02 SOME CANADIAN BIRDS. 



tliough appearing bright in tint when seen against the green leaves, 

 proves on close inspection to have a rather dull hue. The blue of 

 tlie back is relieved by a i»atch of yellow-tinged olive, and on the 

 wings are two bars of white. White appears also in spots on the 

 tail feathers, and the belly is white. The throat and breast are 

 briglit yellow, and upon the breast is a sln'eld of orange brown. 

 The female is similar in general appearance, but tlie blue of lier 

 plumes is not quite so bright, and the patch on the l)ack and tlie 

 shield on the breast are either obscure or entirely lacking in her 

 costume. The young birds are more nearly like the fenuiles, but 

 the bhie of their up})er parts is washed with gi'een, and the yellow 

 of their breasts is of a duller tint. The rule obtains in most species 

 of this group tliat the male, female and young are imlike in their 

 plumage, each displaying seasonal changes, and the student finds 

 himself puzzled when attempting to identify them. 



Most of the warblers build neat and compact nests, but few of 

 them rival the parula in architectural skill. This nest is globular 

 in form, with the entrance at the side, and is suspended from the 

 end of a bough and generally about thirty feet from the ground. 

 It is composed of threads of *' beard moss" (usiiea) interwoven 

 with hair, and the wonder is how the tiny builders, with such 

 material and the simple tools they can command, succeed in retain- 

 ing the globular form and making the structure so firm and com- 

 pact. Some nests have been found hidden amid a large bunch of the 

 usiiea growing on the trunk of an old tree. 



The female usually lay>s four eggs, though as many as seven have 

 been found in one nest, while a few nests have held but three. 

 These eggs have a ground color of white, tinged with creamy buff, 

 and are spotted with lilac and several shades of brown. 



I have usually found the parula in open groves of deciduous 

 trees — birch and poplar, and the like — on dry hill-sides bordering a 

 stream, and the birds have been invariably amid the higher branches. 

 But other observers have noted their appearance in orchards and 

 gardens, and have watched them flit through the shrubbery. 



As a family the warblers are not songsters of high degree, and 

 their performances suggest anything in the way of singing but 

 "warbling." The majority of their songs might be described as 

 short and jerky — cheery whistles rather than songs — though most 



