MNIOTILTID^E THE AMERICAN WARBLERS. 131 



Warbler, this species breeds abundantly in the extreme north, being 

 particularly numerous in the McKenzie River district; but it is ap- 

 parently wanting to the Alaskan fauna. The southern portion of 

 its breeding range includes the northern shores of the Great Lakes 

 and a considerable portion of New England, including parts of 

 Massachusetts. Its nest, like that of other species of its genus, is 

 built on the ground. The song is said to resemble that of the 

 Nashville Warbler, except that it is shriller. 



GENUS COMPSOTHLYPIS CABANIS. 



Parula BONAP. Geog. & Comp. List, 1838,20. Type, Parus americanun Lnm. (Not 



Parulus SPIX, 1824.) 

 Compsothlypis CABANIS. Mus. Hein. i, 1830, 20. (Same type.) 



"GEN. CHAB. In the species of this genus the bill is conical and acute; the culmen 

 very gently curved from the base; the commissure slightly concave. The notch when 

 visible is further from the tip than in Dendroica, but usually is either obsolete or entirely 

 wanting. Bristles weak. The tarsi are longer than the middle toe. The tail is nearly 

 even, and considerably shorter than the wing. Color, blue above, with a triangular patch 

 of green on the back; anterior lower parts yellow." (Hist. N. Am. B.) 



Compsothlypis americana (Linn.) 



PARULA WARBLER. 



Popular synonyms. Particolored Warb'er; Blue Yellow-backed Warbler. 



Parus americanus LINN. 8. N. ed. 10, i, 1758, 190. 

 Sylvia americana Aur>. Orn. Biog. i, 1832, 78, pi. 15. 

 Syhncola americana AUD. Synop. 1839, 59; B. Am. ii, 1811, 57, pi. 91. 



Parula americana BONAP. Comp. List, 1853, 20. BAIKD, B. N. Am. 1858, 233; Cat. N. Am. 

 B. 1859, No. 168; Review, 18S5, 169. COUES, Key, 18/2, 92; Check List, 1873, No. 58: 2d 

 ed. 1832, No. 93; B. N. W. 1874, 46; B. Col. Val. 18r8, 208. B. B. & B. Hist. N. Am. B. i, 

 1874, 208, pi. 10, fig. 7. RIDGW. Nom. N. Am. B. 1881, No. 88. 

 Compsothlypis americana CAB. Mus. Hein. i, 1851, 20. 

 Sylvia pusilla WILS. Am. Orn. iv, 1811, 17, pi. 28, fig. 3. 



HAB. Eastern United States and British Provinces, breeding throughout, or from Gulf 

 coast northward; in winter, most of the West Indies, Mexico, and Guatemala; also in 

 Florida (and along Gulf coast). West to eastern base of Rocky Mountains (El Paso Co., 

 Colorado, May; C. E. Aiken). 



SP. CHAR. Two bands on the wing-coverts, and spots on inner webs of two or three 

 outer tail-feathers, just before the end. white; breast yellow; back greenish; abdomen 

 and crissum white. Adult t: Above grayish blue, with a triangular patch of olive-green 

 on the back; throat and breast yellow, with more or less of dusky, and sometimes also of 

 orange-rufous, across the jugulum. Adult s: Similar, but colors duller, the blue above 

 obscured with a greenish wash and the yellow beneath paler and more soiled. 



First plumage: male. Uemiges, rectrices, etc., as in the adult. Pileum, cervix, rump 

 and upper tail-coverts dull gray tinged with olive anteriorly and with blue posteriorly 



