SONG-BIRDS. Warblers 



Parula Warblei* : Comjisothlt/pis atnericana. 



Blue Yellow-hacked Warbler. 



Plate II. Fig. 17. 



Length : 4.50 inches. 



Male and Female : Above slate-blue, triangular .spot of greenish 

 yellow back of shoulders. Chin and throat yellow. AVings 

 brownish with two white bars ; two white .spots on tail. Belly 

 white, reddish brown band across breast. Markings of under- 

 parts variable. Bill black above and flesh-coloured below. 

 Feet light. In spring the female closely resembles the male, 

 but lacks the brown wash on breast. 



Song : Shrill wiry — " Chirr- rirr-irr-reeh." (Nehrling.) 



Season : April to October. 



Breeds : Eastern United States and northward. 



Nest : In swamps where the usnea moss is plentiful, or, at least, never 

 far from water. Nest a delicate structure of filmy moss, sus- 

 pended fi'om a .slender branch. 



Eggs : 4-5, with reddish .spots. 



Range : Eastern United States, west to the Plains, north to Canada, 

 and south in winter to the West Indies and Central America. 



In early May, before the apple trees are in bloom, if you 

 look up among their branches you will see this airy little 

 Inrd flitting in and out, pausing every moment, head down 

 in Titmouse fashion, then raising its head again to utter its 

 chirping song, and, lifting its wings, seems half to fly, half 

 to be blown from branch to branch. 



This is the bird that awakened Burroughs, when a boy, 

 to the unfamiliar birds that lodge in very familiar woods. 

 He writes, under title of "The Invitation," in "Wake 

 Robin " : " Years ago, when quite a youth, I was rambling in 

 the woods one Sunday with my brothers, gathering black 

 birch, wintergreens, etc., when, as we reclined upon the 

 ground, gazing vaguely up into the trees, I caught sight of a 

 bird that pavised a moment on a branch above me, the like 

 of which I had never before seen or heard of. . . . How the 

 thought of it clung to me afterward ! It w\as a revelation. 

 It was the first intimation I had had that the woods we 

 knew so well, held birds that we knew not at all." 



93 



