308 SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS. — PASSERES— OSCINES. 



C. america'na. (Lat., of America.) Blue Yellow-backed Warbler. Parula War- 

 bler. ^, in spring: Upper parts clear ashy-blue; middle of back with a patch of greenish- 

 yellow or brownish-golden. Lores dusky. A white spot on each eyelid. Wings blackish, 

 crossed on ends of greater and middle coverts with two broad white bars; primaries narrowly, 

 secondaries more broadly, edged externally with the color of the back, internally with white. 

 Tail like wings, with much edging of outer webs like the back, the middle feathers mostly 

 bluish ; at least two outer feathers on each side with large, white, squarish patches on inner 

 web near the end, usually 3d feather blotched with white, and a white touch on 4th or even 5th 

 feather. Chin and throat yellow, rather narrowly couliued, this yellow spreading over whole 

 breast, but much of breast spotted or tinged with orange-brown, and jugulum showing even a 

 blackish collar ; coloration of this part very variable ; sometimes reddish-brown markings along 

 sides, much as in the Chestnut-sided Warbler. Rest of under parts w^hite. Bill above black ; 

 below whitish or flesh-colored, drying yellowish. Legs pale. Length 4.50-4.75 ; extent 7.00- 

 7.50; wing 2.10-2.30; tail 1.75. 9 , in spring: Like ^ ; upper parts less brightly bluish, or 

 with slight greenish gloss ; back-patch not so well defined ; less white on tail ; white wing- 

 bands narrower; dark or reddish tinting of fore breast less decided or scarcely indicated; the 

 yellow more restricted. Young: Bluish of upper parts glossed over with greenish, sometimes 

 to such extent as to obscure the dorsal patch, which is then not very difierent from the rest of 

 the upper parts. White tail-spots smaller, generally confined to two outer feathers on each 

 side. White wing-bands narrower. Edging of tail and wings tinged with greenish, like back. 

 Eyelids not spotted with white. Yellow of fore under parts pale, with little or no indication (if 

 dusky across jugulum. White of under parts tinged with yellowish posteriorly, and frequently 

 showing brownish touches along sides. Eastern U. S.; W. sometimes to the Rocky Mts. ; 

 migratory ; breeds in the greater part of its U. S. range, but chiefly southerly ; winters from 

 Florida southward. An elegant, diminutive species, abundant in high open woods, where it 

 is generally observed fluttering among the smallest twigs and terminal foliage. Nest in trees, 

 ^^^^ an elaborate woven structure of mosses and lichens often 



^^^^^^^^^ placed in a bunch of Spanish moss (TiUandsia usneo- 



^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ ides); eggs 4-5, 0.62 X 0.48, white with the usual 

 _^^^^^^^^^K^^^^^^^^^^ sprinkling of reddish and other dots. 

 ^I(|^^^^^^^^^^^^P^^F C. a. us'neae. (Lat., of usnea, a kind of lichen haug- 



llt^^^^^^^^^^r iug like moss from trees, etc. Usnea barhata is of 



^^(^^Bfllll^^ the species. Fig. 165.) Northern Parula Warbler. 



^tj^^Fm^W Like the last, slightly larger on an average and with 



^^^^Br shorter bill. (J, adult: More black on lores; less yel- 



^W low on under parts ; the collar black or blackish, and 



fore breast much spotted with rich dark chestnut. East- 

 Fio. 105. — Nvyithern Parula. (L. A. em U. S. and British Provinces; breeding range more 

 Fuertes.) northerly than that of typical americana ; nest usually 



almost invariably placed in the hanging-moss whence the name is derived, mostly 2-8 feet 

 from the ground; eggs 4-5, May (best account of nesting in Auk, July, 1897, pp. 289-2[)4). 

 Included with the foregoing in all former eds. of the Key. Brewst., Auk, Jan. 1896, p. 44 ; 

 A. 0. U. List, Eighth Suppl., Auk, Jan. 1897, p. 123. 



C. nigrilo'ra. (Lat. niger, black ; lorum, a bridle ; applied to the space between eye and 

 bill of a bird.) Sennett's Warbler. Adult ^ : Upper parts of the same ashy-blue color 

 as in C. americana, with a dorsal patch of greenish-yellow exactly as in that species. Wings 

 also as in americana, dusky, with grayish-blue outer and whitish inner, edgings, and crossed 

 by two conspicuous white bars on tips of greater and middle coverts. Tail as in americana, 

 but the white spots smaller and almost restricted to two outer feathers on each side. Eyelids 

 black, tvithout white marks. Lores broadly and intensely black, this color extending as a 



