552 LAND BIRDS 



685 a. PILEOLATED WARBLER. — Wilsonia pusilla 

 pileolata. 



Family : The Wood Warblers. 



Length: 4.25-5.10. 



Adult Male: Upper parts bright yellowish olive-greeu; crown glossy 



blue-black ; under parts bright yellow ; forehead sometimes orange- 

 yellow. 

 Adult Female : Similar to male, but back of crown usually indistinct, 



being concealed by olive wash. 

 Geographical JXstribution : Western North America, chiefly along or 



near the Pacific coast ; north to Alaska ; south in winter through 



Mexico to Costa Kica. 

 Breeding Range : April 15 to July 2. 

 Nest: Of leaves, bark strips, weed stems, vegetable fibres, and rootlets; 



lined with finer grasses ; placed in thickets and blackberry vines, on 



or near the ground. 

 Eggs: 2 to 4; white or creamy white, speckled with reddish brown and 



lilac gray, often in the form of a wreath around the larger end. Size 



0.60 X 0.48. 



In the warm spring days comes the handsome little 

 Pileolated Warbler, with his long title of Western 

 Black-capped Flycatching Warbler. He is a common 

 migrant throughout the valleys of California, and flits 

 over the underbrush like a big yellow butterfly ; but, as 

 nesting time approaches, he withdraws to the mountains, 

 and is seen on the lowlands no more until fall. Not 

 shy, he watches you with quite as much interest as you 

 observe him, calling saucily from his low perch, and 

 readily answering to an imitation of his " seep see." If 

 you are motionless and coax long enough, he will even 

 alight on a spray of chaparral held in the hand. In 

 movements he is an odd little mixture of flycatcher and 

 hummingbird, darting out for a passing insect, or hover- 



