Migrations—April. Late September. Summer resident.
Nine times out of ten this active little warbler is mistaken for the downy woodpecker, not because of his coloring alone, but also on account of their common habit of running up and down the trunks of trees and on the under side of branches, looking for insects, on which all the warblers subsist. But presently the true warbler characteristic of restless flitting about shows itself. A woodpecker would go over a tree with painstaking, systematic care, while the black-and-white warbler, no less intent upon securing its food, hurries off from tree to tree, wherever the most promising menu is offered.
Clinging to the mottled bark of the tree-trunk, which he so closely resembles, it would be difficult to find him were it not for these sudden flittings and the feeble song, "Weachy, weachy, weachy, 'twee, 'twee, 'tweet," he half lisps, half sings between his dashes after slugs. Very rarely indeed can his nest be found in an old stump or mossy bank, where bark, leaves, and hair make the downy cradle for his four or five tiny babies.
DUSKY AND GRAY AND SLATE-COLORED BIRDS
| Chimney Swift | Junco |
| Kingbird | White-breasted Nuthatch |
| Wood Pewee | Red-breasted Nuthatch |
| Phœbe and Say's Phœbe | Loggerhead Shrike |
| Crested Flycatcher | Northern Shrike |
| Olive-sided Flycatcher | Bohemian Waxwing |
| Least Flycatcher | Bay-breasted Warbler |
| Chickadee | Chestnut-sided Warbler |
| Tufted Titmouse | Golden-winged Warbler |
| Canada Jay | Myrtle Warbler |
| Catbird | Parula Warbler |
| Mocking-bird | Black-throated Blue Warbler |
See also the Grayish Green and the Grayish Brown Birds, particularly the Cedar Bird, several Swallows, the Acadian and the Yellow-bellied Flycatchers; Alice's and the Olive-backed Thrushes; the Louisiana Water Thrush; the Blue-gray Gnatcatcher; and the Seaside Sparrow. See also the females of the following birds: Pine Grosbeak; White-winged Red Crossbill; Purple Martin; and the Nashville, the Pine, and the Magnolia Warblers.
CHIMNEY SWIFT (One-half natural size)