BLACJC AND YELLOW WARBLER. 601 



DENDF.CICA MACULOSA 



Black and Yellow Warbler- 



Deuilroeca maculosa Baird, Birds of North America, ISjS -2^1. 

 Plate XXVIII Adult male in spring 



DESCRIPTION. 



Si'. Cii. Form, quite slender. Size, not large. Bill, short, not acuminate. Tail, slightly rounded. 

 Sternum, rather slender: coracoid bones, equal in length to the top of the keel, which is only as high as one- 

 lialf the width of the sternum. Tongue, rather short, thin, horny and not very acuminate ; tip, slightly cleft 

 and ciliated on the extreme end. 



Color, Adult male. Top of head, slaty blue. Back, patch on the side of the head, including a 

 narrow frontal line, ui>pcr tail coverts and tail, black, the latter having a median band of white across the 

 inner webs of all but the two central feathers. Beneath, bright yellow, with the lower part of the throat, sides 

 and flanks streaked with black. These streaks sometimes congregate on the throat and form a large patch. 

 Abdomen, under tail coverts, stripe over the eye, extending down on the neck, spot on the under eyelid and 

 on the side of neck, edging on the inner webs of wing feathers, under wing coverts and upper wing coverts 

 white, the latter having black centers. Wings, dark brown, edged externally with slaty. The rump is yel- 

 low. 



Young mate, similar, but the colors beneath are paler. The l)lack of the back is obscured with green- 

 ish and the top of the head is not as pure slate. Adult female resembles the young male, but the top of the 

 head is paler and the patches on the sides of the head are also obscured with greenish. Young female. The 

 head is obscured with greenish. The back is olivaceous green without any appearance of black, the upper 

 tail coverts are greenish, the spots and stripes of the head are obsolete, the streaks beneath arc barely per- 

 ceptible, and the white on the upper wing coverts is less extended than in the adult. Irides, brown ; feet 

 and bill black in all stages, excepting in the young female, where the latter is brown, lighter at the base of 

 the lower mandible. 



OBSERVATIONS. 

 This fine warbler may always be known by the white band on the tail, which is always present in all 

 stages. Distributed throughout tlie northern portions of the eastern section of the United States and J>rit- 

 ish Provinces. Winters in Mexico, Cuba, and rarely in Florida and the Bahamas. 



DIMENSIONS. 



Average measurements of sixteen sjiecimens from New England. Ijcngth, 4.!)7 ; stretcli. 7..V, ; wing, 

 ■2.O.") ; tail, l.ltO; bill, .O.J ; tarsus, .80 Longest specimen, o.lO: greatest extent of wings, 7.80; longest 

 wing, 2 75 ; tail, l.UI^; bill, .40; tarsus, .1)0. Shortest specimen, 4.75; smallest extent of wings, 7,12 ; short- 

 est wing, 2.20; tail, 1.70 : bill, .•)4; tarsus, .!)0. 



DERCRIPTION OF NESTS AND EGGS. 

 Ne^ts, placed in low evergreen trees. They are composed of small twigs, weeds and dried gnss, n<it 

 very compactly interwoven, lineil with fibrinis roots and horsehairs. The structures arc very neat, but quite 

 shallow. Dimensions; external diameter, ;! inches, internal, 2; external depth, 1-.75 : internal, 1,25. E(:(7s, 

 four in number, oval in form, ashy white in color, spotted and blotched somewhat irregularly with brown 

 and lilac. The largest blotches, however, are inclined tn accumulate on the larger end whore they some- 

 times for!u rings. 



