THE BLACKBURNIAN WARBLER. 323 



retarded pace. Hence people prefer to live here, and in our 

 county (Orleans) the Ridge is almost a continuous village. 



In the woods and thickets on the low ground just north 

 of the Ridge, where once the waters of the lake rolled, is our 

 best locality for the summer birds, especially the Warblers. 

 The 11th of May, 1879, was one of the loveliest spring days we 

 have ever seen. The leaves were out, the sky was clear, the 

 sun warm, and the very air seemed palpitating with life. 



My friend F and I were skirting the woods north of the 



Ridge. O, what a day it was for Warblers! They were pass- 

 ing to the north in one continuous troop. Most abundant 

 of all on that day were the Blackburnians {Dendroeca black- 

 durnice), the most brilliant of the family. We can find 

 some of them every spring in this locality, but they are not 

 always numerous. 



The male is black above, with a white streak on each 

 shoulder, also several similar streaks along the lower part 

 of the back and rump, the large wing-spots, and base and 

 greater part of the outer tail-feathers, white ; spot along 

 the crown, streak from the base of the bill above the eye to 

 the back of the head, thence bending forward in a broad 

 band along the sides of the neck, and the lower eye-lid 

 orange yellow, throat and upper part of breast fiery orange, 

 fading into white; underneath the small spot on the side 

 of the neck and the streaks along the sides, black. The 

 markings of the female are similar to those of the male, 

 except that all the colors are lighter, the orange on the 

 throat fading into a delicate yellow. 



In its very graceful movements this little bird keeps en- 

 tirely to the trees, and not generally very high up, flitting 

 from point to point in search of its hidden insect food, and 

 emitting a loud, pleasing warble. It is mostly a bird of the 

 upland, and quite fond of evergreens — a lovely sylvan orna- 



