420 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



shorter versions are often crescendo to the end " (Chapman, Warblers of 

 North America). 



The nests of the Black-poll which Mr Howard Bradstreet found about 

 the Ausable lakes were placed in low spruces from 3 to 8 feet from the 

 ground, composed of twigs, rootlets and bits of moss, and lined with fine 

 grass, feathers and vegetable down. The eggs are 4 or 5 in number, creamy 

 white or grayish white in ground color, blotched and speckled with reddish 

 brown, lilac and gray, usually forming a wreath as with others of the family, 

 and averaging in size .71 by .52 inches. Adirondack nesting dates vary 

 from June 5 to 20. 



Dendroica fusca (Aluller) 

 Blackburnian Warbler 



Plate 9- 



Motacilla fusca IMuUer. Natursyst. Suppl. 1776. 175 



Sylvicola blackburniae DeKay. Zool. N. Y. 1844. pt 2, p. 93, fig. 113 

 Dendroica fusca A. O. U. Check List. Ed. 3. 1910. p. 315. No. 662 



fusca, dark or dusky in color 



Description. Adult tnale: Throat and upper breast rich orange; side of 

 the neck, broad line over the eye, spot over the eye, spot on the forehead, 

 orange; upper parts in general black; streaked with whitish on the back; 

 wings and tail blackish; the wings with a large white patch; the outer tail 

 feathers largely white on the inner web; the outer webs white at base, show- 

 ing as a conspicuous white area when the tail is spread; abdomen whitish, 

 its forward portions suffused with the color of forw^ard portions of the 

 breast, but ranging to white on the under tail coverts; sides streaked with 

 black. Adult female: Much duller than the male; the upper parts grayish 

 brown to dusky where the male is black; the orange of the throat and 

 breast much paler; all the markings less distinct. Fall birds: Duller than 

 the corresponding sexes in spring plumage, more veiled with brown and 

 grayish. Young: Like female but duller, the throat nearly yellowish. 



Length 5.25 inches; wing 2.7; tail 1.95; bill .4. 



Distribution. Breeds from Manitoba, southern Keewatin, Quebec and 

 Cape Breton to central Minnesota, northern Michigan, Massachusetts, the 

 highlands of Connecticut and in the Alleghanies to Georgia and South 

 Carolina ; winters from Yucatan, to Colombia and Peru. In New York 



