160 THE BLACK-THROATED GREEN WARBLER. 



taken to reserve large areas of the picturesque sycamores, the present gen- 

 eration must witness the passing of the Sycamore Warbler from its northern 

 haunts. 



No. 71. 



BLACK-THROATED GREEN WARBLER. 



A. O. U. Xo. 667. Dendroica virens (Gmel.). 



Description. Adult male: Throat and breast above and on sides glossy 

 black; sides of head and neck bright yellow; a line through eye, expanding be- 

 hind, olive-green ; above bright olive-green, clearing to yellow in front and on 

 sides of crown ; spotted or streaked with black on middle back, and sometimes, 

 minutely, on crown ; upper tail-coverts ashy- or olivaceous-edged ; wings and 

 tail dusky with ashy edgings on external webs ; two broad white wing-bars ; 

 outer pair of tail-feathers almost entirely, and succeeding pairs decreasingly white 

 on inner webs ; middle of breast, belly, and crissum pale yellowish white ; bill 

 black; feet dark brown. Adult female: Similar, but with less black streaking 

 on back, and with black of throat and sides extensively veiled by yellowish skirt- 

 ings of feathers. Immature : Like female, but with more yellow below, and 

 with black of throat still more thoroughly concealed by yellow tips. Length 

 4.50-5.40 (114.3-137.2); av. of ten Columbus specimens: wing 2.49 (63.2); tail 

 1.91 (48.5) ; bill .38 (9.7). 



Recognition Marks. Medium size ; bright yellow of cheeks and forehead 

 contrasting, or not, with black of throat. 



Nest, of twigs, bark-strips, grass, moss, and feathers, placed ten to fifty 

 feet high in coniferous trees. Eggs, 4, white with creamy or buffy tints, speckled 

 and spotted with lilac-gray and rufous-brown, usually gathered in loose wreath 

 about larger end. Av. size, .63 x .49 (16. x 12.5). 



General Range. Eastern North America to the Plains, north to Hudson 

 Bay Territory, breeding from Connecticut and northern Illinois northward, and 

 south along the Alleghanies to South Carolina. In winter south to Cuba and 

 Panama. Accidental in Greenland and Europe. 



Range in Ohio. Very common spring and fall migrant. A few pairs remain 

 to breed in the rare patches of coniferous timber in the northern portion of the 

 state. 



IF we are sometimes disposed to envy the ornithological pioneers, Wil- 

 son, Audubon, and the rest, because of their unique opportunities for observ- 

 ing birds now rare or extinct, we may comfortably reflect upon the fact 

 that that most fascinating and distinctively American family, the Mnioiiltidae , 

 is yearly marshalled before our eyes in a way that was denied the fathers. 



