130 LAND-BIRDS. 



graceful and dexterous in their motions. Their songs, though 

 never very striking or brilliant, are simple, pleasing, and mu- 

 sical, and their nests and eggs are models of beauty. In 

 addition to these charms, these birds are extremely useful, 

 and do much to protect our trees and shrubs from the inju- 

 ries of caterpillars and the numerous winged insects that 

 infest them. 



XL SYLVANIA. 



A. CANADENSIS. Canada " F'lycatcher.''' Canada Fly- 

 catching Warbler. A summer resident in northern New Eng- 

 land, but rare in Massachusetts, except as a migrant.* 



a. 5-5 J inches long. In general appearance like the Black 

 and Yellow Warbler (X, J/), but with no white on the wings 

 and tail. (J , ashy blue above of a curious tint, and bright 

 yellow beneath. Crown almost streaked with black. Super- 

 ciliary line, yellow. Throat bordered by a black line, from 

 the bottom of which black streaks (often wholly inconspicu- 

 ous) run down the breast. $ , with the blue impure and 

 black restricted. 



h. The nest is usually placed on the ground, in swampy 

 woodland. In eastern Massachusetts four or five eggs are 

 laid about the first of June. These eggs average .68 X .50 of 

 an inch, and are white, generally clouded delicately at the 

 larger end with brown and lilac. 



c. The Canada '' Flycatchers " are common summer resi- 

 dents in the woods of northern New England ; but in Mas- 

 sachusetts, though their nests have been found, for instance, at 

 Lynn, they are rare except as migrants.f They arrive at Bos- 

 ton on the twentieth of May, or even later, and I have observed 

 them here traveling as late as the fifth of June. During their 



* In most parts of southern New Eng- counties, and universally throughout 



land the Canadian Warbler is seen only northern New England. — W. B. 



during the migrations, when it is usu- t In the region about Boston they 



ally rather common, but it breeds spar- are now known to breed regularly, but 



inglyandlocallyinConnecticut and east- only in small numbers, in the towns of 



em Massachusetts, very generally and Milton, Dedham, Lincoln, Bedford, 



rather numerously in the more elevated and Concord. — W. B. 

 portions of Worcester and Berkshire 



