DESCRIPTIVE LIST 285 



The Yellow Warbler is a common summer visitor from Raleigh westward to the 

 mountains, where it breeds up to 3,500 feet elevation. At Raleigh it arrives from 

 the south about the middle of April, and the breeding birds apparently leave in 

 July and August, though an occasional specimen, probably a migrant from farther 

 north, is sometimes observed later. These dates seem also to apply to the rest of 

 its breeding range in the State. At Raleigh there is a distinct migration of birds 

 that nest farther north. These pass through during the first half of May, and curi- 

 ously enough are not found in the same situations as those that breed here. Thus, 

 while the summer residents appear in mid- April in upland groves and in the shade- 

 trees along our village streets, the migrants are only found in the lowlands, and do 

 not come until two or three weeks later. 



The species seems to breed entirely in orchards, shade trees, and upland groves, 

 apparently rarely nesting in what might be called natural forest conditions. The 

 nest is built as a rule in some small tree, at a height of from seven to twelve feet, 

 and is a warm, compact structure, into the composition of which cotton often enters. 

 Frequently it is lined with horsehair. The eggs are laid in May or June, and are 

 usually five in number, of a greenish white ground color, spotted around the larger 

 end with brown, black, and lilac-gray. Size .65 x .50. Pearson has found these 

 familiar warblers nesting commonly in climbing rosebushes in Guilford County. 



286. Dendroica cserulescens cserulescens (GmeL). BLACK-THROATED BLUE 

 WARBLER. 



Description. Male rich gray blue, with or without a few black streaks on back; throat, sides 

 of head, and neck, and sides of body, black; otherwise pure white below. Female dull olive- 

 greenish, obscurely marked, known by the white patch at base of primaries, which is, however 

 much smaller than in the male. Extreme measurements of 71 Raleigh specimens: L., 4.90- 

 5.30; W., 2.32-2.80; T., 1.85-2.20. 



Range. North America, from the Mississippi Valley eastward, breeding in northern New 

 England and northward, and wintering in the West Indies. 



Range in North Carolina. Whole State during the migrations. 



The Black-throated Blue Warbler is a common spring and fall transient in all 

 parts of the State, appearing in spring from late in April until the middle of May. 

 Returning, it is with us from late September to the end of October. It frequents 

 the thick undergrowth in woods, rarely being seen in high trees. 



287. Dendroica cserulescens cairnsi (Cones). CAIRNS'S WARBLER. 



Description. Similar to the Black-throated Blue Warbler, but darker; the adult male darker 

 above, the middle of the back with much black. The female is almost indistinguishable from 

 that of the preceding. 



Range. Breeds in the southern Alleghanies; winters in the West Indies. 



Range in North Carolina. Breeds in the greater part of the mountain region from 3,500 feet up. 



Cairns's Warbler arrives in the mountains a little earlier than the Black-throated 

 Blue Warbler comes to the central portion of the State, but judging from Cairns's 

 records at Weaverville it leaves the State about the same time. 



It passes the summer on the higher mountains, and was found by Brewster in 

 1885 invariably in or near extensive tracts of rhododendron, occupying the Cana- 

 dian Zone and part of the Alleghanian Zone. Cairns states that he found it com- 



