HOODED WARBLER 327 



Hooded Warbler : Wilsonia mitrata. 

 (See Fig-. 180, p. 34G.) 



Back of head and throat black ; under parts, forehead, and 

 cheeks bright yellow ; back olive-greeu. Length, about of 

 inches. 



Geographic Distribution. — Eastern United States ; breeds as 

 far north as southern Michig-an, western New York, and south- 

 ern Connecticut, and winters in Central America. 



One spring, when watching migrating Warblers 

 in Central Park, my attention was attracted by 

 the unusual sight of a boy peering into the bushes 

 with opera - glasses. When he discovered me 

 similarly engaged, he came hurrying over, asking 

 eagerly if I had seen the Hooded Warbler he was 

 watching. A Hooded Warbler! I had never 

 seen one. What good fortune ! I followed my 

 little guide, meditating gratefully upon the enthu- 

 siasm which makes all naturalists akin, and when 

 we reached the bush, found that the striking bird 

 surpassed anything I had imagined. How quaint 

 and curious he is, with his "bright yellow face 

 peering out from its black sun-bonnet " ! What 

 distinction he gives to the inns at which he stops 

 on his northward journey ! That little bush where 

 he hunted seemed indeed a royal bush, prouder 

 than any in the Park. Perhaps he will visit it 

 again ; it would do no harm to look sharp as you 

 pass that way, for where a bird stops one year he 

 is very likely to stop the next. It was in the 

 Ramble, one of the best of the many good places 



