MNIOTILTIb^ — THE AMERICAN WARBLEES. 143 



Dendreeca ccerulea Scl.— CouES, Key, 1872. 99: Cheek List, 1873, No. 77; 2d ed. 1882. No. 

 118; B. N. W. 1874, 56.333; B. Col. Val. 1878, 267.— Kidgw. Nom. N. Am. B. 1381, No. 98. 



Sylvia rara WiLs. Am. Orn. iii, 1811, 119, pi. 27, fig. 2.— Nutt. Man. i, 1832, 393.— Aud. Orn 

 Biog. i, 1832. 358, pi. 49. 



Sylvia azurea Steph. Gen. Zool. x, 1817. 653.— Nutt. Man. i. 1832, 407.— Aud. Orn. 

 Biog. i, 1832, 255, pi. 48. 



Hab. Eastern United States, but ctiiefly west of tlie Alleghanies ; north to Canada West 

 and (casually) Connecticut. Breeds very abundantly throughout the heavily wooded dis- 

 tricts of the Mississippi Valley. Winters in Central America and Northern South America; 

 Cuba. 



"Sp. Chak. Male. Above bright blue, darliest on the crown, tinged with ash on the 

 rump; middle of back, scapulars, upper tail-coverts, and sides of the crown, streaked 

 with black. Beneath white; a collar across the breast, and streaks on the sides, dusky 

 blue. Lores, and a line through and behind the eye (where it is bordered above by whit- 

 ish), dusky-blue; paler on the cheeks. Two white bands on the wings. All the tail 

 feathers except the innermost with a white patch on the innerweb near the end. Female, 

 greenish blue above, brightest on the crown; beneath white, tinged withgreenish yellow, 

 obsoletely streaked on the sides; eyelids and a superciliary line greenish white. Length, 

 4.25; wing, 2.65; tail, 1.90. 



"The autumnal adult plumage of both sexes is, in every respect, exactly like the 

 spring dress. Young males in late summer are very similar to adult females, but are 

 purer white below, and less uniform greenish blue above, the dark stripes on sides of the 

 crown and black centres to scapulars being quite conspicuous; the young female, at the 

 same season, is similar in pattern to the adult, but is dull green above, without any tinge 

 of blue, and light buffy yellow below. 



"There is considerable variation in adult males, especially in the width of the pectoral 

 collar; one (No. 60,877. Mt. Carmel, Wabash Co.. 111., Aug. 9) has this entirely interrupted. 

 In this individual there is no trace of a whitish supra-auricular streak; while others from 

 the same locality, and obtained at the same date, have the band across the jugulum con- 

 tinuous, and a quite distinct white streak over the ear-coverts." {Hist. N. Am. A.) 



This pretty little warbler is by far the most abundant of the 

 summer-resident members of the family in Illinois. It frequents 

 chiefly if not exclusively the tall timber of creek and river bottoms, 

 where it keeps much among the tree-tops rarely descending to the 

 undergrowth, and then perhaps only to search for material for its 

 nest. 



"It is a bird of the woods, everywhere associated with the beauti- 

 ful tall forests of the more northern counties of Western New York, 

 sometimes found in the open woods of pasture-lands, and quite 

 partial to hardwood trees. In its flitting motions in search of in- 

 sect-prey, and in the jerking curves of its more prolonged flight, as 

 also in structure, it is a genuine Wood Warbler, and keeps, for the 

 most part, to what Thoreau calls "the upper story" of its sylvan 

 domain. Its song, which is frequent, and may be heard for some 

 distance, may be imitated by the syllables rheet, rheet, rheet, rheet, 

 ridi, idi, e-e-e-e-e-e-e ; beginning with several soft, warbling notes, 

 and ending in a rather prolonged but quite musical squeak. The 

 latter and more rapid part of the strain, which is given in the up- 

 ward slide, approaches an insect quality of tone which is more or 



