BLACKBURNIAN WARBLER. 
Blackburnian = This may be justly considered the most 
EE beautifully colored bird belonging to the 
Dendroica e : ; 
blackburnie “amily of Warblers, and it certainly can 
L. 5.25 inches not be counted an uncommon one.* Mid- 
May 15th dle of the head, a band over each eye 
extending well back, a patch behind the black ear- 
coverts, the throat, and breast, all brilliant cadmium 
orange; the rest of the head and the back black, the back 
streaked with cream white; wings black with white 
coverts forming a conspicuous patch; the inner vanes of 
most of the tail feathers white; the outer vane of the 
outer tail feather white at the base; under parts yellow 
white-tinged; sides streaked with black. Female marked 
like the male, but the orange extremely dull, and the 
upper parts gray olive streaked with dull white. Nest 
from ten to thirty (sometimes more) feet above the 
ground in evergreen-trees; it is built of fine twigs and 
grasses, and lined with moss, tendrils, fine rootlets, etc. 
Egg gray or pearl white thickly speckled with cinna- 
mon brown and olive. The bird is found throughout 
eastern North America; it breeds from Minnesota and 
Maine north to Labrador, and south along the Allegha- 
nies to South Carolina; it winters in the tropics. It 
prefers the coniferous woods where hemlock and spruce 
are plenty. 
The song of the Blackburnian Warbler is a distinctly 
characteristic one; there are about three double chirps, 
succeeded by as many ascending notes with a distinct 
overtone, thus: 
Vivace. times 8va. 
N ore aa? 
Zillup, zillup,zillup, zip-zipzip, 
The tone of voice is wiry and thin, and the delivery is 
rapid. It would be difficult to get this song confused 
with that of any other Warbler, if strict attention is paid 
to its dual character. Mr. Torrey describes the song by 
the syllables ** zillup, zillup, zillup, zip, zip, zip,” which, 
* Mr. Ned Dearborn reports seeing not less than six in the same 
tree at once, in the vicinity of Durham, N. H. 
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