Birds of Indiana. 1053 



24, 1893. They come when vegetation is well advanced and the trees 

 well in leaf. They prefer the more open woods and thickets, and 

 there among the higher bushes, and lower branches of the trees, they 

 qiiietly do their work. They are modest, retiring birds, though very 

 striking in color and carriage. As they move leisurely about, with the 

 tail iDartially erect and the feathers spread, the white patches on their 

 inner webs are plainly visible. Its song, which is sometimes heard, 

 is said by Mr. Langille to be "a loud, clear whistle, which may be 

 imitated by the syllables 'chee-to, chee-to, chee-tee-ee/ uttered rapidly, 

 and ending in the falling inflection." I have generally found them 

 in maple woods, often near streams. 



In the fall the advance migrants appear about the lower end of Lake 

 Michigan the latter part of August, and sometimes reach the -Ohio 

 Eiver almost as soon. Some years their stay is short; others, they re- 

 main a full month, departing the last days of September. They ar- 

 rived in Cook County, 111., August 31, 1895, August 21, 1896; at La- 

 fayette, August 24, 1896; at Cincinnati, 0., August 28, 1879. The last 

 fall occurrences were at Chicago, 111., September 27, 1895; Lafayette, 

 September 26, 1896; Lake County, Ind., September 25, 1875, Septem- 

 ber 28, 1878, September 18, 1881. As with all this group of birds, 

 this is very destructive to insects. Prof. King examined 17 specimens: 

 Three had eaten four hymenoptera, among which were two ants; one, 

 a moth; six, 17 caterpillars; six, 15 diptera, including two tipulids; six, 

 12 beetles, and one, 2 larvae (Geol. of Wis., I., p. 505). 



*269. (658). Dendroica rara (Wils). 



Synonym, Dkndroica c.khulea iWils.l. 



Cerulean Warbler. 



Synonym, Blue Wakiu.ek. 



Male in Spring. — Azure-blue, with black streaks; below, pure white; 

 breast and sides, with blue or blue-black streaks; two white wing bars; 

 tail blotches small but occupying every feather, except, perhaps, the 

 central pair; bill, black; feet, dark. Female and Young with the blue 

 glossed with greenish, and the white soiled with yellowish; a yellowish 

 eye ring and superciliary line (Mcllwraith, p. 365). 



Length, 4.00-5.00; wing, 2.40-2.70; tail, 1.70-1.90. 



Range. — America, from Bolivia north, over eastern United States 

 to northwestern New York, southern Ontario, southern Michigan and 

 Minnesota, west to Nebraska. 



Rare east of Alleghanies. Breeds from West Virginia, Tennessee 

 and Missouri, northward. 



