THE CERULEAN WARB LER. 145 



in the northern part of the state, and Dr. Wheaton cites the appearance of one 

 individual near Columbus as corroborative. Since that time no decisive rec- 

 ords have come in and it is probable that the "northward trend" has effaced 

 this species from the list of breeding birds. 



No. 65. 

 CERULEAN WARBLER. 



A. O. U. No. 658. Dendroica rara (Wils.). 



Description. — Adult male : Above and on sides of head, neck, and breast 

 bright grayish blue (china-blue, scarcely "cerulean"), clearest on nape and rump; 

 streaked with black on crown, back, and sides ; lores black ; below white, a narrow 

 blackish band across chest (sometimes interrupted) ; sides of breast streaked with 

 black, parlially concealed and with bluish edgings ; two narrow white wing-bars 

 formed in the usual way; white blotches near end of all but central pair of tail- 

 feathers, on inner web ; bill and feet bluish black. Adult female : Above, bluish 

 olive-green ; below, pale greenish buffy or greenish yellow, clearing on throat and 

 belly, and obscurely striped with back-color on sides; line over and behind eye 

 greenish yellow or wanting; wing-bars and tail-spots like male. Young: Like 

 adult female, but males bluer above and whiter below. Autumnal plumage of 

 adults not different. Length 4.00-5.00 (101.6-127.) ; wing 2.67 (67.8) ; tail 1.73 

 (43.9); bin .40 (10.2). 



Recognition Marks. — Smaller; azure-blue and white coloration of male; 

 bluish-greenish-grayish olive of female. The latter may be distinguished from 

 the female of D. caerulescens, the only one with which it is likely to be confused, 

 by the two wing-bars and the tail-spots. 



Nest, a compact structure of fine grasses held together by spiders' silk, and 

 decorated externally with lichens; lined with strips of bark and fine grasses; 

 placed from twenty to seventy feet high in deciduous -trees, at some distance from 

 trunk. Eggs, 4, creamy white, speckled and blotched, chiefly near the larger end, 

 with chestnut and lilac. Av. size, .67 x .50 (17. x 12.7). 



General Range. — ^Eastern United States and southern Ontario west to the 

 Plains. Rare or casual east of central New York and the AUeghanies. In winter 

 south to Cuba, southeastern Mexico, Central America, and western South America. 

 Breeds from about latitude 35° north to Minnesota. 



Range in Ohio. — Rather common summer resident throughout the state; 

 more common as migrant. 



THE first five days of May are pretty sure to be warbler days in northern 

 Ohio. For seven years the Cerulean Warbler has appeared at Oberlin dur- 

 ing these first five days, usually near the first, and he is always singing when 

 he first appears. He nests in some numbers in Lorain county and elsewhere 



