18 AMERICAN AVARBLKE^!, 



Genus. WOOD WARBLERS. Dendroica. 



Size medium, 4.50 to 5.80. Colors, various , often marked 

 ill spots, strealis, and patches with black, white, yellow, and, rare- 

 ly, with orange. Tail alAvays Avith wliite spots. AVinj? hands 

 either white or some light color. Bill about two thirds as long 

 as the tarsvis. 



There are some fifteen species of this genus found in 

 New England. The bill is not as sharp as in members of 

 the last genus, and the upper mandible is distinctly notched 

 at the tip, but the bill is not cun^ed. The folded wings 

 reach about to the middle of the tail. The tongue, 

 although somewhat variable, is never as deeply cleft as in the 

 last genus, nor is it provided with coarse bristles. ( See fig. 5 

 D, where I give the tongue of a Yellow Red-poll, which is 

 about typical of the genus). The species feed mostly upon 

 insects. 



The white spots on the outer tail feather not only differ in form witli 

 every species, but are very similar in the two sexes, in every stage of 

 plumage, from the nestling to the adult. 'Ilius, allowing for some differ- 

 ence in size, due to age and sex, the form of these spots offers a very 

 good key to the species. 



BLACK-THROATED BLUE WARBLEK. 



Dendroica caeruleseens. 



Plate I, Fig. 5, male ; Fig. 6, female. 



Size 4.75 to 5.75. Dusky blue above; white beneath;; 

 sides of head, throat, and line on sides black. Patch at 

 base of primaries, white. 



Mio^rate about the middle of Mav, as a rule, throuo-h 

 Southern to breed in Northern New England. Rather 

 common during some seasons. Returns in early Sep- 

 tember. 



