WARBLERS. 117 



among many, and a simple one, of disagreement between two 

 authorities (in this case, the former probably being the less 

 trustworthy). I have seen no less than six wholly different 

 descriptions of the song of one species, the name of which I 

 do not now remember, none of which seemed to me reliable or 

 satisfactory, and yet they were all written by men whom one 

 would naturally regard as good authorities. Moreover, it was 

 very evident that not more than one or two were descriptive 

 of the same notes, though the bird in question had but one 

 song. It is, therefore, certain that some of these authors 

 attributed to this bird music that it never uttered. In most 

 cases of the kind it is to be remembered that many birds 

 have two songs, many variations of one song, or a simple un- 

 musical chant, to which a terminal warble is added in May 

 or June. 



H. C^RULESCENS. Black-throated Blue Warbler. Can- 

 ada Warbler. Generally not very common during their 

 migrations through Massachusetts.* 



a. Five inches or more long. (J , slaty blue above, white 

 beneath. Sides of head and whole throat, continuously jet 

 black. Wings and tail, dark ; the former with a large white 

 spot on the edge of the wing (at the base of the primaries) 

 and no bars. <j> , above, dull olive green, blue-tinged. Below, 

 white or yellowish. Wing-spot characteristic, but sometimes 

 inconspicuous. 



b. The nest is probably always built near the ground, and 

 most often in an evergreen.f An egg found by Mr. Bur- 

 roughs and described by Dr. Brewer is grayish white," marked 

 around the larger end with a wreath, chiefly of a bright 

 umber brown with lighter markings of reddish brown and 

 obscure purple. A few smaller dottings of the same are 



* A common spring 1 and autumn mi- t In northern New England the nest 



grant, breeding sparingly and locally in is usually built in a yew ( Taxus cana- 



northern Connecticut and northern cen- densis), in Connecticut and among the 



tral Massachusetts, very abundantly in mountains of Virginia and North Caro- 



Berkshire County, Massachusetts, and lina in a laurel (Kalmia latifolid). 



commonly throughout most of northern W. B. 

 New England. W. B. 



