BIRDS OF NEW YORK 4II 



from 6 to 15 feet above the ground and from 4 to 15 feet from the body 

 of the tree in a tangle of branches. Rarely do they select other than hem- 

 lock trees, but I found one nest in the forks of a maple bush in a thick 

 undergrowth among hemlocks. Another was placed in the top of a scrub 

 beech through which a hemlock limb extended. While the Magnolia 

 is one of the most beautiful warblers, agile in actions and energetic in song, 

 it is a very shabby nestbuilder, lacking by far the skill and neatness dis- 

 played by the Black-throated green. The nests are made of hemlock twig- 

 lets very loosely interwoven and mingled with grass stems, fine root fibers, 

 always lined with plenty of horse hair. The nests are also decorated on 

 the outside with brown and white woolly substances." 



Dendroica cerulea (Wilson) 

 Cerulean Warbler 



Plate 94 



Sylvia cerulea Wilson. Amor. Orn. 1810. 2:141. pi. 17, fig. 5 

 vSylvicola caerulca DeKay. Zool. N. Y. 1844. pt 2, p. 92, fig. 107 

 Dendroica cerulea A. O. U. Check List. Ed. 3. 1910. p. 314. No. 658 



cenilea, Lat., sky blue 



Description. Adult male: Upper parts blue, the back slightly streaked 

 with blackish; crown richer blue and with a few dark markings; under 

 parts pure white streaked in a band across the breast and on the sides with 

 black; ear patch dusky; eyelids and line over the eye white; wings and 

 tail blackish, edged with the color of the back; the tail with small white 

 spots on the outer feathers near the tip and the wings with 2 broad white 

 bars formed by the greater and median coverts. Adult female: Much less 

 blue on the upper parts than the male; more grayish in hue and tinged, 

 especially on the back, with greenish; line over the eye and under parts 

 pale yellowish instead of white and only very indistinctly streaked on the 

 sides. Young resemble the female. 



Length 4-4.5 inches; wing 2.65; tail 1.95. 



Distribution. Breeds from southeastern Minnesota, southern Michigan 

 and southern Ontario, western New York and western Pennsylvania and 

 central Delaware to West Virginia, central Alabama, Louisiana and eastern 

 Texas. The breeding range in New York is shown by map on page 26. 



