Conspicuously Yellow and Orange 
Because both birds are so conspicuously yellow, no doubt this 
warbler is quite generally confused with the goldfinch; but their 
distinctions are clear enough to any but the most superficial glance. 
In the first place, the yellow warbler is a smaller bird than the 
goldfinch; it has neither black crown, wings, nor tail, and it 
does have reddish-brown streaks on its breast that are sufficiently 
obsolete to make the coloring of that part look simply dull at a 
little distance. The goldfinch’s bill is heavy, in order that it may 
crack seeds, whereas the yellow warbler’s is slender, to enable it 
to pick minute insects from the foliage. The goldfinch’s wavy, 
curved flight is unique, and that of his ‘‘double” differs not a 
whit from that of all nervous, flitting warblers. Surely no one 
familiar with the rich, full, canary-like song of the ‘‘ wild canary,” 
as the goldfinch is calléd, could confuse it with the mild “Wee- 
chee, chee, cher-wee’’ of the summer yellowbird. Another distinc- 
tion, not always infallible, but nearly so, is that when seen feed- 
ing, the goldfinch is generally below the line of vision, while the 
yellow warbler is either on it or not far above it, as it rarely goes 
over twelve feet from the ground. 
No doubt, the particularly mild, sweet amiability of the 
yellow warbler is responsible for the persistent visitations of the 
cowbird, from which it is a conspicuous sufferer. In the exqui- 
site, neat little matted cradle of glistening milk-weed flax, lined 
with down from the fronds of fern, the skulking housebreaker 
deposits her surreptitious egg for the little yellow mother-bird to 
hatch and tend. But amiability is not the only prominent trait 
in the female yellow warbler’s character. She is clever as well, 
and quickly builds a new bottom on her nest, thus sealing up the 
cowbird’s egg, and depositing her own on the soft, spongy floor 
above it. This operation has been known to be twice repeated, 
until the nest became three stories high, when a persistent cow- 
bird made such unusual architecture necessary. 
The most common nesting place of the yellow warbler is in 
low willows along the shores of streams. 
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