202 THE YELLOW-RUMPED WARBLER. 



cheeks, and spots across the upper part of the breast and 

 adown the front, black; crown, rump and sides of the 

 breast by the wing-shoulders, bright yellow. Does that 

 golden crown on his head mark him as a king ? or do those 

 bright epaulets designate him as a general-in-chief ? How- 

 ever that may be, his dress of drab and black, ornamented 

 with gold, affords a striking and inost elegant contrast of 

 colors; and his size, song, general dignity, and priority of 

 arrival entitle him to be the leader of his large and beauti- 

 ful family, altogether peculiar to America, and of his numer- 

 ous genus, also peculiar to North America; none of his genus, 

 or family, arrive earlier than he, unless, indeed, it may be 

 the Yellow Red-poll or Palm Warbler, which is exceedingly 

 rare here; the warblers of the Old World, among which 

 Robin-red-breast and the far-famed Nightingale are con- 

 spicuous, being much more closely allied to our Kinglets 

 than to the great family of their American namesakes. 

 The female is similar, but not so bright, and the young are 

 brownish instead of slaty, the yellow markings being quite 

 dim. This is one of our most beautiful, as also one of our 

 most common, warblers. Appearing in the Middle States, 

 and in Southern New England, about the 20th of April, it 

 passes to the north in considerable numbers for a month or 

 more, returning southward again late in October or in 

 November. 



The Yellow-rumped Warbler, or Myrtle Bird, breeds from 

 Northern New England to the arctic regions, and northwest- 

 ward to Alaska and Washington Territory. The nest, in a 

 bush or tree, often an evergreen, and but a few feet from 

 the ground, is about four inches in external and two in in- 

 ternal diameter, and composed of weed-stalks, vegetable 

 fibers, rootlets or grasses, often lined with feathers or hair. 

 One before me, from Lunenburg County, Nova Scotia, 



