DIRECTORY TO BIRDS OF EASTERN NORTH AMERICA. 247 



the vicinity of thickets where it is common. Song, a lively 

 lay of about seven notes something like " Sweet sweet sweet to 

 sweetee" sometimes another "Sweet" being added. 



q. Little Warblers. Compsothlypis. 



Small warblers with short, acute bills, white wing patch 

 and tail spots bluish above, more or less yellow beneath, 

 with yellowish patch in middle of back. Fig. 325. 

 Ancestral origin, northern S. A. 



1. BLUE YELLOW-BACKED WAR- 

 BLER, C. AMERICANA. 4.75; bluish above 

 and on sides of head ; throat and breast, 

 yellow with a band of dusky and chestnut 

 on breast. Female, duller. Breeds from 

 Ta. southward to the Gulf States; winters 

 in Fla. ; south in Aug. and Sep. ; north in 

 April and May. Frequents woodlands and 

 builds its nest in the "Spanish moss" which 

 drapes the trees in the south. 



1*. NORTHERN BLUE YELLOW- 

 BACK^ C. A. TJSNEAE. Differs from 1 in 

 being a little larger, and darker with more 

 chestnut below, especially on sides, plate CC, H, p, 1.1-3. 

 15. Breeds from Ya. north to Canada but confined to those 

 sections in which the long, pendulous lichens of the genus 

 Usnea grow, for in these it builds its nest. Occurs every- 

 where during migration; very active. Song, a vehemently 

 uttered "Swee swee swee swee sivee-zer" the last two syllables 

 being quickly given, the last ascending; these are sometimes 

 omitted. 



1**. WESTERN BLUE YELLOW-BACK, C. A. RAMA- 

 I.INAE. Colored as in 1* but smaller than 1. Breeds from 

 Mich, and Minn, south to the Gulf. Both 1* and 1** winter 

 in the Bahamas and West Indies. 



