Conspicuously Yellow and Orange 



Like the ovenbird and comparatively few otliers, for most 

 birds hop over the ground, the Kentucky warbler walks rapidly 

 about, looking for insects under the fallen leaves, and poking his 

 inquisitive beak into every cranny where a spider may be lurk- 

 ing. The bird has a pretty, conscious way of flying up to a 

 perch, a few feet above the ground, as a tenor might advance 

 towards the footlights of a stage, to pour forth his clear, pene- 

 trating whistle, that in the nesting season especially is repeated 

 over and over again with tireless persistency. 



Magnolia Warbler 



(Dendroica maculosa) Wood Warbler family 



Called also: BLACK-AND-YELLOW WARBLER; SPOTTED 

 WARBLER ; BLUE-HEADED YELLOW-RUMPED WAR- 

 BLER 



Length— 4.']'-) to 5 inches. About an inch and a half smaller than 

 the English sparrow. 



Male — Crown of head slate-color, bordered on either side by a 

 white line ; a black line, apparently running through the eye, 

 and a yellow line below it, merging into the yellow throat. 

 Lower back and under parts yellow. Back, wings, and tail 

 blackish olive. Large white patch on the wings, and the 

 middle of the tail-quills white. Throat and sides heavily 

 streaked with black. 



Female — Has greener back, is paler, and has less distinct markings. 



Range — North America, from Hudson Bay to Panama. Summers 

 from northern Michigan and northern New England north- 

 ward ; winters in Central America and Cuba. 



Migrations — May. October. Spring and summer migrant. 



In spite of the bird's name, one need not look for it in the 

 glossy magnolia trees of the southern gardens more than in 

 the shrubbery on New England lawns, and during the migra- 

 tions it is quite as likely to be found in one place as in the other. 

 Its true preference, however, is for the spruces and hemlocks of 

 its nesting ground in the northern forests. For these it deserts us 

 after a brief hunt about the tender, young spring foliage and blos- 

 soms, where the early worm lies concealed, and before we have 

 become so well acquainted with its handsome clothes that we 

 will instantly recognize it in the duller ones it wears on its return 



197 



