THE SUMMER YELLOW BIRD OR YELLOW WARBLER, 



{Dendroica cBstiva.') 



A mournful cry from the thickets here, 



A scream from the fields afar ; 

 The chirp of a summer warbler near, 



Of a spring-tide song a bar. 



— diaries C. Abbott, "Waste Land Wanderings." 



''There is a Wild Canary," is an oft- 

 repeated expression of those who are 

 interested in bird life as they observe the 

 happy little Yellow Warbler uncon- 

 cernedly flitting from bough to bough 

 or uttering its sunny song from some 

 convenient perch. The Yellow Warbler 

 does not spurn the companionship of man 

 and seeks its food and often builds its 

 home in the vicinity of his home. The 

 gold of this bright bird is "about as com- 

 mon as that of the dandelion, but its trim 

 little form has not achieved any such dis- 

 tinctness in the public mind." Unlike 

 many of its congeners in the large family 

 of wood warblers, the Yellow Warbler 

 does not confine itself to the boughs of 

 woodland trees during its migrations, 

 nor does it retire only to the wilds of far 

 northern climes to rear its brood of four 

 or five interesting young. Mr. Silloway 

 writes truthfully when he says : "Beyond 

 doubt this sprightly dot is the best known 

 of our warblers. Its wide distribution, 

 its animated deportment, its pretty song, 

 its familiar manners, and its gentle con- 

 fidence all tend to widen its circle of 

 friendship." It is a bird of sunshine and 

 open places ; of country road thickets and 

 the shade trees of city streets ; of the 

 ornamental shrubbery of lawns and 

 parks, and of the orchard and garden. 

 Yet warbler-like it sometimes chooses a 

 nesting site in the retired and dense 

 foliage of a swamp thicket. 



The Yellow Warbler is par excellence 

 a bird of North America and of the peo- 

 ple, for "its morning and evening warble 

 delights hosts of residents of more popu- 

 lous districts, who see only the birds 

 which come to them." Dr. Robert Ridg- 

 way says: "No bird of North America 



has so extensive a range, or so general 

 a distribution, as the Summer Yellow- 

 bird, which appears equally at home in 

 the sub-tropical lands along the Gulf 

 coast and the shores of the Arctic Ocean ; 

 while it is no less numerous in the 

 parched valleys of California and Ari- 

 zona than in the humid districts of the 

 Atlantic watershed." This popular bird 

 breeds practically throughout its range 

 and it winters in the southern United 

 States, Central America and northern 

 South America. 



The song of the Yellow Warbler is 

 appropriate and enjoyable during any 

 season, but it is the most welcome and 

 sounds the sweetest in the spring when 

 "these beautiful birds come like whirling 

 leaves, half autumn yellow, half green of 

 spring, the colors blending as in the 

 outer petals of grass-grown daffodils." 

 The more common rendering of its song 

 may be expressed by the syllables wee- 

 chee, chee, chee, chee-wee. Mr. Lan- 

 gille says : "The song of the Yellow,* 

 Blue-eyed Yellow, Golden, or Summer 

 Warbler — for it is known by all these 

 common names — may be represented by 

 the syllables, wee-chee-wee-chee-wec- 

 chee; or sweet, sweet, sweet, sweetie, 

 uttered in sprightly whistling tones." Dr. 

 Dawson expresses additional types of its 

 song with the syllables ''tsee, tsee, tsit-a- 

 wee, tsee" and "ivee-chee, chee, chee 

 wee-i-u/' The voice of the Yellow 

 Warbler is not indicative of the approach 

 of spring, but rather it shows that the 

 season of green grass and flowers has 

 actually come. "The very thought of his 

 melody brings back the fruit blossoms 

 and the merry play of garden making." 

 Dr. Ridgway relates an interesting 



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