122 SYLVICOLID^E : AMERICAN WARBLERS. 



SUMMER WARBLER ; SUMMER YELLOW-BIRD ; 

 YELLOW WARBLER. 



DENDRCECA ESTIVA (Gm.) Bd. 



Chars. Male, adult : Golden-yellow, the back yellowish-olive, fre- 

 quently with dark streaks, the breast and sides boldly striped 

 with orange-brown ; wings and tail dusky, all the feathers edged 

 with yellow ; bill dark horn-blue ; feet brown. Female and 

 young : Paler yellow, the orange-brown stripes dull, few, or want- 

 ing entirely. Length, 4.75-5.00 ; extent, 7.50-7.75 ; wing, 2.50 ; 

 tail, 2.00 ; bill, 0.37 ; tarsus, 0.68. 



This lovely Warbler, not less famed for its beauty 

 than for its confiding disposition, is one of the most 

 abundant representatives of the genus Dendrceca in 

 New England in the summer months and during the mi- 

 grations. It is almost universally distributed through- 

 out North America, and perhaps the only one of the 

 Wood Warblers that breeds with equal readiness in 

 most parts of its remarkably extensive range ; being, 

 moreover, one of the very few which build their nests 

 in the orchard, garden, park, or city, on familiar 

 terms with man. It appears, indeed, to be more nu- 

 merous in cultivated and populous districts than in the 

 trackless woods and swamps of mountainous and north- 

 erly sections. Arriving in New England early in May, 

 sometimes the latter part of April, it is soon settled for 

 the summer; lays its eggs late in May or early in 

 June, sometimes a second set in July, and departs 

 early in September, before the first storms of autumn, 

 which its delicate constitution is little able to endure. 

 The nest may be built in a fruit or shade tree at some 

 distance from the ground ; oftener, however, in hedge- 



