CHESTNUT-SIDED WARBLER. 235 



The Blackburnian is rather common in the Atlantic States and 

 westward to the Plains, breeding chiefly north of 45°, and sparingly 

 in Massachusetts and Connecticut, and southward along the crests 

 of the AUeghanies. It winters from the Bahamas and eastern 

 Mexico southward. 



Many Canadian observers have considered this Warbler rather 

 rare, but the opinion has probably arisen from the secluded habits 

 of the bird while in its summer home. It shows a preference for 

 the higher branches, and its favorite haunts are amid the deeper 

 forests where the pine and hemlock flourish. 



CHESTNUT-SIDED WARBLER. 



Dendroica pennsylvanica. 



Char. Male: back black, streaked with olive of grayish or yellowish 

 tint ; crown yellow ; sides of head white, enclosing a patch of black ; sides 

 of neck and entire under parts white ; sides streaked with chestnut, which 

 extends from neck to flanks; wing-bars and blotches on tail white. 

 Female I similar, but colors duller. Young: upper parts bright olive; 

 wing-bars yellowish ; under parts white. Length 4^ to 5^ inches. 



Nest. On the edge of an open woodland or the margin of a moist 

 meadow, in low tree or bush ; composed of grass and strips of bark fas- 

 tened with insect silk, and lined with grass or leaves or hair. 



Egg^- 4-5; white or creamy, spotted, chiefly around the larger end, 

 which is sometimes wreathed, with reddish brown and lilac ; 0.68 X 0.50. 



This rare and beautiful Sylvia, which probably winters in 

 tropical America, appears in the Middle and Northern States 

 early in May on its way north to breed ; it is also seen in the 

 spring in Canada and around Hudson's Bay. A few pairs re- 

 main, no doubt, to rear their young in secluded mountainous 

 situations in the Northern States, as on the 2 2d of May, 

 1830, a pair appeared to have fixed their summer abode 

 near the summit of the Blue Hills of Milton. The note of the 

 male was very similar to that of the Summer Yellow Bird, being 

 only a little louder, and less whistling ; it resembles 'tsh 'tsh 

 'tsh 'tshyia, given at about an interval of half a minute, and 

 answered by his mate at some distance, near which, it is proba- 

 ble, there was a nest. He appeared to be no way suspicious 

 of our approach ; his restlessness was subdued, and he quietly 

 sat near the same low bushes, amusing himself and his consort, 

 for an hour at a time, with the display of his lively and simple 



