112 LAND-BIRDS. 



marked with black streaks which crowd into a fine chain 

 running to the bill. Wing-bars and tail-blotches, white, 

 5 , dusky olive green above, black-streaked. Under parts, 

 not (usually) pure white, or very markedly streaked. 



b. The nest is essentially like that of the " Black-throated 

 Green," though coarser. It is usually placed near the ground, 

 in an evergreen, and always in the thick woods. It has never 

 been found in Massachusetts. In northern New England it 

 is generally finished in the latter part of June. The eggs of 

 each set, usually four, average about .68 X .50 of an inch, 

 and are commonly (grayish?) white, with spots and blotches 

 of purplish and different browns. The blotches predomi- 

 nate, and are scattered over the whole egg. Other forms 

 occur. 



c. The Black-poll Warblers are usually among the most 

 common migrants through this State to northern New England 

 and the countries beyond ; but, like other migrants, they vary 

 greatly in abundance from year to year in certain places, and 

 occasionally are quite rare near Boston in spring. They usu- 

 ally make their appearance here late in the season, and, though 

 I have seen them in the middle of May, they generally do not 

 arrive before the last week of that month, and then remain 

 here, or continue to pass by, throughout the first few days of 

 June. They at that time frequent evergreen and hard-wood 

 trees indifferently, hunting for insects among both the lower 

 and higher branches, and occasionally seizing them in the air. 

 They are less gregarious than in the fall of the year, and one 

 often sees pairs or individuals, much more often than when 

 they are returning, probably because at the time of their spring 

 migrations they are mated for the summer. But a very small 

 proportion of them pass the summer in northern New Hamp- 

 shire, a larger number being then resident in northern Maine 

 and the majority in Canada and Labrador. They affect exclu- 

 sively the woods and forests with a great many evergreens, 

 and rarely visit the lightly timbered and more open woodland. 

 They return to eastern Massachusetts in the last week of 

 September, and are commonly plentiful during a greater part 

 of October. They often frequent pines in preference to all 



