FAMILY Mnlotlltidx. 



.\> imitate these high tones it is necessary to place the 

 tongue in a rigid position behind the upper front teeth, 

 an eighth of an inch, perhaps, away from them, and 

 force the whistled tone between; the lips will easily 

 manage the third interval by a slight shift. 



Golden-winged This beautiful gray Warbler with his 



, ^ marks of gold and his funny, quizzical 

 Helminthrophila , , J ' 



chrysoptera face ( wh en you get a good front view of 

 L. 5.10 inches it) is rather a late arrival. He appears in 

 May uth. the vicinity of New York about May 8th, 

 and around Boston several days later. His colors are 

 unique and refined. Top of head bright lemon yellow; 

 upper parts a light blue-gray, with sometimes a slight 

 greenish tinge; two narrow wedges of black extend 

 from about the eye backward, and another from the 

 chin downward, the intervening space being white; a 

 narrow white line over the eye; two overlapping bars 

 on the blue-gray wings form a conspicuous yellow patch; 

 the three outer tail feathers have white patches on the 

 inner vanes; sides light gray; lower breast and under 

 parts white. Female similarly marked, but the black 

 displaced by gray, and the yellow by pale ochre-yellow. 

 Nest on the ground among the bushes in field borders; 

 it is built of dead leaves, bark, and tendrils, and lined 

 with finer material. Egg white speckled on the larger 

 end with varied brown. The bird is distributed 

 throughout the eastern United States and breeds in 

 the more northern ones including northern New Jersey. 

 It winters in Central and northern South America. I 

 have never seen it in Campton, N. H., and according to 

 Mr. Ned Dearborn's report it has not been discovered 

 within the limits of New Hampshire. It is, however, a 

 common bird in the Arnold Arboretum, near Boston. 



The song of the Golden- winged Warbler is something 

 of a puzzle to the initiated as well as the uninitiated; 

 it is generally reported as a monotonous zee-zee-zee-zee, 

 which is all right in part. Evidently it is a case of 

 tone-deafness with those who have reported the song 

 thus imperfectly, otherwise it is difficult to understand 

 166 



