BIRDS OF 



Nest, in a hemlock tree, 15 or 20 feet from the ground ; composed of larch 

 twigs and moss, woven together with spider silk, and lined with fibrous roots. 



Eggs, 4; bluish-green, thickly spotted with lilac and brown. 



My observations of this species agree with what has been 

 published regarding it by those who have observed it in the 

 Eastern States. I have found it abundant in spring some years, 

 and in others rare or entirely wanting, while in the fall it is 

 always scarce, if it is seen at all. This has lead to the belief 

 that the species does not always follow the same line of migration 

 in spring, and that in the fall the return trip is made along a 

 line to the west of us, the few we see being only stragglers from 

 the main body. It is a late comer, being seldom seen till after 

 the middle of May ; and is less active in its movements than other 

 members of the family. It is seldom seen on the ground or near 

 it, usually keeping among the upper branches of the trees. 



The only time I ever saw more than three or four together 

 was in the spring of 1885, when I observed a flock of fifty or 

 more feeding in a clump of willows overhanging an inlet of the 

 bay. 



263. DENDROICA STRIATA (FORST.). 661. 

 Black-poll Warbler. 



Male, in spring, upper parts thickly streaked with black and olivaceous- 

 ash ; whole crown pure black ; head below the level of the eyes and whole under 

 parts white, the sides thickly marked with black streaks crowding forward on 

 the sides of the neck to form two stripes that converge to meet at base of the 

 bill, cutting off the white of the cheeks from that of the throat ; wing-bars and 

 tail-blotches white; inner secondaries white edged ; primaries usually edged 

 externally with olive; feet and other mandible flesh color or pale yellowish ; 

 upper mandible black. Female, in spring, upper parts, including the crown, 

 greenish-olive, both thickly and rather sharply black streaked ; white of under 

 parts soiled anteriorly with very pale olivaceous-yellow, the streaks smaller 

 and not so crowded as in the male. Young closely resembling the adult 

 female, but a brighter and more greenish-olive above with fewer streaks, often 

 obsolete on the crown ; below more or less tinged with pale greenish-yellow, 

 the streaks very obscure, sometimes altogether wanting ; under tail-coverts 

 usually pure white ; a yellowish superciliary line ; wing-bars tinged with the 

 same color. Length, 5^-5!; wing, 2|-3 ; tail, 2-2^. 



264 



