HOODED WARBLER. 381 



he had seen a pair of Chats mated. Mr. Dickson was collecting at 

 the time, and was greatly surprised at their sudden appearance 

 within ten feet of where he was standing, but on his moving back- 

 ward, with a view of getting to a safer shooting distance, they 

 disappeared in the thicket and did not again become visible, though 

 they kept up their scolding as long as he remained near the place. 



A pair of this species was also found by Mr. Saunders breeding on 

 the north shore of Lake Erie, near Point Pelee, which completes the 

 record for (Ontario, so far as I have heard. 



Genus SYLVANIA Nuttall. 

 8YLYANIA MITRATA (G.mel.). 



289. Hooded Warbler. (684) 



Clear yellow-olive; below, rich yellow shaded along the sides; whole head 

 and neck, pure black, enclosing a broad golden mask across forehead and 

 through eyes; wings, unmarked, glossed with olive; tail, with large white 

 blotches on the two outer pairs of feathers ; bill, black ; feet, flesh color. 

 Female: — With no black on the head ; that of the crown replaced by olive, that 

 of the throat by yellow. Yoiivg male : — With the black much restricted and 

 interrupted, if not wholly wanting, as in the female. Length, 5-5^ ; wing, 

 about 2f ; tail, about 2^. 



Hab. — Eastern United States, west to the Plains, north and east to 

 Michigan, Southern New York and Southern New England. In winter, 

 West Indies, Eastern Mexico and Central America. 



Nest, in a low bush or tree, a few feet from the ground ; built of leaves and 

 coarse grasses, and lined with fine gi'ass and horse-hair. 



Eggs, four, white, tinged with flesh color and markeil with reddish-Vjrown. 



The Hooded Warbler is a southern species which rarely crosses 

 our southern border. Mr. Norval reports finding it, occasionally, at 

 Port Rowan, on the north shore of Lake Erie, and I once found a 

 young male near Hamilton. It was toward the end of May, when 

 there had been a big bird-wave during the previous night, and this 

 one had apparently got carried away in the crowd. It is a most 

 expert fly-catcher, very active on the wing, and has the habit of 

 flirting its tail after the manner of the Redstart. Its favorite haunts 

 are in thick, briary patches and among underbrush, where it finds 

 food and shelter for itself and family. 



There has been considerable discussion regarding the plumage of 



