HOODED WARBLER. 167 



HOODED WARBLER. 



Sylvania mitrata. 



Char. Male : above, yellow olive ; beneath, rich yellow ; sides shaded 

 with pale olive ; head and neck black, enclosing a wide band of yellow 

 across forehead and through eyes ; tail with patch of white on two or 

 three outer tail-feathers. Bill black, feet flesh-color. Female : similar to 

 male, but sometimes lacking the black, in which specimens the crown is 

 olive and the throat yellow. 



Nest. In a low bush ; made of leaves and vegetable fibre, lined with 

 grass or horse-hair. 



Eggs. 4-5 ; creamy white, spotted chiefly around the larger end with 

 brown and lilac ; 0.70 x 0.53. 



This beautiful and singularly marked summer species, com- 

 mon in the South, is rarely seen to the north of the State 

 of Maryland. It retires to Mexico or the West Indies proba- 

 bly to pass the winter. At Savannah, in Georgia, it arrives 

 from the South about the 20th of March, according to Wilson. 

 It is partial to low and shady situations darkened with under- 

 wood, is frequent among the cane-brakes of Tennessee and 

 Mississippi, and is exceedingly active, and almost perpetually 

 engaged in the pursuit of winged insects. While thus em- 

 ployed, it now and then utters three loud, and not unmusical, 

 very lively notes, resembling the words, twee twee 'fwtiishe. 

 In its simple song and general habits it therefore much resem- 

 bles the summer Yellow Bird. Its neat and compact nest 

 is generally fixed in the fork of a small bush, formed outwardly 

 of moss and flax, lined with hair, and sometimes feathers ; the 

 eggs, about 5, are grayish white, with reddish spots towards 

 the great end. 



The Hooded Warbler is a Southern species, but is a regular 

 summer resident of the Connecticut valley, and has been found 

 breeding near Cleveland, Ohio, and in southern Michigan. It 

 is said to be more abundant in South Carolina than elsewhere. 



