209 



Distribution. Eastern North America west to well into the prairie country and north 

 to beyond settlement. Nests locally almost wherever found in eastern Canada except 

 in the extreme south. 



The Chestnut-sided Warbler is usually found in dry brushy clearings, 

 second growth, and raspberry tangles. 



660. Bay-breasted Warbler, pk. — la fattvette a poitbinb bate. Dendroica 

 castanea. L, 5-63. Male: finely striped with dull olive-ochre and black above; under- 

 parts white; top of head, throat, foreneck, and flanks bay colour (reddish chestnut); fore- 

 head and cheeks black; a light ochre spot on side of neck. Female has all these charac- 

 teristic marks obvious enough for recognition but veiled and dimly indicated. The 

 autumn birds, however, are entirely different; above, yellowish green faintly striped with 

 dark, below, white, more or less tinged with yellowish or buffy greenish; the bay of the 

 sides is often indicated by a slight ruddy warmth or by individual, fully coloured feathers. 



Distinctions. Spring birds are distinctive enough. Autumn specimens resemble 

 the juvenile Black-poll so closely that often they can be separated only with difficulty even 

 when in the hand. The Bay-breasted almost invariably has a certain amount of warm 

 ochre on the flanks which is lacking in the Black-poll and the undertail-coverts are cream 

 instead of pure white. The presence of wing-bars will distinguish these two species from 

 any other plain greenish Warbler. 



Field Marks. The adult male is distinctive in colour. The spring female always 

 shows enough of the bay breast for recognition. Adult autumn birds also usually have 

 a trace of the bay on the flanks and the warm ochreish of these parts can usually be seen 

 in juveniles. When these characters fail to distinguish the species, however, close atten- 

 tion will show that the breast colour is perfectly even and sharp eyes or good glasses will 

 usually reveal very faint dark stripings showing on the sides of the breast of the Black- 

 poll. None of these marks, however, can be seen except in the most favourable circum- 

 stances, but in mixed flocks one can usually tell the proportion of each species with fair 

 accuracy. 



Nesting. In coniferous trees, 5 to 20 feet above the ground in nest of grasses and 

 plant fibres lined with plant-down and long hairs. 



Distribution. Eastern North America west to across the prairies and north to the 

 tree limits. Breeds beyond regular cultivation. 



The Bay-breasted Warbler in spring migration prefers brushy growth 

 in sandy wastes, roadsides, etc., but often comes close about the house in 

 shade trees and the orchard. The similarity of the autumn Bay-breasted 

 and the autumn Black-poll, a bird in full plumage totally different, is one 

 of the interesting phenomena of bird coloration. The autumn plumages 

 of these two birds were at one time confused with each other under the 

 name of Autumnal Warbler. 



661. Black-poll Warbler, pb. — la fattvette rayee. Dendroica striata. L, 5-56. 

 Male: black and white stripes with a solidly black crown; finely lined with black and grey 

 on back; below all white with black from base of bill down sides of neck breaking into 

 stripes on flanks; cheeks white. Female: greenish above; white below washed with green- 

 ish on throat and breast but with enough of the black striping showing more or less vaguely 

 to make the bird recognizable as the female of the above. Autumn birds are almost 

 indistinguishable from the preceding Bay-breasted (See above). 



Distinctions. The spring males with their clear black and white markings can be 

 mistaken for nothing except the Black-and-White Creeper, but their non-creeping habits 

 and the crowns solidly black, instead of with a broad white median stripe, easily separate 

 them. The striping of the female is distinctive. The autumn birds can be told from the 

 Bay-breasted by their lack of ochre, bay, or buffy on flanks and their pure white undertail- 

 coverts. 



Field Marks. The Black-poll is seen in three plumages: the male black and white; 

 the female greenish, white below and more or less streaked with black; and autumn birds 

 like Bay-breasts with faint stripes, visible only to sharp eyes or with good glasses, showing 

 through the yellowish flanks. 



