CHAPTER XXXIV. 



August 13 August 19. 



THE YELLOW WARBLER. 



Order Passeres Suborder Oscines 



Family Mniotiltidse Genus Dendroica 



Species Dendroica sestiva. 



Length 4.50 to 5.25 ; wing, 2.35 to 2.65 ; tail, 1.80 to 2.10. 

 Migration North, April ; south, August. 



"While May bedecks the naked trees 

 With tassels and embroideries, 

 And many blue-hued violets beam 

 Along the edges of the stream, 

 I hear a voice that seems to say, 

 Now near at hand, now far away, 

 'Witchery witchery witchery.' " 



The family Mniotiltidae is composed of the wood war- 

 blers, found only in America, and consists of about one hun- 

 dred species. About seventy of them visit the United States. 

 They are migrants, and in the distances they travel in migra- 

 tion and in the size of the areas they occupy during the breed- 

 ing season, present an enormous range of variation. "They 

 capture their insect food" says Chapman, "in a variety of ways. 

 Some species flit actively from branch to branch, taking their 

 prey from the more exposed parts of the twigs and leaves; 

 others are gleaners and carefully explore the under surfaces of 

 leaves or crevices in the bark, while several, like the flycatch- 



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