LAND BIRDS. 585 



washed with yellow on the breast. Fall specimens are more heavily washed with yellow, 

 and the ujiper parts are margined with olive-green. Adult female: Similar, but wing- 

 bars white, and crown not so bright" (Chapman). 



265. Golden-winged Warbler. Vermivora chrysoptera (Lmn.). (642) 



Synonyms: Golden-winged Swamp Warbler, Blue ( ioldcn-winged Warbler. — Motacilla 

 chrysoptera, Linn., 1766. — Sylvia chrysoptera, Vieill., Wils., Nutt., Aud. — Helminthophaga 

 chrysoptera, Baird, 1858. — Helminthophila chrysoptera, Ridgw., 1882, A. O. U. Check- 

 list, 1886, and most subsequent writers. 



Crown and patch on wing bright yellow; throat and band through the 

 eye black, with white line between; three or four pairs of tail-feathers 

 white blotched. 



Distribution. — Eastern United States, north to southern New England, 

 southwestern Ontario and southern Mirniesota ; breeding from northern 

 New Jersey and northern Indiana northward, and southward along the 

 Alleghanies to South Carolina. Central America and northern South 

 America in winter. 



This l)eautiful warbler is irregularly distributed over the southern half 

 of the Lower Peninsula during summer, arriving from the south about 

 the first to the twelfth of May, and retreating southward in August or 

 early September. Probably it nests wherever found, although it is re- 

 ported at several points in the Lower Peninsula as a migrant only. This 

 is one of the warblers which have varied in numbers remarkably in late 

 years. Fifteen or twenty years ago it was very abundant in Monroe 

 county, where Mr. Trombley found it nesting commonly; at present it 

 has almost disappeared from that region. In the neighborhood of Lansing, 

 from 1895 to about 1898, it was also fairly abundant, probably exceeding 

 in numbers the common Yellow Warbler, although that species was far 

 from abundant. Since 1900, however, the Golden-wing has not been 

 noticed frequently, and although a few nest here every season it is far 

 from common. It is reported as a common breeder near JDetroit by Swales, 

 J. C. Wood and Taverner; as common and breeding at Manchester 

 (Watkins); Grand Rapids (Cole); Ann Arbor (N. A. Wood, R. H. Wolcott, 

 A. B. Covert.) At Kalamazoo it was formerly a regular migrant and 

 breeder, but never very abundant, and the same appears to be the case 

 at Port Huron where Mr. Hazelwood notes it as a migrant, but thinks 

 it does not nest. The most northern record for the state is Mackinac 

 Island, where Mr. S. E. White states that in 1891 a number were constantly 

 observed up to July 26, although none had been seen in the two previous 

 years. It was not found by Wood and Frothingham in Otsego, Crawford, 

 Oscoda or Alcona counties, nor has the writer found it at any of the points 

 visited in the upper part of the Lower Peninsula. So far as our present 

 information goes the bird is practically restricted to the region south of 

 the forty-fourth parallel and its occurrence north of that point must be 

 considered as purely accidental. 



The nest is placed invariably on the ground, usually in the edge of woods 

 or in bushy pastures, often at the foot of a shrub or tree, and usually well 

 hidden. It is built of various fibrous materials and often lined with fine 

 roots and hair. The eggs are four or five, white, speckled with brown, 

 chiefly at the larger end, and average .64 by .53 inches. 



The song of the Golden-wing is hardly more than a lisi)iiig twitter, 

 consisting of a repetition of the syllables see, see, sec or tsee]), tsccp, tseep. 



