Warblers SONG-BIRDS. 



So it is with each one of us. Some day a bird absolutely- 

 new and unknown flies through the orchard or sings above 

 the familiar footpath through the woods, which, though it 

 is meant to be a " short cut " to somewhere, is often rendered 

 a loitering-ground by the magic of these very bird voices 

 that speak so directly to us. 



A special gift of sight is needed to search out these tree- 

 flitting Warblers, but in this case the nest of the Parula will 

 tell you of its whereabouts if you are so lucky as to find it. 

 No other bird of our fauna builds a structure akin to its 

 swinging, eery, moss nest, and the day you find it must be 

 noted with red ink in your journal. (See Building of the 

 Nest, p. 20.) 



Yellow Warbler: Dendroica mstiva. 



Summer Yelloivbird. 



Plate 10. Fig. 1. 



Length: 4.75-5 inches. 



Male and Female: Above rich olive-yellow, brightening on the rump; 

 breast and under parts golden-yellow. Breast streaked with 

 cinnamon-brown. Wings and tail olive-brown edged with yel- 

 low. Bill lead-coloured ; feet light brown. Female darker with 

 streaks on breast faintly marked or absent. 



Song: Rapid warble, "Sweet -sweet -sweet -sweet -sweet -sweeter- 

 sweeter?" Seven times repeated. 



Season : First week in May to middle September. 



Breeds : In all parts of its North American range. 



Nest : In the crotch of some terminal branch of a fruit tree, or stout 

 shrub, made of the frayings of milkweed stalks lined with 

 fern wool and hair. 



Eggs : 4-5, greenish or grayish white, spotted and blotched with lilac 

 tints and red-browns. 



jRange : North America at large, except southwestern part, south in 

 winter to Central America and northern South America. 



In early May, often on May-day itself, if the weather is 

 clement, when the marsh-marigolds are vanishing from the 

 swamps, and the cherry trees are in bloom, the Yellow 

 Warblers descend upon the gardens and orchards. 



They come like whirling leaves, half autumn yellow, half 



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