YELLOW OR ORANGE CONSPICUOUS 545 



680. MACGILLIVRAY WARBLER. — Oporornis lolmiei. 

 Family : The Wood Warblers. 



Length: 5.00-5.75. 



Adult Male : Head, throat, and breast slate-gray ; throat feathers mar- 

 gined with gray ; rest of under parts yellow ; lores black ; a distinct 



white spot on each eyelid ; back olive-green, sometimes merging to 



grayish olive. 

 Adult Female : Similar to male, but crown, hind-neck, and sides of head 



and neck mouse-gray, fading to grayish white on throat and breast. * 

 Young : Similar to adults, but plumage softer ; throat, chest, and spots 



on eyelids yellowish ; streak over lores pale yellow. 

 Geographical Distribution : In the mountainous regions of Western North 



America, from the east slope of the Rockies to the Pacific, north 



to British Columbia, south in winter to Panama. 

 California Breeding Range : Through Transition zone along the Sierra 



Nevada from Mt. Shasta to the San Bernardino mountains. 

 Breeding Season: May 15 to June 15. 

 Nest : Of dried grasses ; lined with finer grasses and horsehair ; placed 



in weeds, bushes, or low shrubs, 1 to 6 feet from the ground. 

 Eggs : 3 to 5 ; creamy white, marked near the larger end with spots and 



pen lines of dark brown and lilac gray. Size 0.72 X 0.52. 



In the chaparral and underbrush ; in ravines where 

 small brooks wind in and out, their borders fringed 

 with thick bracken ; on the scrubby hillsides, — the 

 Macgillivray Warbler hides shjly among the low foliage, 

 or sings an odd little trill as you pass. These are his 

 chosen haunts, and here among the ferns he will build 

 a dainty nest so carefully hidden and so closely guarded 

 that only by accident can you discover it. And if you 

 do chance to locate it and part the ferns the least bit to 

 peer into it, unless the eggs are nearly ready to hatch 

 they will be abandoned by the timid Warblers and your 

 opportunity to see a brood develop will be lost. Under 

 these circumstances it is small wonder that little is 



35 



