WARBLERS 



143 



l)ack sometimes (more rarely the crown and rnmp also) 

 narrowly streaked with black, and the forehead some- 

 times with an oval center spot of yellowish ; sides of 

 head and )icck. includinii zclioh- check rciiinn and a 

 broad strif<c oz-cr eye. clear Iciiwn-yelloti', relieved by a 

 streak of olive-green behind eye. this sometimes involv- 

 ing greater part of the side of head; chin, throat, and 

 chest isonietunes sides of breast also), uniform black. 

 the tirst, sometimes partly yellow; rest of under parts, 

 white or yellowish white, the breast itsually tinged 

 (sometimes strongly) with yellow; sides and flanks, 

 heavily streaked with black, these streaks usually con- 

 fluent forward with the black throat-patch at its rear 

 margin ; wings and tail, dusky with slate-gray edgings, 

 the middle and greater wing-coverts, broadly tijiped 

 with white forming two conspicuous bars across wing ; 

 inner webs of two side tail-feathers, mostly white, 

 that of the third with a large white end spot, the two 

 outermost with outer webs extensively white ; bill, 

 blackish ; iris, brown ; legs and feet, dark horn-brown. 

 Adult Fem.xle: Siiuilar to the adult male, but chin 

 and throat, usually w'hitish or pale yellowish, the black 



111 lower throat (if present there) and chest brnken 

 (scinietmies almost hidden) by wliitish tips to the 

 feathers; sides of breast, never uniform black. 



Nest and Eggs. — Xest : Nearly always in an ever- 

 green from 15 to 40 feet up, on a limb some distance 

 from the trunk; compactly built of rootlets, bark 

 strips, grasses, wool, and feathers and line<l with hair 

 and vegetable dmvn. Kt.r.s: Cuninionly 4. creamy- 

 white, spotted with chestnut, brown, and lilac-gray 

 mixed with a few darker spots. 



Distribution. — Xorth .\mcrica ; north to Nova 

 Scotia, shores and islands of Gull of St. Lawrence, 

 Newfoundland, southern shores of Hudson Bay, 

 -Mberta, etc.; breeding southward to mountains of Con- 

 necticut, New York, and Pennsylvania, northeastern 

 Illinois, and along higher .^Ueghenics to eastern Ten- 

 nessee, western North Carolina, and northwestern 

 South Carolina; west to edge of the Great Plains; in 

 winter south to West Indies and through eastern 

 .Mexico and Central America (Guatemala and Costa 

 Rica) to Panama; occasional in West Indies; accidental 

 in .\rizona, Greenland, and Helgoland. 



Just as tlie I'llack-throated lUue loves the 

 laurel, the Black-throated Green is a devoted 

 habitue of the evergreen groves and forests — 

 of pine, spruce, hemlock. Its drowsv song is 

 one of the typical sounds of the |)ineries in tiie 

 warm days of summer, not only in the .Xorth, as 

 with the Blackburnian, but well down into the 

 middle States, It is ajit to keep well uj) in the 

 tall trees, and is more readilv heard than seen. 



liut patient watching will at length be rewarded 

 by a glimpse of the deliberate little singer flit- 

 ting through the needle foliage, hanging head 

 downward, to investigate an insect, or hovering 

 before a cluster. Though not confined to ever- 

 greens, it is seldom seen, except in migration, at 

 :uiy great distance from its native element. 



Since it is quite abundant in many a pinery, it 

 would niit appear hard to find its nest. But this 



C'lurtesy of Am. Mus. Nat. Hist. 

 BLACK-THROATED GREEN WARBLER (J nat. size) 

 A devoted habitue of the evergreen groves and forests 



