plentiful species on the run,even in winter the Warblers presenceabout the homestead is infrequent. During PLATE \L\I1
Text Appearing After Image:
Hen Warbler approaching Nest. WOOD AND WASTE 143 spring he is even more rarely to be seen;lie has then, like all the native species,retired to breed in deeper solitude than aNew Zealand homestead can afford, butthough gone, he has not gone far, and hisfaint song is still distinctly audible fromthe house. In some dark manuka thicket his pear-shaped nest is built, or deeply set in somedense branched bush. The nest itself isnot unlike that of the British Long-tailedTit, similar in the neat finish and featherlining, but our New Zealander has often atiny portico above, or little ledge beneath,his entrance hole. The five or six eggsare sometimes almost quite white, sometimesthey are freckled like a Wrens, with tinyspots at the thicker end. The Warbler sitsclose, and often when feeling for eggs or3^oung I have touched the old bird in hernest. The j^oungsters grow with greatrapidity, and for some time after quittingthe nest they may be seen all together,haunting the vicinity of their old home

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