FAMILY Mnlotlltldx. 



Wilson's Wilson's Warbl.-r, or Wilson's Blackcap 



warbler ftg j ie j g o f^Q n called, is sufficiently common 



about New York and Boston to be included 



L. 5.00 inches in the list of familiar Warblers. Except 

 May isth for the black cap he is not conspicuously 

 marked. Forehead a slightly greenish yellow; crown 

 black; upper parts bright olive green including the 

 wings and tail; no wing-bars nor tail patches; under 

 I .arts bright light yellow; bill with conspicuous bristles 

 at the base. Female similarly colored but lacking the 

 Muck cap. Nest on the ground generally in thin, 

 swampy woods; it is built of leaves, grasses, and n 

 and lined with finer material of a similar nature. Egg 

 cream white speckled with madder brown and pale 

 madder purple (lavender). This bird is distributed 

 throughout eastern and northern America, and breeds 

 from the northern boundaries of the United States north- 

 ward; it winters in Central America. This familiar lit 

 tie Warbler is the one most frequently found in tin- 

 tangled undergrowth of swampy woodlands; he appa- 

 rently prefers the damp woods near the water where he 

 can easily capture on the wing the insects which form his 

 natural prey. 



The song of Wilson's Warbler is very short and 

 similar to that of the Redstart; the bird's voice is thin 

 and almost insectlike, the pitch is extremely high, and 

 the quality is slightly suggestive of an overtone, though 

 there is not enough of that to remind one in the remotest 

 way of the Black-throated Blue's voice. Nuttall writes 

 the song "'tsh-'tsh-'tsh-'tshea," which, in a measure, 

 suggests the quality of tone, and the evenness of the 

 rhythm, but it throws no light on what might be called 

 the song's structure; that can only be properly expressed 

 by notation, and the following is the nearest approach to 

 its rather subtile though simple character: 



Tsh, tsh, tsh tshed. 

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