62 BIRDS 



The Blackburnlan Warbler 



Length — 4.5 to 5.5 inches. An inch and a half smaller than 

 the English sparrow. 



Male — ^Head black, striped with orange-flame; throat and 

 breast orange, shading through yellow to white under- 

 neath; wings, tail, and part of back black, with white 

 markings. White conspicuous in tail feathers. 



Female — Olive-brown above, shading into yellow on breast, 

 and paler under parts. 



Range — ^Eastern North America to plains. Winter in 

 tropics. 



Migrations — ^May. September. Spring and autumn mi- 

 grant. 



No foliage is dense enough to hide, and no autumnal tint 

 too brilliant to outshine this luminious little bird that in 

 May, as it migrates northward to its nesting ground, darts 

 in and out of the leafy shadows like a tongue of fire. 



It is the most glorious of all the warblers — ^a sort of 

 diminutive oriole, orange where the redstart is salmon, al- 

 though novices sometimes confuse these two most tropical 

 looking members of their fanaily that visit us. The quiet- 

 colored little mate of the Blackburnian warbler flits about 

 after him, apparently lost in admiration of his fine feathers 

 and the ease with which his thin tenor voice can end his 

 fine lover's warble in a high Z. 



Take a good look at this attractive couple, for in May 

 they leave us to build a nest of bark and moss in the ever- 

 greens of Canada — that paradise for warblers — or of the 

 Catskills and Adirondacks, and in autumn they hurry 

 South to escape the first frosts. 



