606 MICHIGAN BIRD LIFE. 
The eggs are three or four, white, spotted with brown and lilac, and average 
.63 by .48 inches. 
No two writers agree as to the song of this bird. Evidently there is 
much individual variation and if some of our writers are not mistaken 
in their identification this warbler must have a greater variety of notes 
than any other of the genus. Mr. White states that on Mackinac Island 
he ‘detected seven distinct songs, no one of which was even a variation 
of the other.’ Brewster, writing of northern New England, speaks of its 
commonest song as resembling the words ‘“‘she knew she was right; yes, 
she knew she was right.’”’? Nehrling says: ‘The song is a simple but 
pleasing chant, vividly recalling the lay of the Myrtle Bird and at other 
times that of the Yellow Warbler.’? According to Mr. Minot, “unfortu- 
nately, of all these numerous songs not one is distinctively characteristic 
of this warbler.” 
The food does not seem to differ materially from that of the other wood 
warblers. During migration (as well as at other times) it feeds extensively 
upon plant-lice and is a common bird in orchards and gardens, but during 
the nesting season it shows a decided preference for forests, and especially 
the edges of evergreen woods, and its consumption of insects at this time 
has therefore little direct value for the agriculturist. 
TECHNICAL DESCRIPTION. 
Adult male: Entire top of head bluish-ash; back and upper tail-coverts velvet black; 
rump yellow; chin and throat rich yellow, unspotted; breast and belly yellow, heavily 
spotted and streaked with velvet black in front and along sides; middle of belly unspotted, 
the yellow paler behind, becoming pure white on under tail-coverts; lores, space below 
eye, and cheeks black; lower eyelid and short line above and behind eye pure white; two 
broad white wing-bars, commonly fused into a single large patch; wing and tail-feathers 
brownish-black, the middle pair of tail feathers unspotted, each of the others with a long 
white spot on the inner vane near the middle, so that the tail when spread looks like a 
white tail with a broad black terminal band; bill and feet black. Adult female: Similar, 
but duller and smaller, the back only spotted with black, the ground color olive-green 
to brownish ash; black streaks below smaller and shorter; the two wing-bars separate, 
yellow rump and tail-feathers the same as in male. 
Length of male 4.35 to 5 inches; wing 2.25 to 2.45; tail 1.85 to 2.05. 
275. Cerulean Warbler. Dendroica cerulea (Wilson). (658) 
Synonyms: Blue Warbler, Azure Warbler.—Sylvia cerulea, Wils., 1810.—Sylvicola 
eerulea, Rich., Aud——Dendroica cerulea or Dendrceca cerulea of most recent authors. 
—Sylvia rara, Wils., 1911.—Sylvia azurea, Steph., Nutt., Aud., 1831. 
Mainly clear light blue with some blackish streaks above; the under 
parts white, with dusky blue streaks; the wings with two white bars. -This 
is our only warbler which shows a decided light blue color. 
Distribution.—Eastern United States and southern Ontario, west to 
the Plains. Rare or casual east of central New York and the Alleghanies. 
In winter, south to Cuba, southeastern Mexico, Central America, Colombia, 
Peru and Bolivia. Breeds from West Virginia, Tennessee, Missouri, and 
Kansas northward to Minnesota. 
The Cerulean Warbler is a regular and rather abundant visitor to the 
southern, and especially the southeastern, part of the state and occurs 
sparingly as far north as Port Huron and Grand Rapids. Mr. O. B. Warren 
records it as a rare migrant at Palmer, Marquette county, but this isthe 
only record for the Upper Peninsula, and among the thousands of warblers 
