NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 441 



660. BAY-BREASTED WARBLER. Dendrmra i-nxtnm-n (Wils.) Geog. 

 Dist. Eastern North America. Breeds from Northern New England and Northern 

 Michigan northward to Hudson Bay; south in winter through Eastern Mexico and 

 Central America. 



The Bay-Breasted Warbler is known to breed from Northern New England and 

 Northern Michigan northward. Mr. William L. Kells found it breeding in the 

 vicinity of Listowel, Ontario, in low, swampy woods, where there is a mixture of 

 evergreens, ash, birch, elm and other trees. The nests are compact, cup-shaped 

 structures, usually placed in coniferous trees from five to fifteen or even twenty 

 feet above the ground. Mr. Kells found a nest placed between a slender limb and 

 the trunk of a small cedar about five feet up; another was found in a hemlock at an 

 elevation of fourteen feet. The nest is composed of fine shreds of bark, small twigs, 

 fibrous roots and pine hair; the interior is a little more than two inches in diameter 

 by one in depth. The eggs are deposited in the latter half of May or first half of 

 June. Four is the usual number laid; they are white, with a bluish tinge, finely 

 speckled on or round the larger end with reddish-brown; average size .70x.50 inches. 



661. BLACK-POLL WARBLER. Dendroica striata (Forst.) Geog. Dist. 

 Eastern and Northern North America, breeding from Northern New England, Lab- 

 rador, etc., to coast of Alaska (north of the Alaskan Peninsula) and to the Arctic 

 Ocean; accidental in Greenland. In winter, south to Bahamas, Cuba and Northern 

 South America. 



In the United States the Black-poll Warbler is known as a spring and fall 

 migrant, except in Northern New England, where a few pair remain to breed. Its 

 breeding grounds are from thence northward into the 

 Arctic regions. The nests are usually built in the month 

 of June, and are placed in low, thick spruce trees about 

 eight feet from the ground. They are made of small v ^i 



twigs, lichens, slender rootlets, sedges, and lined with J 



feathers. The eggs are four or five in number and have ' 



an average size of .74x.52 inches. In shape they vary 

 from ovate to elongate-ovate, and the ground-color varies 



,. , , 661. BLACK-POLL WARBLER. 



from white to creamy and buff, and occasionally a light 



shade of greenish-white is found. They are speckled, spotted and blotched with 



various shades of reddish-brown and frequently lilac-gray. Occasionally a set shows 



such small specks all over the surface as to almost obscure the ground-color. The 



markings are always much heavier at the larger ends, but they rarely form 



wreaths, 



662. BLACKBURNIAN WARBLER. Dendroica blacJcburnicF (Gmel.) Geog. 

 Dist. Eastern North America to the Great Plains, casually to Utah and New Mexico. 

 Breeds from Northern United States northward. South in winter to the Bahamas, 

 Central America and Northern South America. 



A lovely Warbler, with throat and chest of intense orange yellow. Breeds from 

 the northern States northward, occurring as it does in most of the United States as 

 a spring and fall migrant. Its nests and eggs have been taken in Massachusetts 

 and other more northern New England States. x Dr. C. Hart Merriam found a pair of 

 these birds breeding in a grove of large white pines in Lewis county, New York. 

 In the latter part of May, the female was observed building, and on June 2 

 the nest contained four fresh eggs of the Warbler and one of the Cowbirtf The nest 



