400 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



but the Cape May's are less pyriform and the point less acute. The 

 markings are different shades of lilac and reddish brown, and the dimensions 

 of the eggs average .67 by .49 inches. 



Dendroica aestiva aestiva (Gmelin) 

 Yellow Warbler 



Plate 95 



Motacilla aestiva Gmelin. Syst. Nat. 1789. 1:996 

 Sylvicola aestiva DeKay. Zool. N. Y. 1844. pt 2, p. 99, fig. 130 

 Dendroica aestiva aestiva A. O. U. Check List. Ed. 3. 1910. p. 311. 

 No. 652 



aestiva, Lat., summer 



Description. Color principally yellow; the head and under parts 

 rich golden yellow streaked on the breast and sides with rufous or reddish 

 brown; upper parts principally greenish yellow; wings and tail dusky, but 

 margined and overlaid with the color of the back; inner webs of the tail 

 feathers yellow; wing bars yellow. Female: Decidedly less yellow than 

 the male; upper parts a yellowish olive green ; under parts much paler yellow 

 than the male and the reddish brown streaks scarcely discernible. Fall 

 plumage: Less bright than in the spring, especially on the top of the head 

 and under parts, the reddish brown streaks obscured. Young in the fall 

 resemble the adults but streaks on the under parts mostly wanting. 



Length 5.1 inches; extent 7.8; bill .4; wing 2.43; tail 1.9; tarsus .74. 



Distribution. This species inhabits the greater portion of the United 

 States and British America with the exception of the southwestern states 

 and the Florida peninsula. It is also absent from the Arctic zone and the 

 higher portions of the mountains. It spends the winter from southern 

 Mexico to Peru and Brazil. In New York it is a common summer resident 

 in all portions of the State except the spruce and balsam forests of the 

 Catskills and Adirondacks, but it penetrates those regions as far as the 

 clearings and river valleys extend. The spring migration begins between 

 April 18 and May 9, the average date for southeastern New York being 

 May 1, and for northern New York, May 5. In western New York it 

 rarely appears before the 23d of April. In the fall it is last seen between 

 the 2d and 20th of September. 



