WARBLERS 



127 



its generally i"ich yellow plumage, set off bv a 

 few contrasting colors, it is an exceedingly beau- 

 tiful little creature, a veritable sunbeam in the 

 masses of dark green foliage where it moves 

 rather slowlv for a \\ arbler. but always with a 

 certain distinctive ease and grace. The syllables 

 of its song, a thin but sweet whistle, repeated at 

 short intervals, suggest the words, s^^'cct. s-i^'crl. 

 sweet, S7i'eeter, szceeter, or again, -a'cc-cher, 

 wee-cliee, cliee. cliee, with sometimes a cliiir 

 or a wee-i-u included, and accomjiany a cheerful 

 and unflagging industry which all may behold, 

 because of the bird's fondness for fruit and 

 shade trees about human habitations. It is also 

 frequently found in willow trees near the water, 

 and in other comparatively open growths, but 

 rarely in dense forests. The bird's conspicuous 

 coloration and its verv wide distribution make it 



line of the best known members of its familv so 

 manv of which arc elusive ,ind difficult to 

 identify. (iF.oKiii-: (ii.ADDEX. 



Regional varieties of the Yellow Warbler are : 

 the Sonora Yellow Warbler ( Dcndroka (cstiva 

 sonorana) , found in the southwestern part of 

 Xortli .-Kmerica from western Texas westward 

 and ^outh through Mexico to Guatemala and 

 Nicaragua; the .\laska ^'ellow ^^■arbler (Den- 

 droica icstiiv nil'iijiiiosa ) . breeding in Alaska 

 and south to X'ancouver Island and wintering in 

 Alexico anrl Central America ; and the California, 

 or Brewster's. Yellow Warbler (Dcndroica 

 icsth'a hre:^'steri ). breeding west of the Sierra 

 Nevada from Washington to southern California. 

 The winter hoiue of the California Yellow 

 \\'arbler is unknown. 



BLACK-THROATED BLUE WARBLER 



Dendroica caerulescens casrulescens {(^imdin) 



\ |- Vnnih.r .,S4 '-ee (V,|o,- I'l.tr qi 



Other Names. — Blue Flycatclu-r ; I'.lack-throat. 



General Description. — Leii.si;tli. 5 inches. M.\le; 

 Upper parts, black and blue ; under parts, black and 

 white. Fem.\le: Upper parts, olive; under parts, olive- 

 yellowish. Bill, shorter than head, slender, tapering 

 .ttradually to the tip ; wings, moderately long and 

 pointed ; tail. even. 



Color. — Adult Male: Above, plain dull grayish 

 indigo-blue, the back sometimes spotted or clouded with 

 black ; wings, except lesser coverts, black, the middle 

 coverts broadly margined, the greater coverts broadly 

 edged, the wing-feathers narrowly edged, with dull 

 .grayish indigo-blue, the inner feathers chiefly of the 

 latter color; winy bars absent: fiyiinarics (c.rccpt 

 outermost) extensively white basally. forminii a eon- 

 spicitous patch: all the wing-feathers with inner webs 

 extensively white basally and edged with white ; tail- 

 feathers black, narrowly edged with dull indigo-blue, 

 the three outermost with a large patch of white on 

 inner webs near the tips; head (except forehead, crown, 

 and back), chin, throat, sides of chest, sides, and flanks, 

 uniform deep black, that along sides and flanks some- 

 what broken by white streaking; rest of under parts 

 and under wing-coverts, white; bill, black; iris, brown; 

 legs and feet, dusky brown. Adult Female : Above, 

 plain olive, relieved by a zvhite or whitish spot at base 

 of longer primaries : tail, darker and more grayish- 

 olive, edged with light greenish-gray, the inner web of 



outermost feather sometimes with an indistinct paler, 

 rarely whitish, spot near the tiji ; a whitish streak on 

 upper and lower eyelids, the former continued back- 

 ward for a distance over ears ; under parts, including 

 cheeks, pale, dull olive-yellowish, shaded with olive 

 laterally; bill, blackish; iris, brown; legs and feet, 

 dusky horn color. Young Male in First Fall and 

 Winter: Similar to adult male but white of under 

 parts tinged with yellowish, bluish-gray of upper parts 

 tinged with olive-green, and black feathers of throat. 

 etc., margined with white. 



Nest and Eggs. — Nest: In small bushes, seldom 

 higher than 2 feet, close to abandoned wood-roads; 

 very neat, thick-walled structures of weed bark, grasses, 

 twigs, and rootlets, lined with fine brown rootlets and 

 horse-hair and always decorated exteriorly with corky 

 bits of wood and woolly parts of cocoons. Eggs: 

 Usually 4, pale buffy-white or greenish-white, rather 

 thickly blotched with varying shades of pinkish and 

 reddish-brown. 



Distribution. — Eastern North America ; breeding 

 from northeastern Connecticut, mountains of Pennsyl- 

 vania, northern Ontario and southern Michigan, north- 

 ward to Labrador and shores of Hudson Bay; west- 

 ward, during migration, to base of Rocky Mountains, 

 in Colorado and New Mexico, accidentally to Cali- 

 fornia ; winters southward to West Indies and northern 

 South America. 



Some of the so-called wood W^arblers are 



" woodsy " only by virtue of relationship, but 



the Rlack-throated Blue Warbler is one both by 



structure and by habit. It is. moreover, a special- 



\'oL. III.— 10 



ized woodland bird, resorting to an especial tvpe 

 of " the woods." Its typical haunts are the 

 densely shaded second-growth on the sides of 

 wooded hills, either well to the nortii. or else to 



