108 SYLVICOLID^E ; AMERICAN WARBLERS. 



BLUE YELLOW-BACKED WARBLER. 

 PARULA AMERICANA (Z.) J3p. 



Chars. Adult male : Above, ashy-blue, back with a golden-brown 

 patch ; throat and breast yellow, with a rich brown or blackish 

 patch ; belly, eyelids, two broad bars across the wing, and sev- 

 eral spots on the tail, white ; lores dusky ; bill black above, yel- 

 low or flesh-colored below ; feet pale brown. The coloration is 

 very variable, according to degree of perfection attained, but the 

 general appearance is so striking that the bird is not likely to be 

 mistaken. The female is similar to the male, but the blue is not 

 so bright, and the peculiar patch on the back and breast is not 

 so well defined. In young birds the blue is glossed all over with 

 greenish, the patches are obscure or entirely wanting, the yellow 

 is paler, and the other markings are not well pronounced. Very 

 small : length, 4.50-4.75 ; extent, 7.50 ; wing, 2.30 ; tail, 1.75 ; 

 bill, 0.40 ; tarsus, 0.65. The condition of albinism has been ob- 

 served in this delicate and daintily-colored bird. 



A common summer resident in New England, breed- 

 ing abundantly, and one of the most numerous of all 

 the Warblers during the migrations, in high, open 

 woods, parks, orchards, and gardens, where it is often- 

 est seen skipping and fluttering about the blossoms 

 and terminal foliage in search of the minute insects 

 upon which it preys, constantly uttering its faint chirp- 

 ing notes. It arrives from the south early in May, 

 becomes generally distributed during that month, and 

 withdraws during September, though a few individuals 

 may linger a week or two longer in favored localities. 

 It is particularly numerous during the autumnal move- 

 ment. We have advices of its nesting throughout 

 New England, and it is therefore not strictly limited in 

 its southward distribution in the breeding season by 

 the Alleghanian Fauna, though so catalogued by Mr. 



