BiEDS OF Indiana. 1045 



were three Baltimore Orioles. Each did its utmost in insect catching, 

 and for a time none of them had time to sing; they were too busy 

 at the noonday meal. From reports received, others have had similar 

 experiences with this bird. Prof. King examined four specimens 

 taken between September 6 and 33. With the exception of one ant, 

 all the food they had eaten was beetles. One stomach contained ten 

 beetles. These Warblers are very beneficial, and their efforts on behalf 

 of the farmer and fruit grower entitle them to his regard and care. 

 In the fall they often frequent thickets, brier patches, overgrown 

 fence-rows, and weedy roadsides, after the manner of Tennessee and 

 Eed-poll Warblers. 



Subgenus Dbxdboica Gray. 



*265. (652). Dendroica aestiva (Gmel.). 



Yellow Warbler. 



Synonyms, Summer Warbler, Summer Yellow Bird. 



"Adult Male. — Entire lower parts and head, pure, rich gamboge- 

 yellow; breast and sides, boldly striped with rich chestnut or orange- 

 brown; wings and tail, dusky, every feather edged with yellow; upper 

 parts, olive-gi'een, sometimes streaked with dusky; bill, dark, horn 

 blue; feet, brownish. Female. — Paler yellow, the chestnut-rufous 

 stripes, dull, few or wanting entirely" (Chapman). 



Length, 4.50-5.35; wing, 3.35-2.65; tail, 1.80-2.10. 



Eakge. — America, excepting southwestern United States and 

 northwestern Mexico, from Guiana and Ecuador to Bering Sea and 

 the Arctic Coast. Breeds from northern Mexico, north. Winters 

 from Mexico, south. 



Nest, in crotch of bush or low tree in rather open situation; of 

 bark shreds, vegetable fibre, grass, moss, wool, hair and plant down, 

 neatly and compactly woven together. Bggs, 4-5; bluish-white, 

 spotted and blotched with different shades of brown; .70 by .50. 



The Yellow Warbler is one of our best known and most abundant 

 summer residents. It arrives as the buds on the apple trees are 

 bursting into bloom. It is no unusual thing to awaken a warm spring 

 morning, after a few days of cold weather, and find that in the night 

 •the grass has grown markedly, the naked limbs of the apple trees 

 are clothed in green and decked in flowers. One can almost see things 

 grow. While gazing upon the changed scene, a bit of bright yellow 

 flits among the apple boughs and says "we-chee, chee, chee, chee-wee." 

 It is the Yellow Warbler. The warm spell has quickened his move- 



