Family Mniotiltidcz Pine Warbler 73 



26. PINE WARBLER 



PINE CREEPING WARBLER 



(l)en droica vigor sit. ) 



Male : upper parts yellow-olive ; wings and tail brown, wing with 

 two light or white bars, tail with large white blotches ; throat 

 and breast bright yellow, sometimes obscurely streaked ; belly 

 white. Female : similar but much duller, and with breast more 

 distinctly marked, " sometimes nearly olive-gray above and 

 sordid whitish below." Coues. Beak long and slender, dark 

 in male, lighter in female; feet dark brown in male, light brown 

 in female. Bird about two-thirds the size of a sparrow. 



THE pine warbler is the first of the warblers to 

 appear in the spring. He arrives early in April, 

 and leaves again only late in September, some- 

 times even lingering into October. In spring and 

 fall he may be found in mixed woods, but in the 

 summer he is to be sought among tall pines. In 

 seeking the insects on which he lives he often 

 scrambles about on tree trunks and among the 

 larger branches, somewhat after the fashion of 

 a creeper. In spring and fall, however, he finds 

 a considerable part of his food on the ground. 



The nest is usually placed in a pine, from twenty 

 to fifty feet above the ground. The eggs are laid 

 about the first of June. The song, according to 

 Minot, " is apparently a delicately trilled whistle, 

 but really a series of fine notes, as is proved by the 

 fact that the birds open and shut their bills whilst 

 emitting the sound." 



