HOODED WARHLEH. 381 



lie liud seen ;i puii- of Chats mated. .Mr. I)ick.sun was collecting at 

 the time, and was greatly surprised at their sudden appearance 

 within ten feet of where he was standing, but on his moving back- 

 ward, with a view of getting to a safer shooting distance, they 

 disappeared in the thicket and did not again become visible, though 

 they kept up their scolding as long as lie remained near the place. 



A pair of this species was also found by Mr. Saunders breeding on 

 the north shore of Lake Erie, near Point Pelee, which completes the 

 record for Ontario, so far as I have heard. 



Genus SYLVANIA Nuttall. 

 SYLYANIA MTTRATA (Gmel.). 



289. Hooded Warbler. (684) 



Clear yellow-olive; below, rich yellow shaded along the sides; whole head 

 and neck, pure lilack, enclosing a broad golden mask across forehead and 

 through eyes ; wiiigs, luimai-ked, glossed with olive ; tail, with lai'ge white 

 blotches on the two outer pairs of feathers ; bill, black ; feet, flesh color. 

 Female: — With no black on the head; that of the crown replaced by olive, that 

 of the throat by yellow. Youikj male : — With the black much resti-icted and 

 interrupted, if not wholly wanting, as in the female. Length, o-o^ ; wijig, 

 about 23 ; tail, about '2\. 



H.AB. — Eastern United States, west to the Plains, north and east to 

 Michigan, Southern Xew York and Southern New Kngland. In wintei-. 

 West Imyes, Eastern Mexico and Central America. 



Nest, in a low bush or tree, a few feet from the ground ; built of leaves and 

 coarse grasses, and lined with tine grass and horse-hair. 



Eggs, four, wliite, tinged witli flesh color ami marked with i-eddi.sh-l)ro\vn. 



The Hooded Warbler is a southern species which rarely crosses 

 our southern border. Mr. Norval reports finding it, occasionally, at 

 Port Rowan, on the north shore of Lake Erie, and I once found a 

 young male near Hamilton. It was toward the end of May, when 

 there had been a l)ig bird-wave during the previous night, and this 

 one had apparently got carried away in the crowd. It is a most 

 expert fly-catcher, very active on the wing, and has the habit of 

 flirting its tail after the manner of the Redstart. Its favorite haunts 

 are in thick, briary patches and among underbrush, where it finds 

 food and shelter for itself and family. 



There has been considerable discussion regarding the plumage of 



