116 LAND-BIRDS. 



stantly. Their ordinary note is a chip, or weak syllables like 

 those uttered by the Golden-crowned " Wrens," as tsee-tsee 

 or tsee-tsee-tsee. Their song is not very musical, though 

 simple and pleasing. As I have heard it in their summer 

 homes, it resembles the syllables wee-see-wee-see-wee-see (wee- 

 see-icfc). As heard in spring I may liken it to wee-see-wee- 

 see, tsee-tsee-tsee-tsee-tsee-tsee-tsee-tsee. The latter syllables 

 are on an ascending scale ; the very last is shrill and fine. 



6r. CLERULEA. Cmrulean Warbler. Blue Warbler. It 

 is possible and probable that this species may occasionally 

 stray to Massachusetts, but I know no instance of its having 

 done so.* 



a. 4-4 J inches long. J, of an exquisite blue, black- 

 streaked. Under parts, white, with sides streaked. Wing- 

 bars, white. In the (unstreaked ?) <j> the blue is greenish, 

 and the white yellowish. Superciliary line also yellowish. 



"b. Audubon says : " The nest is placed in the forks of a 

 low tree or bush, more frequently on a dogwood tree. It is 

 partly pensile. . . . The fibres of vines and of the stalks of 

 rank herbaceous plants, together with slender roots, compose 

 the outer part, being arranged in a circular manner. The 

 lining consists entirely of the dry fibres of the Spanish moss. 

 The female lays four or five eggs, of a pure white color, with 

 a few reddish spots at the larger end." 



c. I have never seen the Cserulean Warblers, and I have 

 never known them to stray so far to the northward as Massa- 

 chusetts, though, indeed, reported from Nova Scotia. They 

 are said to prefer the deep woods, where they inhabit the 

 tree-tops. 



d. Audubon speaks of their song as " extremely sweet 

 and mellow," but Mr. Ridgway says that they possess " only 

 the most feeble notes " (Dr. Brewer). f This is one instance 



* A very rare and perhaps only acci- t The song is a guttural trill much 



dental summer visitor to Connecticut like that of the Blue Yellow - backed 



and Rhode Island, not known to have Warbler, and hence possessing about an 



been ever taken in Massachusetts or in equal degree of musical (?) merit. 



any of the more northern New Eng- W. B. 

 land States. W. B. 



