224 SINGING BIRDS. 



MAGNOLIA WARBLER, 



black and yellow warbleb. 



Dendroica maculosa. 



Char. Male: upper parts-black, the feathers edged with olive j rump 

 yellow ; crown ash, bordered by black and white ; beneath, rich yellow, 

 thickly spotted on breast and sides with black ; white patch on wings 

 and on all but middle tail feathers. Female : similar, but colors duller, 

 and back sometimes entirely olive. Length 5X inches. 



Nest. On a horizontal branch of spruce or fir, usually 3 to 6 feet from 

 the ground, but sometimes higher ; made of twigs and grass, lined with 

 fine black roots. 



Eggs. 4-5; creamy white, spotted with lilac and several shades of 

 brown; 0.60 X 0.50. 



This rare and beautiful species is occasionally seen in very 

 small numbers in the Southern, Middle, and Northern States, in 

 the spring season, on its way to its Northern breeding-places. 

 In Massachusetts I have seen it in this vicinity about the mid- 

 dle of May. Its return to the South is probably made through 

 the western interior, — a route so generally travelled by most of 

 our birds of passage at this season ; in consequence of which 

 they are not met with, or but very rarely, in the Atlantic States 

 in autumn. In this season they have been seen at sea off the 

 island of Jamaica, and have been met with also in Hispaniola, 

 whither they retire to pass the winter. Like all the rest of the 

 genus, stimulated by the unquiet propensity to migrate, they 

 pass only a few days with us, and appear perpetually employed 

 in pursuing or searching out their active insect prey or larvse ; 

 and while thus engaged, utter only a few chirping notes. The 

 Magnolia has a shrill song, more than usually protracted on the 

 approach of wet weather, so that the Indians bestow upon it 

 the name of Rain Bird. According to Audubon, many of 

 these birds breed in Maine and the British Provinces, as well 

 as in Labrador, and extend their summer residence to the 

 banks of the Saskatchewan. They have also a clear and sweetly 

 modulated song. 



Although rare in the United States, it appears, according to 

 Richardson, that this elegant species is a common bird on the 



