l62 THE KIRTLAND WARBLER. 



side of these in turn were Black-throated Greens and Sycamores, about two 

 hundred of each ; while the wings proper were held by Bay-breasts and Black- 

 polls in enormous numbers. The order, as I say, was not strictly maintained 

 but the specific grouping within the general ranks was at least remarkable. 

 As the birds deployed to feed the specific lines were not quite obliterated. 



No. 72. 



KIRTLAND WARBLER. 



A. O. U. No. 670. Dendroica kirtlandi (Baird). 



Description. Adult male in spring : Above slaty blue, streaked finely on 

 crown and broadly on back with black, the back with a brownish gray cast; lores 

 and frontlet black; a \vhite spot on either eyelid; sides of head and neck slaty 

 blue ; wings and tail black, edged with gray ; the middle and greater coverts 

 whitish-edged, but not forming distinct bars ; outer tail-feathers white-blotched 

 on inner web ; under parts clear light yellow, whitening on crissum and chin, 

 the breast with a few small spots, and the sides with short streaks of black. 

 Adult female: Similar but duller above and paler below; lores grayish; sides 

 washed with brownish. Adult male in autumn : Under parts rich yellow, con- 

 tinuous, no spotting on breast but sides heavily streaked w r ith black; upper 

 parts, except wing and tail, olivaceous, lightening anteriorly ; head without con- 

 spicuous markings, but with dull yellowish superciliary stripes and cheeks. Im- 

 mature : Like adult female, but browner gray above ; more brownish on sides ; 

 breast more distinctly (?) spotted. Length 5.50-6.00 (139.7-152.4); wing 2.75 

 (69.9) ; tail 2.35 (59.7) ; bill .47 (11.9). 



Recognition Marks. Larger ; slaty blue back with black stripes ; clear yel- 

 low below with scattering streaks on side (only comparable in this respect to the 

 Prairie Warbler, which is much smaller and an entirely different bird). 



Nesting not known to science. 



General Range. Central northern United States during spring migrations ; 

 Atlantic Coast, Virginia, and South Carolina during spring( ?) and fall migra- 

 tions ; breeding haunts unknown, probably Hudson Bay Territory and north 

 of Great Lakes. Winters in the Bahamas. 



Range in Ohio. Nine of the twenty or more specimens recorded in the 

 United States were taken in this state. One fall record, Lawrence County, 

 August 28, 1902. 



THE Kirtland Warbler has for many years been the rara avis of Ameri- 

 can ornithology. There are other species of which fewer specimens exist in 

 museums, and others still which are now verging upon extinction, to sax- 

 nothing of those strange enigmas, the "Carbonated," "Blue Mountain," and 

 "Small-headed" Warblers, known from the works of Audnbon and Wilson 

 and now lost to science, if ever they did in fact exist as independent species. 



