280 BIRDS OF PENNSYLVANIA. 



slender very acute ; obsoletely notched near end, and commisure slightly arched or 

 curved. 



Male in spring. Top of head blackish ; back yellowish-olive, with faint dusky 

 streaks anteriorly; rump, sides of head and neck and under parts yellow (under 

 tail-coverts in two specimens before me are nearly white), ear-patch, chestnut, chin 

 and throat often tinged with same ; throat, anterior part of breast and sides with 

 rather narrow black streaks ; a yellowish line over eye extends to chestnut ear- 

 coverts ; blackish loral line; white wing patch (this is smaller in female); inner 

 webs of three outer pairs of tail feathers have white patches on inner webs (these 

 patches are small or obscure in female). The female is rather similar to male but 

 lacks the conspicuous head markings (the male in fall also has chestnut head mark- 

 ings indistinct). 



Habitat. 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. 



Rather rare and irregular spring" migrant, but some seasons tolerably 

 common in the spring. Arrives in Pennsylvania usually about the 

 middle of May, when for a few days they are to be found in forests 

 (usually in tops of trees) and sometimes in orchards. When migrating 

 southward in the fall (September generally) these warblers are much 

 more plentiful than in the spring, and they frequently are observed in 

 low trees in woods, or in bushes, and occasionally on the ground along 

 the roadsides or about the margins of woods. Food larvae, flies, plant- 

 lice, small beetles, etc. 



Dendroica aestiva (GMEL.). 



Yellow Warbler. 



DESCRIPTION (Plate 41). 



Length about 5| inches ; extent about 1\ ; bill bluish-black ; legs and feet pale 

 brown. 



Male. Golden-yellow ; back olive-yellow ; chest and sides streaked with brownish- 

 red not black or dusky ; wings and tail dusky ; the inner webs of outer tail feathers 

 with large blotches of yellow not white. Female and young duller, and the former 

 with brownish-red streaks very obscure or entirely wanting. 



Habitat. North America at large, south in winter to Central America and north- 

 ern South America. 



Abundant summer resident. Arrives the last week in April and re- 

 mains until about the middle of September. A common inhabitant of 

 shrubbery in gardens, lawns, and parks, and also frequents orchards ; it 

 is often seen in groves but is rarely observed in forests. Builds a small 

 compact cup-shaped nest of plant-fibers, spiders' webs, lined with woolly 

 plant substances, feathers or hair, in an upright fork of a tree or bush. 

 In this locality pear trees and bushes in hedge-rows are favorite breed- 

 ing places. This bright and pleasing little songster may frequently be 

 observed in trees and bushes or on telegraph wires along the roadsides. 

 With us the Yellow Warbler, according to my observations, subsists ex- 

 clusively on various forms of insect-life, especially small beetles, plant- 



