352 WOOD WARBLERS. 



This bird has the general habits of the Orange -crowned or Nashville 

 Warblers. Ernest Thompson describes its song as beginning with a 

 note like chipiti, chipiti, repeated a dozen or more times, with increas- 

 ing rapidity, then suddenly changed into a mere twitter. Bradford 

 Torrey says the Tennessee's song " is more suggestive of the Nash- 

 ville's than of any other, but so decidedly different as never for a mo- 

 ment to be confounded with it," and adds a detailed description (The 

 Footpath Way, p. 8). 



648. Compsothlypis americana (Linn.). Parula Warbler ; 



Blue Yellow-backed Warbler. (Fig. 97.) Ad. & .—Upper parts grayish 

 blue; a, greenish-yellow petted in the middle of the bach; greater and lesser 

 wing-coverts tipped with white ; outer tail-feathers with a white patch near 

 the end ; throat and breast yellow, more or less marked with pale rufous, a 

 black, or bluish black, or rvfous band across the breast ; belly white; sides 

 sometimes marked with rufous. Ad. 9 . — Similar, but the rufous color and 

 band on the breast sometimes absent. I))i. — Like the 9 . L., 4-73; W., 2*40; 

 T., 1-76; B. from N., -32. 



Range. — Eastern North America ; breeds from the Gulf States northward 

 to Anticosti ; winters from Florida southward. 



Washington, abundant T. V., Apl. 20 to May 20 ; Aug. 20 to Oct. 15 ; a 

 few breed. Sing Sing, common T. V., May 2 to 28 ; Sept. 21 to Oct. 7. Cam- 

 bridge, common T. V., May 1 to 28 ; Sept. 10 to 30. 



Nest, generally in bunches of f/swea " moss." IJggs, four to five, white, 

 with rufous markings, chiefly in a wreath about the larger end, -66 x -47. 



During its migrations the Parula is very generally distributed, but 

 when nesting it selects localities in which there is an abundance of 

 Spanish or Usnea •' moss." 



In Florida the Parula's notes mark the beginning of a new ornitho- 

 logical year, and its song is so associated in my mind with the beauties 

 of a southern spring that in describing it as a short, insectlike buzz 

 I realize how largely its charm is borrowed from its surroundings. 

 When the cypresses are enveloped in a haze of lacelike blossoms, and 

 the woods are fragrant with the delicious odor of yellow jasmine, the 

 dreamy softness of the air is voiced by the Parula's drowsy song. 



650. Dendroica tigrina (Gmel.). Cape May Warbler. (See 

 Fig. 1.) Ad. 6 .—Crown black, slightly tipped with greenish; ear-coverts 

 rufous, bounded behind by a large yellow patch on the side of the neck ; 

 back olive-green, broadly streaked with black ; rump yellow or greenish 

 yellow; a large white patch on the wing-coverts ; outer tail-feathers with a 

 large white patch on their inner webs, near the tip ; under parts yellow, heavily 

 streaked with black ; lower belly and under tail-coverts whitish. Ad. 9 . — 

 Upper parts grayish olive-green ; rump yellowish ; a yellow line over the eye ; 

 middle wing-coverts with narrow white tips ; outer tail-feathers with a white 

 patch on their inner webs near the tip ; under parts yellow, streaked with 



