408 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



tree only a few feet from the ground. It is a rather loose and bulky nest 

 of dead twigs from spruces and hemlocks, grass stems, a few leaves, lined 

 with fine roots and hair and usually a number of feathers. The eggs are 

 from 3 to 5 in number, dull white to creamy white in ground color, spotted 

 and blotched with reddish brown, lavender and a few purplish black marks. 

 The average size is .70 by .53 inches. The date of nesting in Essex county 

 is May 30 to June 15. 



Dendroica magnolia (Wilson) 

 Magnolia Warbler 



Plate 97 



Sylvia magnolia Wilson. Amer. Orn. 181 1. 3 : 63. pi. 23, fig. 2 

 Sylvicola maculosa DeKay. Zool. N. Y. 1844. pt 2, p. 90, fig. 112 

 Dendroica magnolia A. O. U. Check List. Ed. 3. 1910. p. 313. No. 657 

 magnolia, named from the magnolia tree which it frequents 



Description. Predominant colors black, yellow and white. Adult 

 male: Back, cheeks, frontlet and upper tail coverts black; crown and hack 

 of the neck bluish gray; wings blackish edged with gray and with broad 

 white wing bar; rump and under parts bright yellow; heavily streaked on 

 the breast and sides with black; tail black with a broad basal zone of white 

 formed by the white inner edges of the feathers except the central pair 

 extending from the base half or two-thirds of the way to the tip. Adult 

 female: Duller than the male; back olive green spotted with black- the 

 whole upper parts more or less tinged with gray; under parts lighter yellow 

 and less heavily marked with black. Male in the fall: Brownish gray 

 on the crown and neck; back olive green indistinctly streaked; rump and 

 tail as in spring; breast and sides marked with concealed black streaks 

 very different from the spring. Female in fall: Upper parts mostly 

 brownish olive green; sides with a few obscure black streaks; dusky band 

 across the upper breast. 



Length 4.75-5 inches; extent 7-7.5; wing 2.2-2.5; tail 2; bill .35. 



Distribution. Breeds from southern Mackenzie, Keewatin, northern 

 Quebec and Newfoundland to central Alberta, Saskatchewan, Minnesota, 

 northern Michigan and northern Massachusetts; in the mountains to 

 Maryland and Virginia. Winters from southern Mexico to Panama. In 

 New York it is a common summer resident of the Canadian zone in the 

 Catskills and Adirondacks and breeds sparingly in the swamps, gullies and 



