THE LUTESCENT WARBLER. 
mis 
as this one is, there are only two which do not boast a conspicuous area of 
this fashionable shade. And of all yellows, yellow-green, as represented by 
the back of this bird, is the commonest,—so common, indeed, as to merit 
the facetious epithet “museum color.” It is all very well in the case of the 
male, for he comes back (to Seattle) during the first week in April, before 
the leaves are fully out; and he is so full of confidence at this season that 
he poses quite demurely among the swelling buds of alder, maple, and 
willow. He is proud of his full crown-patch of pale orange, contrasting 
as it does with the dull yellowish green of the upperparts and the bright 
greenish yellow of 
the underparts, — 
and he lets you get 
a good view of it at 
twenty yards with 
the glasses. Besides 
that, he must stop 
now and then to 
vent his feelings in 
song. But the case 
of the female is al- 
most hopeless — for 
the novice. 
The song of the 
Lutescent Warbler 
appears to have been 
very largely over- 
looked, but it was 
ene ets not the bird’s fault. 
LUTESCENT WARBLER, FEMALE AND YOUNG, While waiting for 
his tardy mate, he 
has rehearsed diligently from the taller bushes of the thicket, or else from 
some higher vantage point of maple, dogwood, or fir tree. The burden is 
intended for fairy ears, but he that hath ears to hear let him hear a curious 
vowel scale, an inspirated rattle or trill, which descends and ends in a simple 
warble of several notes. The trill, brief as it is, has three qualities of change 
which make it quite unique. At the opening the notes are full and slow, 
but in the instant necessary to the entire recital the pace accelerates, the 
pitch rises slightly, and the component notes decrease in volume, or size. 
At the climax the tension breaks unexpectedly in the gentle, musical cadence 
of the concluding phrases, whose notes much resemble certain of the Yellow 
Warbler’s. The opening trill carries to a considerable distance, but the 
sweetness of the closing warble is lost to any but near listeners. The whole 
Taken in Oregon. Photo by Bohlman and Finley. 
