Wood Warblers 8 1 3 



Black-and-white Warbler. The first species to be mentioned, the Black- 

 and-white Warbler, or Black-and-white Creeper (Mniolilta varia), as it is oftener 

 called, would hardly be recognized at first as a Warbler, as it climbs with tire- 

 less activity about the trunks and larger limbs of our woodland trees, for it 

 much more resembles one of the true Creepers. About five and a half inches 

 long, it has the upper parts streaked with black and white, the ear-coverts 

 black, the throat and upper breast black or black and white, while the sides 

 are streaked with black and white and middle of the abdomen white. It is a 

 rather silent bird, spending the nesting season from the Southern States to the 

 Mackenzie Valley and the winter from Florida southward. The nest, com- 

 posed of strips of bark, grasses, etc., is placed on the ground at the base of 

 a tree or rock. 



Prothonotary Warbler. Passing over a number of obscure forms that make 

 their home on or near the ground in dense tangled underbrush, mention may 

 be made of the handsome monotypic Prothonotary Warbler (Protonotaria citrea) 

 of the eastern United States as far north as southern Illinois and Virginia. It 

 has the head, neck, and under parts rich yellow or orange, becoming lighter 

 below, while the wings and tail are ashy, the latter with white inner webs to all 

 but the inner pair of feathers. The Prothonotary makes its home among the 

 willow thickets along streams or about ponds, and is the species above men- 

 tioned as placing its nest in a hole in a stump or tree, usually selecting one in 

 or hanging over the water. 



Parula Warbler. The genus Compsothlypis embraces three species and a 

 number of geographic forms, the best-known species being the little Parula 

 Warbler (C. americana), which breeds from the Gulf States to Virginia and 

 occasionally farther, and winters mainly in Florida. Under five inches in 

 length, it has the upper parts dull grayish blue, the middle of the back 

 greenish yellow, and the throat and breast yellow with a band of blackish 

 across the breast. On its return from its winter home it is restless and active, 

 frequenting usually the tops of the highest trees, where it may often be seen in 

 the creeping and preying postures of a Titmouse, as it flits about among the 

 blossoms and opening foliage. Its nest is generally placed in a swinging 

 bunch of beard-moss ( Usnea), at a height of from ten to forty feet from the 

 ground, and is composed of threads of the "moss," fine grass, etc., and often 

 lined with hair. A northern race (C. a. usnea] carries it from Virginia to 

 New Brunswick and Ontario, and a western race (C. a. ramalin/z) takes it 

 into the Mississippi Valley. 



Dendroica. This brings us to Dendroica, the largest and most-varied genus of 

 the family, which comprises some of the best-known as well as the handsomest of 

 the Warblers. They are small or medium-sized arboreal or subarboreal birds, with 

 a slender conoidal bill, obvious rictal bristles, and partly white or yellow inner webs 

 to the lateral tail-feathers. Of these one of the most familiar is the Yellow or 

 Summer Warbler (D. (Estiva), which is very abundant about houses and shrub- 

 bery throughout most of the Eastern States. It has the upper parts bright 

 greenish yellow, lighter on the crown, the wings edged with yellow, the tail 



