116 LAND-BIRDS. 



stantly. Their ordinary note is a cAz/9, or weak syllables like 

 those uttered by the Golden-crowned " Wrens," as tsee-tsee 

 or tsee-tsee-tsee. Their song is not very musical, though 

 simple and pleasing. As I have heard it in their summer 

 homes, it resembles the syllables wee-see-wee-see-wee-see (wee- 

 see-ick'). As heard in spring I may liken it to wee-see-wee- 

 see, tsee-tsee-tsee-tsee-tsee-tsee-tsee-tsee. The latter syllables 

 are on an ascending scale ; the very last is shrill and fine. 



G. c^RULEA. Ccp.7mlean Warhler. Blue Warbler, It 

 is possible and probable that this species may occasionally 

 stray to Massachusetts, but I know no instance of its having 

 done so.* 



a. 4-4 J inches long. (J , of an exquisite blue, black- 

 streaked. Under parts, white, with sides streaked. Wing- 

 bars, white. In the (unstreaked ?) $ the blue is greenish, 

 and the white yellowish. Superciliary line also yellowish. 



h. Audubon says : " The nest is placed in the forks of a 

 low tree or bush, more frequently on a dogwood tree. It is 

 partly pensile. . . . The fibres of vines and of the stalks of 

 rank herbaceous plants, together with slender roots, compose 

 the outer part, being arranged in a circular manner. The 

 lining consists entirely of the dry fibres of the Spanish moss. 

 The female lays four or five eggs, of a pure white color, with 

 a few reddish spots at the larger end." 



c. I have never seen the Caerulean Warblers, and I have 

 never known them to stray so far to the northward as Massa- 

 chusetts, though, indeed, reported from Nova Scotia. They 

 are said to prefer the deep woods, where they inhabit the 

 tree-tops. 



d. Audubon speaks of their song as " extremely sweet 

 and mellow," but Mr. Ridgway says that they possess " only 

 the most feeble notes " (Dr. Brewer).! This is one instance 



* A very rare and perhaps only aeci- t The song- is a g-uttural trill much 



dental summer visitor to Connecticut like that of the Blue Yellow - backed 



and Rhode Island, not known to have Warbler, and hence possessing about an 



been ever taken in Massachusetts or in equal degx'ee of musical (?) merit. — 



any of the more northern New Eng- W. B. 

 land States. — W. B. 



