646 MICHIGAN BIRD LIFE. 
duty for such, is uttered only from the recesses of some thicket where the 
bird is entirely invisible. Mr. Eugene Bicknell says ‘This eccentric bird 
is perhaps our only species which regularly sings at night. They sing 
both when the moon is bright and when the night is clear and dark; their 
odd notes interrupting the midnight stillness with peculiar effect.” 
The song is very difficult to describe. Dr. Wheaton says of it “If he 
discovers the approach of a human being, even at a considerable distance, 
he prepares to resent the intrusion; and giving three short, loud whistles, 
very low in tone as a warning, he advances toward him, all the while 
careful that he should be heard and not seen. Then follows a medley of 
sputtering, cackling, whispering and scolding notes, frequently interspersed 
with loud whistles, and continued as the bird runs, hops, or flies for the 
deepest thicket, with a pertinacity which knows no fatigue. * * * 
Sometimes he may be surprised as he sings in the upper branches of a tree. 
He then sits motionless, continuing his song as if unaware of any intrusion 
upon his privacy, and so resonant and varying are his notes that they 
confuse the ear as to the spot from which they come. It is to these 
rapid and sonorous notes, quick motions or perfect quiet, and harmonious 
surroundings, that he owes the reputation for ventriloquism which he 
has obtained; and it may be said of his reputation for mimicry that he 
has no need to borrow notes from any other bird and does not knowingly 
do so.” 
The nest is placed invariably in a low bush or mass of briers and vines 
and consists mainly of grasses and leaves, lined with fine grass, roots and 
sometimes with hair. The eggs are three to five, pure white or pinkish- 
white, spotted with brown and gray, and average .89 by .67 inches. Prob- 
ably in Michigan but one brood is reared in the season. 
TECHNICAL DESCRIPTION. 
Adult male: Upper parts, including wings and tail, olive-green, somewhat grayer on 
crown, brownish on wings and tail; chin, throat, and breast golden yellow of varying 
intensity; belly and under tail-coverts white; flanks brownish; streak from nostril to eye, 
another from base of lower mandible along side of throat, and eye-ring, white; lores and 
small space below eye black; wings and tail without spots or bars. Sexes almost alike, 
female a little duller. 
Length 6.75 to 7.50 inches; wing 2.90 to 3.20; tail 2.90 to 3.35. 
295. Hooded Warbler. Wilsonia citrina (Bodd.). (684) 
Synonyms: Hooded Flycatching Warbler, Black-headed Warbler, Mitred Warbler.— 
Muscicapa citrina, Bodd.—Sylvia mitrata, Nutt., 1832, Aud., 1834.—Sylvania mitrata, 
Nutt., 1840, A. O. U. Check-list, 1886.—Myiodioctes mitrata, Aud., 1841.—Myiodioctes 
mitratus of most other authors. 
The adult male is one of our most striking warblers, the entire head and 
neck being rich velvet black except for a broad band of brilliant yellow 
which covers the forehead, encloses the eyes, and extends downward over 
the cheeks. The black ends abruptly on the chest, the remaining lower 
parts being brilliant gamboge yellow; the back, wings and tail are bright 
olive-green, the wings without bars but the two outer pairs of tail-feathers 
are largely white. 
Distribution.—FEastern United States, west to the Plains, north and east 
to southern Michigan, southern Ontario, western and southwestern New 
York, and southern New England. Breeds from the Gulf of Mexico 
