386 NOTES ON THE 



SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 



Above bright blue, darkest on the crown, tinged with ashy 

 on the rump; middle of back, scapulars, upper tail coverts and 

 sides of the crown streaked with black; beneath white, a 

 collar across the breast and streaks on the sides, dusky -blue; 

 lores and a line through and behind the eye, (where it is bor- 

 dered above by whitish) dusky -blue; paler on the cheeks; two 

 white bands on the wings; all the tail feathers except the 

 innermost, with a white patch on the inner web near the end. 



Length, 4.25; wing, 2.65; tail, 1.90. 



Habitat, eastern United States and southern Canada west to 

 the Plains. 



DENDROICA PENSYLYAMCA (L ). (659.) 



CHESTNUT-SIDED WARBLER. 



In writing of the warblers there is a great deal of monotony 

 of description, as there are so many species whose habits 

 closely resemble each other, and in none more than the Chest- 

 nut-sided, in its time of migration, notes, and even its nesting, 

 but to the loving, attentive student of the birds each species 

 comes to have a decided individuality, as dear to sentiment as 

 valuable to science. 



With all that is common to the family this bird is snii generis 

 "itself" and no other. The very type of sprightliness, joy and 

 •contentment, it floats along on the great bird-billow which 

 reaches Minnesota in the second week of May, to be recognized 

 instantly upon its arrival. Its favorite localities are thickets 

 bordering rather scattering large trees, and not very far above 

 the ground, where about the 25th of May it builds a nest con- 

 sisting of strips of bark and rather fine grasses, which are 

 woven into compact form with much architectural instinct, and 

 overlaid externally with a sort of stucco with caterpillars' nest- 

 silk and cobwebs, which give the structure considerable firm- 

 ness. Deeply hollowed it is lined with fine strips of bark and 

 horsehairs, and receives usually four creamy-white eggs, with 

 confluent spots of brown about the larger end. But a single 

 brood has been observed in a season. It is very generally dis- 

 tributed over the State in localities favorable to its distinctive 

 habits, and abundantly represented. I do not notice any 

 special increase in their numbers after 30 years. 



Prof. C. L. Herrick, formerly much devoted to the local his- 

 tory of the birds in different parts of the State, found it com- 

 mon in the summer wherever he was. Kennicot found it at the 

 Lake of the Woods, May 31st, and there can be no question of 



