Birds 93 



Oven-bird (Seiurus aurocapillus), which has the crown orange in 

 the middle, with a black stripe on each side; the color above is 

 olive green. The great genus Dendroica has a slender sharp bill, 

 and the tail always marked with white or (D. aestiva) yellow. Thus 

 any warbler with the tail so marked is almost sure to be a Den- 

 droica, the few other species with such markings being rare strag- 

 glers. We have only six kinds of Dendroica which regularly occur, 

 or are common. The Yellow Warbler (D. aestiva) is a beautiful 

 yellow bird, sometimes called wild canary; but the true canary 

 is a seed-eating finch, with thick bill.* The Myrtle Warbler 

 (D. coronata) has the crown yellow or with a yellow patch; the 

 throat is white, whereas it is yellow in Audubon's Warbler (D. 

 auduboni). Grace's Warbler (D. graciae) has the crown grey, 

 streaked with black; there is a double white wing bar; the throat 

 and chest are bright yellow. The Black-throated Gray Warbler 

 (D. nigrescens) has the head black, the back slaty, a yellow spot 

 in front of the eye. The Townsend Warbler (D. townsendi) has 

 the crown black, with a yellow superciliary line on each side, the 

 sides of the head marked with black. Mrs. Bailey, in her excellent 

 "Handbook", describes the various plumages of all these birds 

 quite fully, and gives a key to the adult females in spring, the 

 prominent specific characters being usually based on the males. 

 If one has only a female, the yellow on inner webs of tail will distin- 

 guish D. aestiva. In the absence of this character, the yellow 

 rump with yellowish throat signifies D. auduboni, but with 

 whitish throat D. coronata. 



Then if the rump is not yellow, and the tail is not marked 

 with yellow, the absence of conspicuous yellow or green markings 

 indicates D. nigrescens. If there are such yellow or green mark- 

 ings, the sides of the neck grayish points to D. graciae, or yellow 

 indicates D. townsendi. The last has the upper parts dull green, 

 streaked. Virginia's Warbler (Vcrmivora virginiae of Baird) has 

 the back gray, the crown with a patch of chestnut, a white ring 

 around the eye, and the rump, tail coverts and a patch on the 

 breast yellow. The female is not so brightly colored, nor is the 

 male in fall and winter. Sclater quotes an interesting account of 

 this bird from Aiken, who was the first to observe it in Colorado. 



, , . 'Moreover, the canary in its wild state is green, not yellow at all, just as the wild aold- 

 nsh is dark, and not golden. 



