THE BIRDS OF NEW JERSEY. 189 



an inch, black, with bristles at the base ; crown, spotted 

 with black on blue-gray ground; a line from the bill to 

 the eye, bright yellow; sides of the neck, black; back, blue- 

 gray; breast, belly and sides yellow, with a string of lon- 

 gitudinal streaks across the breast ; tail, gray, whitish un- 

 derneath; wings, gray; feet, flesh colored. The female 

 has no black on the head or the sides and the necklace on 

 the breast instead of black is dusky. 



The nest is built in mossy banks or under and between 

 roots of trees; it is made of bark, twigs and pieces of wood 

 wrapped in leaves and woven with grasses. The eggs 

 are either four or five in number, white, with brown 

 spots more numerous near the large end, and two-thirds 

 by half an inch in size. 



The birds breed in northern New York and New Eng- 

 land and northward, southward along the Alleghanies. 

 They spend the winter in Eastern Mexico and southward. 

 In New Jersey they are very common migrants, occurring 

 between May 10 and May 20 and again from August 20 to 

 October 1. 



Mr. Nehrling says that their song is "a fine sibilant 

 chirp, reminding one of a Canary's song, but broken and 

 incomplete, and Mr. Thompson writes it rup-it-che, rup- 

 it-cJie, rup-it-chitt-it-lit. 



The food of the bird consists of insects. 



War bier, Chestnut-sided. Length, five and one- 

 eighth inches; extent, eight inches; bill, one- third of an 

 inch, dusky; crown, bright yellow; a black line behind the 

 eye and a black spot in front of it reaching to the side of 

 the throat; throat, white; back, gray, streaked with black 

 and with a dark greenish margin; rump, olive; breast and 

 belly, white; sides, chestnut, coming downwards from 

 the side of the throat along the neck and reaching to the 

 flanks : wings, black, with yellowish white wing bars ; legs 

 and feet, ash. The female is duller in color. The fall 

 dress presents a far different appearance, being a yellow- 



