THE CHESTNUT-SIDED WARBLER. 333 



with white, extending from over the eyes around the back 

 of the head; feathers of the back black, deeply edged with 

 greenish-yellow, or with white across the shoulders ; 

 wings and tail blackish, slightly edged with green- 

 ish-yellow or white, the latter having the white mark- 

 ings on the inner web of the outer feathers; wing-coverts 

 edged with yellowish-white; cheeks and whole under parts, 

 satiny-white; throat bordered on the sides with black, 

 the neck and breast bordered with bright chestnut. 

 The female is quite similar, with the markings less distinct 

 and the coloring less pure. Of a texture reminding one of 

 fine muslin above, and of silk or satin beneath, there is 

 something particularly delicate and chaste about the appear- 

 ance of this bird; and his song, a warble in a somewhat 

 whistling tone, the notes resembling the syllables, wee-chee^ 

 wee-chee, wee-chee^ wee-chee, accent on the first syllable of each 

 repetition, increasing to the last, is one of the most spirited 

 of all the songs of the Warblers, and decidedly musical. 

 Emitted as the bird is actively peering, flitting and glean- 

 ing among the branches, it gives the impression of peculiar 

 sprightliness and joy. Even when in a momentary repose, 

 the raising of the feathers about the head, the drooping 

 wings and slightly elevated tail, show a happy self-con- 

 sciousness. 



The nest, built in the latter part of May or early in June, 

 in a shrub or small tree, here commonly in the tops of the 

 raspberry or blackberry bushes, never far from the ground, 

 is rather frail, loose and very slightly fastened, composed 

 outwardly of fibrous material intermixed with a webby text- 

 ure, sometimes with the covering of beech-buds, and is lined 

 with very fine dried grass, or shreds of bark of the wild grape- 

 vine, and more or less horse-hair. The eggs, commonly four, 

 are specked or blotched with light-red and umber, mostly 



