522 THE BIRDS OF MAINE 



The food of the species consists of insects of various sorts 

 gleaned from the branches of the various trees or occasionally 

 taken while in the air, and the general run of insects eaten by 

 other Warblers also forms their diet. They do pay quite 

 especial attention to the Adelges or " spruce gall lice " which 

 form disfigurements on the tips of the branches of spruce and 

 fir, and as the Adelges is a great source of injury to the spruces 

 and firs the habit of eating them renders these birds very ben- 

 eficial to the wild land owners. 



662. Dendroica blackburnice (Gmel.). Blackburnian War- 

 bler; Hemlock Warbler. 



Plumage of adult male : crown black with a rich orange patch in the cen- 

 ter ; hind neck, streak across lores, ear coverts and back black ; back streaked 

 with whitish ; wings and tail clove brown, edged very narrowly on outer 

 webs with pale yellowish or whitish ; primaries as viewed from below whit- 

 ish on inner webs ; wing coverts white tipped forming a large white patch 

 on the wings which is really two bands run together ; many of the tail 

 feathers largely white on inner webs, best seen from below, and due to large 

 blotches of white, and sometimes the entire inner webs of many feathers as 

 well as outer web of outer one are white to the base ; line over eye, and 

 behind ear coverts, throat and breast rich orange ; sides streaked with black ; 

 belly tinged with yellowish or orange ; under tail coverts white or slightly 

 tinged with orange. Plumage of adult female : orange crown patch smaller 

 and duller orange than in male ; more ashy olive green above, streaked with 

 black and white or whitish ; crown and other black portions of male about 

 head are more grayish brown, never black in female ; throat paler orange ; 

 white of wings and tail more restricted ; in general similar to male. Imma- 

 ture plumage: above deep yellowish olive gray, flecked on crown and 

 streaked on back with black ; rather obscure yellow crown stripe or spot ; 

 below dull straw yellow, brighter on throat ; otherwise very similar to adult 

 female. Wing 2.65 ; tail 2.00. 



Geog. Dist.— Eastern North America, breeding from the Catskill Mountains 

 in New York and the elevated sections of Massachusetts, northern Wisconsin, 

 northern Minnesota, northern Michigan and Maine northward to Nova Sco- 

 tia, Quebec, Ontario, Keewatin and Manitoba ; migrating southward, eastward 

 of central Kansas, central Nebraska and eastern Texas and thence eastward 

 through the various states ; wintering in southern Central America and more 

 especially in South America from central Colombia to Peru. 



County Records. — Androscoggin ; rare summer resident, (Johnson ). Aroos- 

 took; seldom seen at Fort Fairfield, (Batchelder, B. N. 0. C. 7, p. 109); locally 



