356 Vennor on the Wood^warUers 



bill, black above, whitish below, furnished with bristles at the 

 base : iris, hazel ; legs and feet, reddish yellow. Female differs 

 very little from male. 



The black-throated blue wood- warbler, (Sylvicola Canadensis, 

 Lath, and Wilson.) — This delightful little warbler is exceedingly 

 rare in Lower Canada. Although nothing of a songster, his 

 colours are very bright and rich, and his plumage in general 

 neat. A small chirp is all that is heard from him, as he flies 

 from bush to bush. This warbler is seldom met with in our 

 vicinity ; one was shot here some four years ago, and I have not 

 heard of any having been seen since. Our museum has a very 

 good specimen of this rare bird. Certainly they do not breed 

 here regularly, if at all, a stray individual may sometimes remain, 

 to rear its brood on our mountain, but not often. Audubon 

 traced this warbler, through the upper parts of the State of New 

 York, into Maine, the British Provinces, and the Magdalen 

 islands, in the bay of St. Lawrence. According to his account, 

 the nest is usually placed on the horizontal branch of a fir tree, 

 seven or eight feet from the ground ; nest composed of slips of 

 bark, mosses and fibrous roots, lined with fine grass, and an inner 

 lining of feathers. When this warbler is feeding among the 

 branches of a tree, one can hear quite distinctly the snapping of 

 his bill, as he pursues the insects from twig to twig. He is 

 extremely active, but as we have mentioned before, no real song. 

 Not even during the pairing season, does his note become more 

 musical. Before dismissing this interesting bird, I may be allowed 

 to quote a few lines Wilson has written respecting it. He says : 



"It is highly probable that they breed in Canada; but the 

 summer residents among the feathered race, on that part of the 

 continent, are little known or attended to. The habits of the bear, 

 the deer, and beaver, are much more interesting to those people 

 and for a good substantial reason, because more lucrative ; and 

 unless there should arrive an order from England, for a cargo of 

 skins of warblers and flycatchers, suflScient to make them an 

 object worth speculation, we are likely to know as little of them 

 hereafter, as at present." 



Specific characters. — Length, four and a half inches; extent, 

 seven and a half; the front and upper part of the head, is a fine 

 verditer blue; the hind head and back, of the same colour, but 

 not quite so brilliant; a few lateral streaks of black mark the 

 upper part of the back ; wings and tail, black, edged with sky 



