164 



BIRDS OF AMERICA 



Color. — Adult Male: Forehead and front of crown, 

 together with lores, sides of head, space around eyes, 

 and cheeks, rich lemon-yellow, the lores sometimes with 

 a little of dusky or black; rest of head, including 

 throat, together zcith chest, deep black, that of the chest 

 with an abruptly defined convex rear outline ; hindneck, 

 back, shoulders, lesser wing-coverts, rump, and upper 

 tail-coverts, plain yellowish olive-green, wings and tail, 

 dusky brownish-gray with yellowish olive-green edg- 

 ings, the middle wing-coverts broadly tipped with that 

 color; inner webs of three outermost tail-feathers 

 extensively white terminally, that on the exterior 

 feathers occupying more than the terminal half; under 

 parts of body, pure rich lemon-yellow, becoming olive- 

 greenish on sides and flanks, the under tail-coverts, 

 paler yellow ; under wing coverts, pale yellow ; bill, 

 blackish in spring and summer, more brownish in fall 

 and winter ; iris, brown ; legs and feet, pale flesh color. 

 Adult Female: Similar to the adult male, but with 

 much less of black on head, sometimes with none; if 

 the black occupies approximately the same area as in 

 the male it is much duller and broken with olive-green 

 on crown and back of head and with yellow on throat; 

 usually, the throat is entirely yellow, sometimes with an 



indication of a dusky collar across tlie lower portion or 

 on upper chest, and the crown and back of head are 

 blackish only next to the yellow of forehead and sides 

 of head; when there is no black on the head the crown 

 is entirely olive-green, becoming more yellowish on 

 forehead. 



Nest and Eggs. — Xest : Generally placed within a 

 foot of ground in bushes; composed of shreds of grape- 

 vine and tree bark, dried leaves, and grass, neatly inter- 

 woven and fastened with spiders' webs, and lined with 

 fine grass, horse-hair and a few rootlets. Eccs : 3 to 5. 

 but almost always 4, creamy-white sparingly spotted in 

 wreaths around large end with reddish-brovt'n, purple, 

 and dull lavender. 



Distribution. — Eastern United States, west to edge 

 of the Great Plains; breeding northward to Connecti- 

 cut, southeastern New York (lower Hudson valley), 

 central New York, northeastern Illinois, eastern 

 Nebraska, etc. ; southward to South Carolina, Ala- 

 bama, and Louisiana ; occasional northward to Massa- 

 chusetts, northeastern New York, southern Ontario, 

 southern Michigan, and Wisconsin; in winter south to 

 Cuba and Jamaica and through eastern Mexico and 

 Central America to Panama ; casual in the Bermudas. 



The black domino of the Maryland Yellow- 

 throat is replaced in the male Hooded Warbler 

 by a broad yellow mask, extending over the fore- 

 head to the crown of the head and well back of 

 and below the eyes, this yellow patch being 

 sharply set oflf by a solid black framework, which 

 forms a sort of cap or hood for the bird's head, 

 and a bib for his throat. These markings are 

 very conspicuous, and, being pectiliar to this bird, 

 it may readily be identified by means of them. 



Like the Yellow-throat, however, this Warbler 

 is found much in brvish or the lower branches of 

 trees, within easy observation range. Under 

 these conditions one may not only enjoy to the 

 full the bird's singularly striking and beautiful 

 plumage, but may see as well many evidences of 

 its natural gentleness and friendliness. Even 

 when flushed from her nest, the female bird 

 fltitters about, tittering a mildly protesting chirp 

 and showing her outer white tail-feathers, but 

 without the display of fear and rage commonly 



expressed by other birds under stich conditions. 



Dr. Chapman, to whose afifections this bird evi- 

 dently makes a very strong appeal, says of its 

 song: "To my ear, the words ynii iinisf come 

 to the 7^'oods or yoii ivoii't sec 111c, uttered 

 quickly, and made to run one into the other, 

 exactly fit the bird's more prolonged vocal efforts, 

 though they are far from agreeing with the at- 

 tempts at syllabification of others. The call is 

 a high, sharp cheep, easily recognized after it 

 has been learned." ( The IJ'arblers of North 

 America.) Mrs. Wright's interpretation of the 

 song is Clic-7\.'e-co-tsip, tsip, che-zcc-en. There 

 appear to be two song-periods, the first ending 

 early in July and the second occupying about the 

 last week of August. 



The genus to which this \\'arbler belongs, and 

 which includes the \\^ilson's ^^'arbler and its 

 variants and the Canada \\'arbler, was named 

 IVilsonia by Bonaparte in honor of Alexander 

 Wilson, father of American ornithology. 



WILSON'S WARBLER 



Wilsonia pusilla pusilla (U^ilson) 



A O. V. Number 1.8; 



Other Names. — Wilson's Flycatcher; Wilson's Fly- 

 catching Warbler ; Wilson's Black-cap ; Wilson's Black- 

 capped Flycatching Warbler ; Black-capped Warbler : 

 Black-cap ; Black-capped Flycatching Warbler ; Green 

 Black-capped Warbler. 



General Description. — Length. 414 inches. Upper 

 parts, olive-green ; under parts, yellow. Bill, not over 



See Color Tlate 98 



'/> length of head, tapering gradually to the tip ; wings, 

 moderately long and pointed : tail, sli.ghtly double 

 rounded. 



Color. — Adult Male: Forehead, above and around 

 eye, and entire under parts, lemon-yellow, the sides and 

 flanks slightly tinged with olive-green; crouni. glossy 

 blue-black, the feathers slightly elongated, distinctly 



