112 BIRDS OF NEW ENGLAND AND EASTERN NEW YORK 



Nest, generally in pines, from twenty to fifty feet up. Eggs, 

 dull white, spotted with brown, chiefly about the larger end. 



The Pine Warbler is a common summer resident of cen- 

 tral New England and of parts of Long Island ; in northern 

 New Jersey, the lower Hudson Valley, and in southern Con- 

 necticut it occurs only as a migrant. In the valleys of the 

 Housatonic, Connecticut, and Merrimac, and in southern 

 Maine it is found as far north as the pitch pine grows, but 

 it also occurs sparingly near its northern limit in groves of 

 tall white pine. It is the first warbler to arrive in spring, 

 appearing early in April, and it lingers till the middle of 

 October, singing freely again toward the end of its stay. 

 In the spring, the bird often descends to the ground to 

 feed, and it may in any case be more easily observed in the 

 loose growing pitch pines than the equally common Black- 

 throated Green Warbler in the dense white pines. The 

 movements of the Pine Warbler are leisurely, and it stops 

 continually to shake out the sweet trill which constitutes its 

 song. 



The song resembles in form the Chipping Sparrow's and 

 the Snowbird's, but is sweeter and less staccato than either 

 of these songs ; moreover, it is rarely heard outside of a 

 pine grove. At the height of the breeding season the trill is 

 occasionally followed by a few additional notes in a lower 

 key. 



The resemblance of the Pine Warbler in pattern of color- 

 ation to the Yellow-throated Vireo is discussed on p. 134. 

 The dull colors of the female Pine Warbler make her one 

 of the most difficult birds to recognize ; the faint tinge of 

 yellow on the breast is perceptible only at close range in 

 good light, and the wing-bars are narrow and grayish. The 

 shape of the bill, of course, indicates that she is a warbler ; 

 it is often only by a process of elimination that one dis- 

 covers her identity. The young birds in autumn are even 

 more non-committal. 



