SONG-BIRDS. Warblers 



Eggs : 4-5, white, with irregular small blotches of reddish brown. 

 Bange : Eastern North America, westward to the Plains, and north 



to the Arctic regions ; south, in winter, to Central America and 



northern South America. 



The Canadian Warbler may be identified by the beauti- 

 fully wrought jet necklace which he wears across his yellow 

 throat, the black crown streaks, and the peculiar bluish ash 

 back. He has charming manners, and a dainty way of giv- 

 ing a little old-fashioned bob courtesy whenever he sees a 

 passer-by. His song is quite pretty, but not by any means 

 a certain mark of identification ; in fact, I do not think that 

 there are more than eight or ten of the whole Warbler tribe 

 whose notes will serve as a guide to any one but an ornithol- 

 ogist well up in field practice. 



American Redstart: Setophaga ruticilla» 



Plate 20. 



Length : 5-5.50 inches. 



Male : Above brilliant blue-black, white belly, sides of body and wing 



linings salmon-orange^ which colour sometimes flushes the 



breast. Some orange on base of wings ; tail feathers half 



orange and half black. Bill and feet black. 

 Female: Brownish olive above and the orange of the male replaced 



by yellow. 

 Song: Resembling that of the Yellow Warbler, "Sweet, Sweet, 



Sweeter!" but the word is only used three times, while it is 



repeated seven times by the Warbler, 

 Season : May to September ; a common summer resident. 

 Breeds : From middle United States northward. 

 Nest : A carefully made structure of moss fibres and sometimes hors^ 



hair, set in a forked branch usually about twenty feet from the 



ground ; I have seen one at the top of a small spruce. 

 Eggs : Indistinguishable from other Warblers. 

 Bange: North America, north to Fort Simpson, west regularly to 



the Great Basin, casually to the Pacific Coast; in winter the 



West Indies, and from southern Mexico through Central 



America to northern South America. 



Again the colour title of a bird is a misnomer. Eedstart, 

 a corruption of the German roth stert, red tail, being very mis- 

 leading in this day of accurate colour distinctions. Mrs. 



115 



