BAY-BREASTED WARBLEU. 867 



l)ut only in a tew exceptional cases could T convey lo inv renders in 

 words or letters any idea of the songs of birds, and 1 must admit 

 that T make but poor progress in ti'ving to follow otlicrs wlio tliink 

 they have succeeded in doing so. 



DENDROICA CASTANEA (Wils.). 

 275. Bay-breasted Warbler. (<)60) 



Mall' ill spring: — Back, thickly streaked with black and grayish-olive; 

 forehead and sides of head, ])lack, enclosing a large deep chestnut patch ; a 

 duller chestnut (exactly like a Bluebird's breast) occupies the whole chin and 

 throat, and extends, more or less interrupted, along the entire sides of the 

 body ; rest of under parts, ochrey or buffy whitish, a similai- buffv ai-ea 

 behind the ears ; wing bars and tail spots, ordinary ; bill and feet, blackish. 

 Femah in -spring:— Is more olivaceous than the ma/e, with the markings less 

 )>ronounced, but always shows evident chestnut coloration, and probably traces 

 of it persist in all adiilf birds in the fall. The young, however, so closelv 

 resemble young ■striata that it is sometimes impossible to distinguish them 

 with certainty. Oaxtanea is, howe^-er, tinged with liufi'y or ochrey below, 

 instead of the clear pale j^ellowish of striata; moreovei-, ra-ifanca is usuallv 

 not streaked on the sides at all. Size of xtriata. 



H.4B. — Eastern North America, north to Hudson's Bay. Breeds from 

 Xorthern New England and Noithein Michigan northward : winters in Central 

 America. 



Nest, in a hemlock tree, fifteen or twenty feet from the ground. com])osed 

 of larch twigs and moss, woven together with si)ider silk, and lined with 

 fibrous roots. 



Eggs, four, bluish-green, thickly spotted witli lilar ami lnowii at the largei- 

 end. 



My observations of this species agree with what has been pub- 

 lished regarding it by those who have observed it in the Eastern 

 States. T have found it almndant in spring some years, and in 

 others rare, or entirely wanting, while in the fall it is always .scarce, 

 if it is seen at all. This has led to the belief that the species does 

 not always follow the same line of migration in spring, and that in 

 the fall the return trip is made along a line to the west of us, the 

 few we see being only stragglers from the main body. Tt is a 

 late comer, being seldom seen till after the middle of ^fay, and it 

 is less active in its movements than othei- members of the family. 

 It is seldom seen on the ground oi- near it. usuallv keeping among 

 the upper branches of the trees. 



The only time I ever saw more than three or four togetlier was in 



