FAMILY Mniotiltide. 
Black-throated This bird represents an esthetic combi- 
Blue Warbler ation of such ordinary colors as black, 
scared blue, and white, the black and white tones 
L.5.20inches predominating. Upper parts gray-blue 
May 1oth with black washings on the back; sides 
of the head, region of the eye, throat, and sides of the 
body black; the bases of the primary wing feathers 
white, forming a conspicuous wing-bar; inner webs of 
the outer tail feathers with more or less white at their 
tips; wings and tail edged with blue. Female with a 
substitution of dull olive green for the blue of the male; 
the tail with a bluer tinge; the white patches on tail and 
wings scarcely apparent; region of the eye brown-gray; 
lower parts pale olive gray on the sides and dull yellow- 
buff below. Nest usually near the ground, in the un- 
derbrush of thick woods; it is built of bark, grasses, 
pine-needles, etc., and lined with fine plant fibres and 
rootlets; it is never over two feet from the woodland 
floor. Egg dull pearl or gray white with varied brown 
markings mostly at the larger end. This Warbler is 
found throughout North America; it breeds from New 
England northward to Labrador, and winters in the 
West Indies and Central America. 
The Black-throated Blue isa bird with a characteristic 
but not a soul-inspiring song. His is an effort withouta 
tune; a sound comparable to an accidental scraping of 
the bow over the ‘‘ cello” strings with the musical tone 
somewhat decimated. The song is generally described 
in syllables, thus: zwee-zwee-zwee-e. John Burroughs 
writes it, ‘‘ twea-twea-tweaee” and says it goes with an 
‘upward slide and the peculiar z-ing of summer insects, 
but not destitute of a certain plaintive cadence. It is 
one of the most languid, unhurried sounds in all the 
woods. I feel like reclining upon the dry leaves at 
once. Audubon says he has never heard his love-song; 
but this is all the love-song he has.” That, for a word 
description of the music, is about as near the truth as it 
is possible for one to approach. The song is short and 
deliberate, and the extremely high tone is dominated by 
a correspondingly low overtone—the buzz which Mr. 
Burroughs likens to the z-ing of an insect. I must im 
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