Birds of Indiana. 1085 



Subgenus Oporobkis Baird. 



^^284. (677). Geothlypis formosa (Wils.). 



Kentucky Warbler. 



Head of Kentucky Warbler. Natural size. 



Adult JfaZe.— Above, olive-green; top of head, black; ring around 

 eye and stripe from it to the bill, yellow; an irregular black stripe from 

 bill, below and behind the eye, running down on to the neck; below, 

 entirely yellow. Adult Female. — Similar, but black crown, marked 

 with gray. Immature. — Similar to female, but black patches indis- 

 tinct or replaced by dusky. 



Length, 6.00-5.85; wing, 3.55-2.80; tail, 1.90-2.20; tarsus, .80-.90. 



Eange. — -Eastern North America, from Panama and West Indies 

 to Connecticut, southern Michigan and Iowa. Breeds throughout its 

 United States range. Winters from Mexico and Cuba, south. 



Nest, on ground, at base of or between forks of a bush in second- 

 growth timber and thickets, along watercourses; material, leaves, lined 

 with pine rootlets. Eggs, 4-5, rarely 3 or 6; white or creamy- white, 

 speckled and spotted, chiefly at the larger end, with rufous, vinaeeous 

 and lilac-gray; .77 by .57. 



The Kentucky Warbler is a summer resident over the southern two- 

 thirds of the State. In Knox County, and presumably from there 

 southward, throughout the lower Wabash Valley, it is "one of the 

 most abundant of the summer residents" (Ridgway, Bull. Nutt. Om. 

 Club, 1882, p. 20). Mr. Ridgway says, in southern Illinois, "as far 

 north as Wabash, Lawrence and Richland counties, it is even more 

 abundant than the GoMen-crowned Thrush, though the two usually 

 inhabit different locations, the latter preferring, as a rule, the dryer 

 upland woods, while the present species is most abundant in the rich 

 woods of the bottom lands" (Birds of 111., I., p. 166). In the White- 

 water Valley, where there are no bottom woods to speak of, they are 

 found in the same dark, damp woods, and, in addition to the present 

 species, is found along spring banks, wet, places and streams in the 

 deeper -woods. They are common up the Wabash Valley to Terre 



