DENDRCECA CCERULESCENS : BLUE WARBLER. 127 



BLACK-THROATED BLUE WARBLER. 

 DENDRCECA CCERULESCENS (L.) Bd. 



Chars. Male, adult: Above, uniform slaty-blue, in high plumage 

 with a few black streaks on the back ; below, pure white, the 

 sides of the head to above the eyes, the whole chin, throat, and 

 sides of the body, jet-black ; no white wing-bars, but a white 

 spot at base of primaries ; wings dusky, edged with the color of 

 the back ; tail with large white blotches ; bill black ; feet dark. 

 Female : Entirely different ; dull olive-green, with a slight bluish 

 shade, below pale dull yellowish ; but recognizable by the tri- 

 angular white spot at the base of the primaries, which, though 

 smaller than in the male, may almost always be seen, at least 

 on pushing aside the primary coverts ; no other wing-markings. 

 The male in immature plumage has the blue glossed with green- 

 ish, and the black interrupted and restricted. Size of the spe- 

 cies, that of D. virens. 



So far as its local distribution in New England 

 is concerned, the Black-throated Blue offers a case 

 closely coincident with that of the species last no- 

 ticed. To the fact that it is less numerous, observa- 

 tions respecting its movements being thus less com- 

 plete, are to be attributed in the main those differ- 

 ences between the published records of the two species. 

 Thus Dr. Brewer's list of 1875 incorrectly gives the 

 bird as only a migrant in southern New England, 

 though it has been observed in summer in Massachu- 

 setts, and has been known to breed in Connecticut. 

 The majority of individuals, however, pass in spring 

 through the Alleghanian into the Canadian Fauna to 

 breed ; and Dr. Coues stated the case correctly in 1868, 

 in saying that it breeds throughout New England, but 

 most numerously in its northern portions. It appears 

 to enter the country a few days later than the Black- 



