197 



Distribution. Eastern North America west to well into the prairie country and 

 north to beyond settlement. Nests locally almost wherever found in eastern Canada 

 except in the extreme southern portion. 



The Chestnut-sided is usually found in dry brushy clearings, second 

 growth, and raspberry tangles. 



660. Bay-breasted Warbler. FK. LA FATJVBTTE A POITRINE BAIE. Dendroica 

 castanea. L, 5-63. Male: finely striped with dull olive-ochre and black above; under- 

 parts white; top of head, throat, foreneck, and flanks bay colour (reddish chestnut); fore- 

 head and cheeks black; a light ochre spot on side of neck. Female has all these charac- 

 teristic marks obvious enough for recognition but veiled and dimly indicated. The 

 autumn birds, however, are entirely different; above, yellowish-green faintly striped with 

 dark, below, white, more or less tinged with yellowish or buffy greenish; the bay of the 

 sides is often indicated by a slight ruddy warmth or by individual, fully coloured feathers. 



Distinctions. Spring birds are distinctive enough. Autumn specimens resemble 

 the juvenile Black-poll so closely that often they can be separated only with difficulty even 

 when in the hand. The Bay-breast almost invariably has a certain amount of warm 

 ochre on the flanks which is lacking in the Black-poll and the under tail coverts are cream 

 instead of pure white. The presence of wing-bars will distinguish these two species from 

 any other plain greenish warbler. 



Field Marks. The adult male is distinctive in colour. The spring female always 

 shows enough of the bay breast for recognition. Adult autumn birds also usually have 

 a trace of the bay on the flanks and the warm ochreish of these parts can usually be seen 

 in juveniles. When these characters fail to distinguish the species, however, close at- 

 tention will show that the breast colour is perfectly even and sharp eyes or good glasses 

 will usually reveal very faint dark stripings showing on the sides of the breast of the Black- 

 poll. None of these marks, however, can be seen except under the most favourable cir- 

 cumstances, but in mixed flocks one can usually tell the proportion of each species with 

 fair accuracy. 



Nesting. In coniferous trees 5 to 20 feet above the ground in nest of grasses and 

 plant fibres lined with plant down and long hairs. 



Distribution. Eastern North America west to across the prairies and north to the 

 tree limits. Breeds beyond regular cultivation. 



The Bay-breast in spring migration prefers brushy growth in sandy 

 wastes, roadsides, etc., but often comes close about the house in shade 

 trees and the orchard. The similarity of the autumn Bay-breast and the 

 autumn Black-poll, a bird in full plumage totally different, is one of the 

 interesting phenomena of bird coloration. The autumn plumages of these 

 two birds were at one time confused with each other under the name 

 of Autumnal Warbler. 



661. Black-poll Warbler. FR. LA FAUVETTE RAYEE. Dendroica striata. L, 5 '56. 

 Male: black and white stripes with a solidly black crown; finely lined with black and grey 

 on back; below all white with black from base of bill down sides of neck breaking into 

 stripes on flanks; cheeks white. Female: greenish above; white below washed with green- 

 ish on throat and breast but with enough of the black striping showing more or less 

 vaguely to make the bird recognizable as the female of the above. Autumn birds are 

 almost indistinguishable from the preceding Bay-breast (see above). 



Distinctions. The spring males with their clear black and white markings can be 

 mistaken for nothing except the Black-and-White Creeper, but their non-creeping habits 

 and the crowns solidly black, instead of with a broad white median stripe, easily separate 

 them. The striping of the female is distinctive. The autumn birds can be told from the 

 Bay-breast by their lack of ochre, bay, or buffy on flanks and their pure white undertail 

 coverts. 



Field Marks. The Black-poll is seen in three plumages: the male black and white; 

 the female greenish, white below and more or less streaked with black; and autumn birds 

 like Bay-breasts with faint stripes, visible only to sharp eyes or with good glasses, showing 

 through the yellowish flanks. 



Nesting. Generally in spruce trees about 6 feet above the ground in nest of twigs, 

 mosses, rootlets, etc., lined with fine grasses and tendrils. 



Distribution. Nearly similar to that of the preceding species. 



