.S62 BIRDS OF ONTARIO. 



DEXDKOTCA C^RT^LESCENS (Gmkl.). 

 ■270. Black-throated Blue Warbler. (054) 



.)/«/'- /// sjjiiiiij: -Aljove. imifoiin .slaty-l)luo, the perfect continuity of 

 whicli is only inteiriii)teil, in very liigh phunages, by a few black dorsal 

 streaks : bel<jw. pure Mhite ; the sides of the head to above the eyes, the 

 chin, thioat and whole sides of the body continuously jet black ; wing bars 

 wanting (the coverts being black, edged with blue), but a large white spot at 

 the base of the primaries : cjuill featheis, blackish, outwardly edged witli bluish, 

 the inner ones mostly white on their inner webs ; tail, with the ordinary white 

 blotches, the central feathers edged with bluish ; bill, black ; feet, dark. Youvtj 

 iiiaU: — Similar, but the blue glossed with olivaceous, and the black interrupted 

 and restricted. Feinah : — Entirely different ; dull olive-greenish with faint 

 bluish shade, below pale, soiled yellowish, recognizable by the white spot at 

 tlie base of the primaiies, which, though it may be reduced to a mere speck, is 

 always evident, at least on pushing aside the primary coverts ; tail blotches, 

 small or obscure ; feet, rather pale. Length, about o ; wing, 2^ ; tail, 2^. 



Hab. — Eastern Noi-th America to the Plains, lireeding from Xorthern New 

 Englan<l and Northern New York noithward, and in the Alleghanies to 

 Northern ( ieorgia ; West Indies in winter. 



Nest, placed in the fork of a bush near the ground, composed of grape- vine 

 baik and rootlets, lined with vegetable fibre and horse-haii'. 



Eggs, thi-ee to five, creamy-white, with a few spots of redtlisli-bi-own toward 

 the larger end. 



Duriuij the sjii-ing migration this species is always fairly repre- 

 sented, and some seasons it exceeds in numbers any other group of 

 tlie family to which it l)elongs. It arrives about the 10th of May; 

 an(.l continues connnon till the liSth, by which time those bound for 

 the north have disappeared. I have heard of individuals being seen 

 in the woods in summer, and think it quite likely that a few pairs 

 breed in suitable places in the southern part of the Province, but the 

 majority unquestionably go farther north. While here the favorite 

 haunt of the species is in the open woods, but it also visits the 

 orchard, and is often seen among the lilac bushes in search of its 

 insect food. In the fall it is in the woods during the greater part 

 of Septeiuljer, after wliich it disappears and is seen no more till the 

 following spring. 



.Since the above was wi-itten I find the following notice in Davie's 

 " Nests and Eggs of American Birds": "Mr. Wm. L. Ivells found the 

 Black-throated Blue Warblei- breeding in the thick underbrush of 

 the high timbered land near Listowel, Ontario, in June, and on the 

 r)th of that month, IHBG, discovered a compactly built nest of this 

 species in a small maple. On the 9th it contained three eggs of the 

 Warbler and one of the Cowbird." 



