448 Birds of Colorado 



Description. — Male — General colour above, including the sides of 

 the head, slaty-blue with a patch of rich olive-yellow in the middle 

 of the back ; middle and greater coverts tipped with white, forming 

 two conspicuous wing-patches ; tail with the three outer pairs of 

 rectrices spotted, the next two merely edged on the inner web with 

 white ; lores black, a small white spot above and below the eye ; throat 

 and chest bright yellow, separated usually by a dvisky patch ; rest 

 of the under-parts white, bluish-grey on the sides and flanks ; iris 

 brown, upper mandible black, lower yellow in life ; legs brownish. 

 Length 412 ; wing 2-25 ; tail 1-70 ; culmen -40 ; tarsus -65. 



The female resembles the male, but is duller throughout, and usually 

 without the dusky chest-patch ; young birds have the upper-parts 

 washed over with olive-green ; the white aroimd the eye more extended, 

 and the yellow of the throat paler and no dusky patch. 



The birds of the Mississippi Valley appear to average slightly smaller 

 than those breeding in the north eastern states. They have been 

 distinguished as a subspecies (C. a. ramalince) by Ridgway (02, p. 486), 

 but the form has not yet been recognized by the A.O.U. Committee. 

 Colorado examples must be referred to it, if so recognized. 



Distribution. — Breeding from Minnesota to Nova Scotia southwards 

 in the mountains to Virginia ; south in winter through the middle 

 states to southern Mexico and Nicaragua. 



The Parula is a rare straggler in Colorado. It was first taken by 

 Aiken in El Paso co. on May 11th, 1872, and has since been definitely 

 recorded twice only — from Clear Creek near Denver — a single female 

 in May, 1904, and from Kit Carson in Cheyenne co. on May 27th, when 

 Mr. Ferril killed one female from a flock (Smith). I have recently 

 seen a male taken by Mr. Hersey at Barr, May 20th, 1909, now in the 

 Natural History Museinn at Denver. 



Habits. — ^During the migration period the Parula is 

 generally distributed, though preferring deciduous to 

 coniferous trees. In the breeding season it is only to 

 be found where the usnea moss grows freely. This is 

 a lichen, growing on trees in swampj'' places and forming 

 great, freely hanging masses dependent from the branches. 

 In this the Parula makes its nest, generally with a small 

 side-entrance. The eggs, usually four, are white to 

 creamy -white, with coarse, ill-defined markings of reddish- 

 brown, chestnut and grey. They vary very much in 

 size and shape, but average "67 x '48. The Parula 

 is not kno^vn to nest in Colorado. 



