THE MAGNOLIA WARBLER 



{Dendroica maculosa.) 



One of the brightest and most sum- 

 mery bits of bird-life that lights up our 

 springtime groves and copses is the Mag- 

 nolia Warbler. It is not one of the early 

 birds to arrive; too warm and summery 

 in appearance to fit in with the naked 

 earth and sky, and with the reminiscence 

 of a warmer climate in its manners and 

 its name, it waits until the fields and for- 

 ests have greened well to the touch of 

 spring, and the fleecy white clouds have 

 begun to float high in the blue. Then, 

 some fine morning, down in the wood- 

 lands along the streams, the bright yel- 

 low of its striped breast gleams through 

 the new fresh verdure like a fleck of mel- 

 low sunshine among the leaves. 



The bright yellow of the bird's under 

 parts, which is the first thing to attract 

 one's attention, helps one to associate 

 the bird at once, or even to confuse it, if 

 not careful, with some of the other war- 

 blers which bear conspicuous patches of 

 yellow, such as the yellow rump or the 

 Cape May. From all these other species, 

 however, it can be distinguished by the 

 black marks on the yellow of the under 

 parts — a bar crossing the breast, fol- 

 lowed by narrow longitudinal streaks, the 

 black area having much the general 

 shape of a curved comb. The upper 

 parts of the bird are of somber colors, 

 black and olivaceous, relieved by a white 

 streak under the eye, white on the wings, 

 and a yellow patch on the rump. 



The bird is so retiring in its demeanor, 

 and its colors are so mellow that one 

 never thinks of it as a gaudy bird. It is 



usually quiet with us ; rarely, however, 

 it gives utterance to a song — which con- 

 sists of a series of loud clear whistles. 



The bird stays with us only a compara- 

 tively short time, usually coming some 

 time near the first of May, and generally 

 leaving before the last of that month. It 

 passes on northward to the forests of 

 evergreens, among which it usually nests. 

 The nest is usually placed low down in 

 an evergreen of some sort, and here are 

 laid from three to five creamy-white, 

 speckled eggs. 



During the bird's stay with us it is 

 constantly busy, darting out from its 

 perch after insects, so that it leaves its 

 blessing on the woods through which it 

 has passed. After the brood is reared in 

 the north, they return, sometimes spend- 

 ing as much as a month with us during 

 September, on their journey southward. 

 On their autumn visit, however, they are 

 much duller colored than during the 

 spring migration, and would hardly be 

 recognized by one who became ac- 

 quainted with them on their bridal tour 

 the spring before. 



This exquisite warbler has quite an 

 extensive range covering North Amer- 

 ica east of the base of the Rocky Moun- 

 tains. It is occasionally seen as far west 

 as British Columbia. Its breeding range 

 extends from northern New England, 

 New York, and Michigan, northward to 

 the Hudson Bay region, and it also ex- 

 tends southward in the AUeghanies into 

 Pennsylvania. 



H. Walton Clark. 



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