MNIOTILTID^ THE AMEEICAN WARBLERS. 149 



Dendroica blackburnicB BAIKD. B. N. Am. 1858, 274; Cat. N. Am. B. 1859, No. 196; Re- 

 view. 1865, 189.-B. B. & R. Hist. N. Am. B. i, 1874, 237, pi. 13, figs, 2, 3. 

 DendroBcabtackburnicB SCL. COUES, Key, 1872, 100: Check List, 1873, No. 80; 2d ed. 

 1882. No. 121 ("6Zacfc&wrncE");B. N. W. 1874,59; B. Col. Val. 1878, 284.-Rn>GW. Norn. 

 N. Am. B. 1881, No. 102. 

 Sylvia parus WTLS. Am. Orn. v,1812, 114, pi. 44, fig. 3. NUTT. Man. i, 1832, 392. AUD. Orn. 



Biog. ii. 1834, 205, pi. 134. 



Sylvicola parus BONAP. AUD. Synop. 1839,55; B. Am. 11,1841, 40, pi. 83. 

 HAB. Eastern North America, breeding from northern United States northward to 

 British Provinces ; straggling westward to Utah and New Mexico. Winters in eastern 

 Mexico and south to Colombia and Ecuador; Bahamas; Greenland? 



"Sp. CHAE. Upper parts nearly uniform black, with a whitish scapular stripe and a 

 large white patch in the middle of the wing-coverts. An oblong patch in the middle of 

 the crown, and the entire side of the head and neck (including a superciliary stripe from 

 the nostrils), the chin, throat, and forepart of the breast, bright orange-red. A black 

 stripe from the commissure passing around the lower half of the eye, and including the 

 ear-coverts; with, however, an orange crescent in it, just below the eye, the extreme lid 

 being black. Rest of under parts white, strongly tinged with yellowish orange on the 

 breast and belly, and streaked with black on the sides. Outer three tail-feathers white, 

 the shafts and tips dark brown ; the fourth and fifth spotted much with white ; the other 

 tail-feathers and quills almost black. Female similar; the colors duller; the feathers of 

 the upper parts with olivaceous edges. Length, 5.50; wing, 2.83; tail, 2.25. 



"Autumnal males resemble the females. They have two white 

 bands instead of one; the black stripes on the sides are larger; 

 under parts yellowish; the throat yellowish, passing into purer 

 yellow behind. 



"Autumnal young birds have the same pattern of coloration, but 

 the dark portions are dull grayish umber, with the streaks very 

 obsolete, and the light parts dull buffy-white, tinged with yellow on 

 the jugulum; there is neither clear black, bright yellow, nor pure 

 white on the plumage, except the latter on the wing-bands and tail- 

 patches." (Hist. N. Am. B.) 



Few of our birds are more beautiful than the full-plumaged male 

 of this lovely bird, whose glowing orange throat renders it a con- 

 spicuous object among the budding and blossoming branches. The 

 species is migratory in Illinois, passing through in spring and fall, 

 its summer home being chiefly, if not wholly, to the northward of 

 our State, while it passes the winter in Central America and north- 

 ern South America. The Blackburnian Warbler breeds in the 

 northern portion of New York, and in portions of Massachusetts, 

 and thence northward to the British Provinces, frequenting the 

 coniferous forests, and building its nest in bushes or small trees a 

 few feet above the ground. 



