LAND BIRDS. 611 . 
no detailed description of this and must confess that although familiar 
with the bird in migration for twenty-five years, we have never yet heard 
it utter more than a few disconnected notes, aside from the characteristic 
chip which so many of our warblers use at that season. See however, 
Thayer’s description in Chapman’s Warblers of North America, page 194. 
The food of this species does not differ, so far as we know, from that of 
other members of the genus. 
TECHNICAL DESCRIPTION. 
_ Adult male: Forehead and entire region about the eye, black; top of head, chin, throat, 
sides of breast and flanks, rich chestnut; a large patch of creamy white on each side of 
neck, and middle of breast and belly same color, becoming more buffy on under tail- 
coverts; back, rump and upper tail-coverts, gray, streaked with black; two white wing- 
bars; two outer pairs of tail-feathers broadly spotted with white on inner webs near tips. 
Female similar, but crown never clear chestnut, usually streaked with olive, black and 
brown; under parts mainly buffy, with traces of chestnut on upper breast and sides; bill 
black. Young of the year are totally unlike the parents and no description will enable 
the beginner to identify them with certainty. 
Length 5 to 6 inches; wing 2.75 to 3; tail 2.15 to 2.25; female slightly smaller. 
278. Black-poll Warbler. Dendroica striata (J. R. Forster). (661) 
Synonyms: Black-poll, Autumnal Warbler.—Muscicapa striata, Forst., 1772.— 
Sylvia and Sylvicola striata of the older writers, Dendroica and Dendrceca striata of the 
more recent. 
Streaked black and white, the entire top of head deep black. Might 
be mistaken for the Black and White Warbler, but the latter has a white 
stripe through the middle of the crown. 
Distribution.—Eastern North America, west to the Rocky Mountains, 
north to Greenland, the Barren Grounds, and Alaska, breeding from 
northern New England and the Catskills northward. South in winter 
to northern South America, but not recorded from Mexico or Central 
America. 
This is another very late migrant, probably the latest of its genus. At 
Ann Arbor, during twenty-five years of observation, the earliest arrival 
noted by Mr. N. A. Wood was May 13 and the average May 15. We have 
records of specimens killed on Spectacle Reef Light, Lake Huron, on May 
23, 1897, May 28, 1888 and 1892 and June 1, 1892, while there are two 
records from Big Sable Light, Lake Superior, May 19, 1887, and June 6, 
1894. The spring records from several observers in the northern parts of 
the state give much earlier dates than these, some even in April, but these 
undoubtedly are based on errors in observations, in all probability the 
Black and White Warbler being mistaken for this species. In autumn 
the Black-poll begins to move southward in August and the movement 
continues all through September and until the middle of October, single 
individuals being taken in the latter part of this month in the southern 
part of the state. 
As with the Bay-breast there is some uncertainty about the breeding 
area, and we have no unquestionable record of its nesting in Michigan. 
It does nest occasionally in northern New England and New York, but 
it is not known to nest in northern Wisconsin, and it is very doubtful 
if it ever nests in northern Michigan. Single birds have been recorded 
in summer from northern Wisconsin (Kumlien & Hollister), and Mr. 
8. E. White gives it as a rare summer resident on Mackinac Island. We 
