58 DENDIIGSCA ESTIVA. 



DENDECECA M S T I V A . 



Yellow Warbler. 

 Dendrazca (estiva BAIRD, Birds of North America, 1858, 282. 



DESCRIPTION. 



SP. CH. Form, quite slender. Size, not large. Hill, rather short, not acuminate. Tail, slightly emarginate. 

 Sternnm, exactly like the preceding in size and form. Tongue, not long, thin and horny, quite acuminate; end, 

 cleft and fringed with moderately short, delicate cilia, which sometimes extend for a little way along the sides; 

 but, on these portions they are much shorter, being in fact, invisible to the unassisted eye. 



COLOR. Adult male, yellow throughout, brightest beneatli but becoming olivaceous on the back. Wings and 

 tail, brown, with the feathers edged on both webs with yellow. Upper part of breast, sides and flanks, streaked 

 with reddish-brown ; this color also appears on the crown. 



Adult female, similar, but having fewer streaks beneath. 



Young male like the adult female in general coloration. 



Young female, paler, especially beneath, with the crown uniform with the back. There are seldom any streaks 

 beneath. 



Nestlings of both sexes, very pale yellow, sometimes almost white beneath, otherwise similar to the young 

 female; occasionally, there are indications of streaks on the lower portions. Irides, bill and feet, brown. 



OBSERVATIONS. 



The Yellow Warbler may be distinguished from all other North American Warblers, excepting, perhaps, some 

 of the so-called West Indian species which will doubtless prove only insular forms of D. cestiva. Distributed 

 during the breeding season throughout the entire continent of North America; wintering in Mexico, Central and 

 South America. 



DIMENSIONS. 



Average measurements of thirty-two specimens from New England. Length, 5-25; stretch, 7-75; wing, 2-45; 

 tail, 1-75; bill, -45; tarsus, -65. Longest specimen, 5-75; greatest extent of wings, 8-00; longest wing, 255; tail, 

 1-90; bill, -45; tarsus, -78. Shortest specimen, 4-75 ; smallest extent of wings, 7-20; shortest w ing, 2-20; tail, 1-GO; 

 bill, -45 ; tarsus, -78. 



DESCRIPTION OF NESTS AND EGGS. 



Nests placed on trees or shrubs, composed of dried grass, fibres of plants, common cotton, and the cotton from 

 ferns. These are compactly woven together forming neat structures, lined with fine grasses, horsehairs, and cotton. 

 Dimensions: external diameter, 3 inches, internal, 1-75; external depth, 2 inches, internal, 1'50. 



Eggs, usually four in number, oval in form, bluish or grayish-white in color, spotted and blotched irregularly 

 with brown, umber and lilac, generally more thickly on the larger end, where the spots sometimes accumulate and 

 form a ring. The ground color of the eggs is quite variable, being in some specimens of a pale blue, while others 

 are almost pure white. Dimensions, from -60x-40 to - 73x-53. 



HABITS. 



Back of the old fort at Miami was a piece of ground which had formerly been cultivated, 

 but which at the time of our visit was grown up to weeds and bushes. These dense thickets 

 formed an excellent collecting ground which we frequently visited in search of Warblers. Mr. 

 Henshaw was passing through this place one day when he shot a Yellow Warbler. The bird 

 fell and he advanced to pick it up, and was stooping to take it in his hand when, being 

 only winged, it fluttered into the bushes, thence into some thick weeds, where it managed 

 to conceal itself so successfully that its would-be captor failed to discover it. This is the only 

 instance of our finding this well known Warbler in the state ; I am, therefore, obliged to 

 introduce it into the fauna of Florida without having taken a specimen. They doubtless occur 

 rarely, however. 



The Yellow Warbler is one of the most familiar summer residents in New England, 

 frequenting the orchards, gardens, and fence rows, but are seldom seen in the deep woods. 

 They build their nests in every available situation ; sometimes, in a barberry-bush in the open 

 field, on the limb of an apple tree or among the ornamental shrubbery, beneath the windows 

 of the farmhouse. They are very unsuspicious, and a pair constructed their domicile last 

 summer in a little plum tree which stands in the garden within five feet of an arbor in which 



