ONTARIO. 



GENUS DENDROICA GRAY. 



SUBGENUS PERISSOGLOSSA BAIRD. 



255. DENDROICA TIGRINA (GMEL.). 650. 



Cape May Warbler. 



Male, in spring, back yellowish-olive with dark spots ; crown blackish, 

 more or less interrupted with brownish ; ear patch orange-brown; chin, throat 

 and posterior portion of a yellowish superciliary line, tinged with the same ; 

 a black loral line, rump and under parts rich yellow, paler on belly and crissum- 

 the breast and sides streaked with black ; wing-bars fused into a large whitish 

 patch ; tail blotches large, on three pairs of retrices ; bill and feet black. 

 Female, in spring, somewhat similar, but lacks the distinctive head markings ; 

 the under parts are paler and less streaked ; the tail spots small or obscure ; 

 the white on the wing less. Young, an insignificant looking bird, resembling 

 an overgrown Ruby-crowned Kinglet without its crest ; obscure greenish-olive 

 above, rump olive-yellow, under parts yellowish-white ; breast and sides with 

 the streaks obscure or obsolete ; little or no white on wings, which are edged 

 with yellowish ; tail spots very small. Length, 5-5^ ; wing, 2f ; tail, 2^. 



HAB. Eastern North America, north to Hudson's Bay Territory, west 

 to the Plains. Breeds from Northern New England northward and also in 

 Jamaica ; winters in the West Indies. 



Nest, fastened to the outermost twigs of a cedar bough about 3 feet 

 from the ground, composed of minute twigs of dried spruce, grasses and straw- 

 berry vines woven together with spider webs The rim is neatly formed and 

 the lining is entirely of horse hair. 



Eggs, creamy white; marked with lilac and reddish-brown. 



This rare and beautiful Warbler is peculiar to the east, not 

 yet having been found west of the Mississippi. In the Eastern 

 States it is got occasionally, but is so rare that it is always 

 regarded as a prize, and the collector who recognizes in the woods 

 the orange ear-coverts and striped breast of this species is not 

 likely soon to forget the tingling sensation which passes up to 

 his finger ends at the time. 



I have altogether found six in Ontario, but the time of their 

 capture extended over a good many years. The above descrip- 

 tion of the nest and eggs is condensed from an account given by 

 Montague Chamberlain in "The Auk" for January, 1885, of the 

 finding of a nest on the northern boundary of New Brunswick 

 in the summer of 1882. 



25? 



