YELLOW WARBLER 113 



There is no pronounced type of color in Dendroica but nearly 

 all the species have wing-bars and all have white patches in the tail, 

 except D. astiva and its allies which have the tail marked with yellow. 

 As a rule, the sexes are unlike in color but in dominica, grades, kirt- 

 landi, and discolor there is little sexual difference in plumage and in 

 palmarum the sexes cannot be distinguished with certainty. 



All but kirtlandi and palmarum nest in trees or bushes, these two 

 species alone nesting on the ground; a habit which may account for 

 the strong brown or gray tone of their dorsal plumage. 



Dendroica contains some thirty-four species of which twenty- 

 three enter our limits, the remainder inhabiting Mexico, Central 

 America, and chiefly, the West Indies. Eastern North America has by 

 far the larger number of these brightly colored birds, no less than fifteen 

 of the twenty-three species occurring in the Atlantic States but not in 

 the Pacific States. 



Six species are western, and only one, D. cestiva, ( which in its 

 more or less closely related forms is found wherever Dendroica occurs) 

 ranges from the Atlantic to the Pacific. 



Yellow Warbler 



DENDROICA ESTIVA /ESTIVA (Gmel.) Plate I 



Distinguishing Characters. — A yellow bird; no white anywhere, inner webs 

 of nearly all the tail-feathers largely yellow. Young females are obscure 

 olive birds but may be known by the yellow tail markings. Length (skin), 

 4.60; wing, 2.4s; tail, 1.90; bill, .40. 



Adult c?. Spring. — Crown rich golden yellow sometimes with traces of 

 reddish brown; back greenish yellow, rump yellower; tail blackish margined 

 with yellow, inner webs of all but central' feathers yellow, except at tip ; wings 

 blackish edged with yellow, the coverts widely margined with yellow; under- 

 parts rich golden yellow, breast and sides conspicuously streaked with reddish 

 brown. 



Adult c?. Fall. — Resembling adult (? in Spring but crown but little brighter 

 than back, underparts less heavily streaked, the streaks at times wholly absent. 



Young c?. Fall. — Resembling adult c? in Fall but without streaks below. 



Adult $, Spring. — Much less yellow than <?; above yellowish olive-green, 

 upper tail-coverts brighter; tail-feathers with yellow on inner webs as in c?; 

 wings margined with yellow; below uniform yellow with few if any streaks. 



Adult ?, Fall. — Not distinguishable from young d in Fall. 



Young 2, Fall. — Less yellow above than adult ? in Fall, only two or three 

 outer tail-feathers with yellow on inner web; underparts pale dusky yellow, 

 unstreaked. 



Nestling. — Above brownish olive, below whitish tinged with pale yellow. 

 General Distribution. — North America, except southwestern part, 

 British Columbia, Alaska, Florida, southern Georgia, the upper por- 



