334 WOOD WARBLERS. 



Several species have remarkable vocal ability, but, generally speak- 

 ing, they have rather weak voices, and take low rank as songster*. 



Warblers are at once the delight and the despair of field students. 

 To the uninitiated their existence is unknown, and when search reveals 

 the before unsuspected fact that our woods are thronged with birds us 

 exquisitely colored as the daintiest tropical forms, we feel as though a 

 new world were opened to us. 



Absent to-day, present to-morrow, the Warblers come and go under 

 cover of the night, and we may give a lifetime to their study, and then 

 know we have not mastered the laws which govern thoir movements. 



Entering an apparently deserted bit of woods, we hear faint voices, 

 lisping tseeps, and soon discover that the tree tops are animated with 

 Hitting forms. What limitless possibilities there are in a flock of 

 Warblers ! Who can say what rare species may be among them f per- 

 haps the bird we have long vainly looked for ; perhaps a stranger from 

 another clime ! 



KEY TO THE SPECIES. 



First Group. Throat yellow, yellowish, or orange. 

 I. Under parts without streaks or spots. 



11. Witk black or brown streaks on tin- breast or sides, or (in one species) a 

 hlaekish brown band across the throat, or (in one species) a black patch 

 on the breast 



Second (frovp. Throat black, gray, ashy, white, whitish, brown, or bufl'y. 

 I. Throut and upper breatt one color, black, gray, ashy, or brown, very dif- 

 ferent from the white or yellow belly. 

 II." Throat white or whitish, with or without streaks or spots; rest of under 



parts streaked or spotted with black, bluish, ehestnut, or yellow. 

 III. Under parts white, whitish, or buffy, without streaks, spots, or patches. 



First Group. 



I. Under parts without streaks or spots. 



1. Tail with conspicuous white spots or patches. 

 A. Wing* with white wing-bars. 



a. Under parts entirely pure yellow. 



a 1 . Forehead yellow ; a black line through the eye ; rump same as 



back 641. BLI;E-WINHKI> WARBLER. 



cfl. Crown ashy; rump yellow . 657. MAGNOLIA WARBLER (Im.). 



b. Throat bright yellow; belly white or whitish. 



b 1 . Back olive-greenish C71. PINE WARBLER. 



I*. Back bluish, with a yellowish patch in the middle. 



648. PARI-LA WARBLER (Im.). 



c. Under parts pale yellowish white or buffy ; throat not brighter than 

 belly. 



c 1 . Back olive-green, sligjitly streaked with black. 

 d*. Under parts pale cream-buff, stronger on the flanks. 



660. BAY-BREASTDIJ WARBLER (Im.). 



