MNIOTILTID.E: AMERICAN WARBLERS. 325 



gray or white ; inner webs of all the lateral feathers with large white blotches. Bill and feet 

 black. One of the largest species. Length 5.50-5.75; extent 8.75-9.33; wing 2.75-3.00; 

 tail 2.25. 9, in summer: Generally similar to $. Upper parts duller and browner slate- 

 color, with less heavy dorsal streaks; crown-spot and other yellow parts paler; breast not 

 continuously black, but variegated with black, white, and color of back. Sides only obsoletely 

 streaked. Eyelids scarcely white, and cheeks hardly different from back. White of wing- 

 coverts mostly restricted to two bars; white tail-spots smaller. (^ 9 , in autumn and winter, 

 and young : Upper parts quite br(jwu, with obscure black marking. Yellow crown-spot con- 

 cealed or wanting; yellow of throat, rump, and sides of breast paler and restricted. Under 

 parts whitish, shaded on sides, and usually across breast, with a dilute tint of color of back, 

 the breast and sides obsoletely streaked with darker. White of wing-coverts obscured with 

 brownish. N. Am., from easternmost woodland of the Rocky Mts. to the Pacific; N. to 

 British Columbia and probably to Alaska; S. in winter to Central America; accidental in 

 Pennsylvania and Massachusetts ; migratory, breeding northward and in Alpine regions ; ex- 

 tremely abundant; nesting in no wise peculiar; nest usually high in coniferous trees, made of 

 bark-strips, pine-needles, rootlets, mosses, hairs, and even feathers; eggs about 4, white with 

 a greenish tinge, rather sparsely marked with the usual colors. 



D. black'burniae. (To Mrs. Blackburn, an English lady. Fig. 180.) Blackburnian War- 

 bler. Hemlock Warbler (youug). Torch-bird. P'irebrand. Prometheus. Adult (^, 

 in spring : Entire upper parts, including wings and tail, 

 black, the back varied with whitish ; wings with a large 

 white speculum on coverts and much white edging of 

 coverts; lateral tail-feathers largely white, only a shaft- 

 line, with clubbed extremity, being left blackish on the 

 outer two or three pairs. Spot on fore part of crown, 

 eyelids, line over eye spreading into a large spot behind 

 tlie auriculars, with chin, throat, and fore breast, intense 

 orange or flame-color — there is nothing to compare with 

 the exquisite hue of this Promethean torch. Side of head "'' 



black in an irregular patch, usually confluent with the p,^_ iso. - Biackbuniian Warbier. (L. 



black streaks on side of breast, isolating the orange of A. Fuertes.) 



side of the head from that of throat, and circumscribing the orange patch below eye. Under 

 parts from the breast white, more or less tinged with orange or yellow, and whole sides streaked 

 with black. Bill and feet dark. Length about 5.50; extent 8.50; wing 2.75; tail 2.00. 

 Adult 9 J in sprhig; Similar to ^ in pattern and distribution of the colors; upper parts brown- 

 ish-tjlive, streaked with black ; the fiery orange of ^ not so intense, or merely yellow, that on 

 crown obscure or obsolete. White speculum of wing resolved into two white bars. Sides of 

 head like back, instead of black as in (J, and the lateral streaks duller and more blended. 

 (J and 9 7 adult, in autumn, are sufficiently similar to the respective sexes in spring, but the 

 coloration is toned down, the fiery colors of the ^ being less intense, and the black of the 

 back being much mixed with olivaceous, bringing about a close resemblance to the spring 9 ', 

 while the 9 i^ duller still, and more impurely colored. Young: Early autumnal birds of the 

 year are very obscure, showing no sign of the rich coloration of the adults, and are Si/lvia 

 parus, the Hemlock Warbler, of old authors. Above, like adult 9 » l^^t still browner, with 

 more obsolete dusky streaking. Usually an indication of the crown-spot in a lightening of 

 the part. Sides of head like crown, cutting off a superciliary stripe and the eyelids, which 

 are ochrey-white. Whole under parts white, tinged, especially on throat and breast, with 

 yellowish, the sides with obsolete streaking. Indication of the peculiar jjatteru of the adults, 

 though without their actual coloration, together with extent of white on the tail-feathers, will 

 usually suffice for determination of the species, before any orange appears on the throat, after 



