552 HISTORY OF THE 



northward into the Arctic regions; and what is strange for so 



hardy a bird, have been found breeding in Jamaica; winter from 



about latitude 40° south into southern Central America. 



Sp. Char. Outer surface of wings with more or less distinct lighter mark- 

 ings, but without wliite spot at base of quills; rump yellow; crown with a yel- 

 low patch (partly concealed). Adult male: Lower parts, including chin and 

 throat, white; the chest and sides broadly streaked with black ( these streaks 

 sometimes more or less confluent, forming a broken patch), and the sides of 

 the breast with a yellow patch; upper parts bluish gray, becoming blackish on 

 sides of head, which ai'e marked by white supraloral and postocular sti-eaks; back 

 broadly streaked with black; wing with two white bands across tip of middle 

 and greater coverts. Adult female: Similar to male, but much duller lu color, 

 with markings less conspicuously contrasted. Winter plumage {sexes essen- 

 tially alike): Upper parts strongly washed with umber brown, and lower parts 

 more or less suffused with a paler wash of the same — the pattern of the sum- 

 mer plumage being thereby much obscured; streaks on chest, etc.; and yellow 

 patches indistinct. Young: No yellow anywhere, except sometimes on nnnp; 

 whole plumage thickly streaked above and below with dusky and grayish white; 

 tail much as in adult. (Eidgway). 



Iris brown; bill, legs, feet and claws black. 



These hardy Warblers frequent the open woods and borders 

 of streams. During the winter months, in their northern winter 

 homes, they feed chiefly upon spiders, eggs and, larva of insects, 

 and also upon the berries of the poison ivy, etc. ; in the early 

 spring, as they move northward, upon the insects that gather 

 about the unfolding leaves, buds and blossoms. In the spring 

 of 1880, I found the birds in large numbers on Brier Island and 

 other places in Nova Scotia, feeding along the beach, in com- 

 pany with the Savanna Sparrow and Horned Lark, upon the 

 small flies and other insects that swarm about the kelp and de- 

 bris washed upon the shore; uttering almost continually, as they 

 flit about, a "Tweet" note, the males often flying to the tops 

 of the small hemlocks to give vent to their happiness in song, 

 which is quite loud for Warblers — rather short, but soft and 

 pleasing, and it seemed to me especially so in contrast with the 

 feeble, reed-like notes of the Savanna Sparrow. 



The birds usually build their nests in low trees and bushes. 



