CANADIAN WARBLER. 



621 



You7i;4 males similar to the female, but the females of this ;iL'e are palei- anil sImw few traces iif tlic blaek 

 iTiarkinifs. Autumnal ailults scarcely differ from the sprin<^ dress excei'ting that the vellow below is ratiier 

 more orange, and the black feathers of the necklace arc tipped with it. 



OBSERVATIONS. 

 Readily known b\' the flattened bill, absence of white spots on the tail, 

 bluish color above and yellow below in all stages and in adults by the neck- 

 lace of black spots. Occurs during the breeding season commonly from 

 Northern New England ( rarely south to Connecticut ) north to Newfound- 

 land, Southern Labrador and Lake Winnepeg, west to Minnesota ; winters 

 in Eastern Mexico and Central America. 



DIMENSIONS. 



Lengtii. from '>.0''t to ."i."!) : stretch, 7.(15 to 8.2^*: wing. l'.-'J.'i to 2.<ii) : 

 tail, 1.!).-) to ±-20 ; bill, .3.-) to .42 ; tarsus, .75 to .Sii. 



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Fig. 101 1. Head uf adult 

 male Canadian Warbler in 

 spring. 



DESCRIPTION OF NESTS AND EGGS. 

 Ne.si's, placed on the face of low mounds or cliffy, dome shaped, with 

 the entrance hole near the top, composed of dry leaves, lined with pine 



needles and a little liorse-hair. Eggs, from three to five in number, oval in f jrm, white or creamy white in 

 color, sp::)tted and dotted chiefly about the larger end, with reddish brown an 1 lilac. Dimensions, from .(58 

 by .50 to .70 by .52. 



HABITS. 



The Canadian Warbler makes it.s ap])earauce in Massaeliiit^ett.s about the seeond or 

 even the third week in May. As a rule tliey are fairly connnon only, Init diiriiio; a tbw 

 seasons I have seen them positively abundant I did not, however, find them at all 

 common during the spring migration at William.sjxtrt, lVnns\lvania, but in May, ISTG, 

 got a few from the 12th to the loth of the month. Tlieir di.stribution during the 

 breeding season is r.ither scattering and local. Thus they lireed rather rai-ely in 

 Connecticut, commonly in Berkshire and Worcester counties, and abimt Boston, but in 

 small numbers in the towns of Milton, Dedham, Belmont, Bedford and Concord, and nu- 

 merously throughout Northern New England Such a singular distribution would suggest 

 tliat, this species, in conunon with some others which are similarly scattered in summer, 

 like the Hermit Thrush and the Solitary Vireo, in the past, where the forests were more 

 (Continuous, nested over all the intermediate region which they now avoid. 



The song of the Canadian Warbler is sweet and pleasing and quite unlike that of an)' 

 other bird with which I am actpiainted, but is heard mainly when the birds are breeding. 

 During the autumnal migrations they are not connnon in Eiistern Massachusetts, but I 

 found a few at Watsontown, Penn.sylvania, from August 30th until September 7th, 1875. 

 Usually when migrating or breeding, the Canadian Warblers prefer swampy thickets or 

 bushes along the margin of woodland, but when abundant they scatter everywhere, o\-er 

 orchard^, ganJens mid fields. 



