136 BLACK-THROATED BLUE WARBLER 



obscure as the male is conspicuous and were it not for the white spot 

 at the base of the primaries, would have no prominent distinguish- 

 ing mark. But in the young fema^le even this is sometimes so small 

 as to be concealed by the primary coverts and, in this plumage, the 

 Black-throated Blue is one of the most difificult Warblers to identify. 

 Where the range of this species penetrates the Canadian life-zone 

 with its coniferous forests it nests in growth of this character but 

 south of these limits its summer home is in deciduous woods. 



Gerald Thayer writes that about Monadriock the Black-throated 

 Blue is "a bird of the ampler deciduous undergrowth in deep, moist 

 woods — mixed virgin timber or very old second growth. It is pecu- 

 liarly partial to these woodland conditions, and is common wherever 

 they occur, especially between the altitudes of 1,000 and 2,500 feet. 

 Creeping yew is almost always common in woods where these War- 

 blers breed, and they sometimes, perhaps often, nest in a clump of it. 

 "In its movements the Black-throated Blue is more deliberate than 

 many of its relatives, but it has at the same time a somewhat Red- 

 start-like way of 'spiriting' itself from one perch to another, and, 

 while perched, of partly opening its white-mooned wings; — a habit 

 and a marking shared by the boldly blue-and-black-and-white- males 

 and the dimly green and yellowish females and young. It is among 

 the tamest of our Warblers." {Thayer, MS.) 



Egbert Bagg, of Utica, writes: "This bird is a common summer 

 resident in the southwestern part of our New York wilderness and it 

 is there, both in the wilderness and along its outskirts, that I have 

 come to know it as one of my bird friends. In these fastnesses of the 

 woods birds appear to be scarce. The wilderness is so great and so 

 impassable that the number of birds seen is small, when they are 

 attending to their duties in breeding season. Quite the contrary is 

 the fact when they are migrating, and I have seen birds in as great 

 numbers, during May, in the wilderness, as I ever saw them anywhere ; 

 hundreds, I presume thousands, passing our camp for several days at 

 a time. But a month later in the same locality hardly a bird will be 

 seen. But even at this time a careful observer will find the species of 

 which I am writing not uncommon in these woods. The males will 

 be seen rather high up in the trees, but the females are but little in 

 evidence. 



"It was a long time after I discovered that these birds were com- 

 mon summer residents before I found my first nest, and when I did 

 find it, its location was so uncommon, (as late^ discoveries showed) 

 that it actually hindered rather than helped the discovery of others. 



