LAND BIRDS. 611 



no detailed description of this and must confess that although familiar 

 with the bird in migration for twenty-five years, we have never yet heard 

 it utter more than a few disconnected notes, aside from the characteristic 

 chip wdiich so many of our warblers use at that season. See however, 

 Thayer's description in Chapman's Warblers of North America, page 194. 

 The food of this species does not differ, so far as we know, from that of 

 other members of the genus. 



TECHNICAL DESCRIPTION. 



Adult male: Forehead and entire region about the eye, bhxck; top of head, chin, throat, 

 sides of breast and flanks, rich chestnut; a Uirge patch of creamy white on each side of 

 neck, and middle of breast and lielly same color, becoming more buffy on under tail- 

 coverts; back, rump and upper tail-coverts, gray, streaked with black; two white wing- 

 bars; two outer pairs of tail-feathers broadly spotted with white on inner webs near tips. 

 Female similar, but crown never clear chestnut, usually streaked with olive, black and 

 brown; under parts mainly buffy, with traces of chestnut on upper breast and sides; bill 

 black. Young of the year are totally unlike the parents and no description will enable 

 the beginner to identify them with certainty. 



Length 5 to 6 inches; wing 2.75 to 3; tail 2.15J,o 2.25; female slightly smaller. 



278. Black-poll Warbler. Dendroica striata (,/. R. Forstcr). (661) 



Synonyms: Black-poll, Autumnal Warbler. — Muscicapa striata, Forst., 1772. — ■ 

 Sylvia and Sylvicola striata of the older writers, Dendroica and DendrcBca striata of the 

 more recent. 



Streaked black and white, the entire top of head deep black. ]\light 

 be mistaken for the Black and White Warbler, but the latter has a white 

 stripe through the middle of the crown. 



Distribution. — Eastern North America, west to the Rocky .Mountains, 

 north to Greenland, the Barren Grounds, and Alaska, breeding from 

 northern New England antl the Catskills northward. South in winter 

 to northern South America, l)ut not recorded from Mexico or Central 

 America. 



This is another very late migrant, probably the latest of its genus. At 

 Ann Arbor, during twenty-five years of observation, the earliest arrival 

 noted by Mr. N. A. Wood was May 13 and the average May 15. We have 

 records of specimens killed on Spectacle Reef Light, I^ake Huron, on May 

 23, 1897, May 28, 1888 and 1892 and June 1, 1892, while there are two 

 records from Big Sal)lc Light, Lake Superior, May 19, 1887, and June 6, 

 1894. The spring records from several observers in the northern parts of 

 the state give much earlier dates than these, some even in April, but these 

 undoubtedly are based on errors in observations, in all probability the 

 Black and White Warbler being mistaken for this species. In autumn 

 the Black-poll begins to move southward in August and the movement 

 continues all through September and until the middle of October, single 

 individuals being taken in the latter part of this month in the southern 

 part of the state. 



As with the Bay-bi-east there is some uncertainty about the breeding 

 area, and we have no unquestionable record of its nesting in Michigan. 

 It does nest occasionally in northern New England and Ncav York, but 

 it is not known to nest in northern Wisconsin, and it is very doubtful 

 if it ever nests in northein ]\Iichigan. Single birds have been recorded 

 in summer from northern Wisconsin (Kundicn & Hollistcr), and Mr. 

 S. E. White gives it as a rare summer resident on IMackinac Island, ^^'e 



