600 MICHIGAN BIRD LIFE. 



mainly with brown and lavendei', with a few dots of very dark brown and 

 black. They average .68 by .49 inches. The late date at which eggs are 

 found, and the fact that many observers have found the birds accompanied 

 by scarcely fledged young in August, makes it fairly certain that this 

 warbler often rears two broods. 



The song is quite characteristic but difficult to describe. It consists 

 usually of four or five rather wheezy or nasal notes, given in quick succession 

 and with a rising inflection, and suggesting in quality the song of the Black- 

 throated Green Warbler, although perfectly distinct. At all times the 

 bird seems fond of evergreen woods, yet during migrations it is found 

 as often in the hardwoods as elsewhere, and during the nesting season 

 is perhaps most abundant in mixed woods where there is a sprinkling of 

 evergreens. 



The food consists mainly of insects, and we know of nothing in its food 

 habits which merits special notice; it certainly is not injurious in any way 

 and is dou])tless one of those species which is always useful in keeping 

 down the numbers of noxious insects. 



TECHNICAL DESCRIPTION. 



Adult male in spring: Above clear grayish-blue, bluest on forehead and crown; chin, 

 throat, and sides of head and neck, velvet black, this color exteniling in a stripe along 

 each side of the breast; middle of breast, belly and imder tail-coverts, jjure white; wings 

 black, glossed with blue, the coverts without any bars, but a conspicuous white patch 

 at the base of the primaries; tail-feathers black, the outer tliree pairs with large white 

 patches on the inner webs near the end; bill black. Female entirely different: Upper 

 parts olive-green, visually with a blue tinge on the crown and upper tail-coverts; chin, 

 throat, and breast soiled or yellowish-white, becoming buffy on the belly and under tail- 

 coverts; a conspicuous whitish line from the bill over and beliind the eye; white spot at 

 base of primaries small, but always visible; tail markings of the same size and shape as 

 in the males, but dull ashy instead of white. In any plumage the white spot at base of 

 primaries is diagnostic. Length 4.70 to 5.50 inches; wing 2.50 to 2.65; tail 2.05 to 2.25. 

 Female rather smaller. 



273. Myrtle Warbler. Dendroica coronata {Linn.). (655). 



Syn(jnyms: Yellow-rumped Warbler, Golden-crowned Warbler, Yellow-rump. — 

 Motacilla coronata, Linn., 1766.— Sylvia coronata, Lath., 1790, Vieill., Wils., Nutt., 

 Bonap., Aud. — Dendroica coronata or Dendroeca coronata of most later authors. 



Plate LX.* 



Streaked with black and white below, with black and bluish-gray above; 

 crown and rump each with a bright yellow patch, and usually a yellow 

 spot on each side of the breast. Two white wing-bars; the outer tail- 

 feathers with white spots. 



Distribution. — Eastern North America, chiefly, straggling more or less 

 commonly westward to the Pacific; breeds from the northern Ihiitcd States 

 northward, and winters from southern New England and the Ohio valley 

 southward to the West Indies and through Mexico to Panama. 



The Myrtle or Yellow-rump is a common migrant throughout the state 

 and an irregular and somewhat scarce summer resident in its northern 



*This plate, taken from North American Fauna, No. 16, in reality represents Audubon's Warbler, 

 a Rocky Mountain species which very closely resembles our Myrtle Warbler, the principal difference 

 beinf? thatfthe latter has the throat white instead of yellow. Since this does not show in an wneolored 

 plate, and the cut is otherwise an excellent likeness of the Myrtle Warbler wc have taken the liberty 

 of using it as such. 



