448 Birds of Colorado 
Description.—Male—General colour above, including the sides of 
the head, slaty-blue with » patch of rich olive-yellow in the middle 
of the back ; middle and greater coverts tipped with white, forming 
two conspicuous wing-patches; tail with the three outer pairs of 
rectrices spotted, the next two merely edged on the inner web with 
white ; lores black, a small white spot above and below the eye ; throat 
and chest bright yellow, separated usually by a dusky patch; rest 
of the under-parts white, bluish-grey on the sides and flanks; iris 
brown, upper mandible black, lower yellow in life; legs brownish. 
Length 4-12 ; wing 2-25 ; tail 1-70; culmen -40; tarsus -65. 
The female resembles the male, but is duller throughout, and usually 
without the dusky chest-patch ; young birds have the upper-parts 
washed over with olive-green ; the white around the eye more extended, 
and the yellow of the throat paler and no dusky patch. 
The birds of the Mississippi Valley appear to aver2ge slightly smaller 
than those breeding in the north eastern states. They have been 
distinguished as a subspecies (C. a. ramalinw) by Ridgway (02, p. 486), 
but the form has not yet been recognized by the A.O.U. Committee. 
Colorado examples must be referred to it, if so recognized. 
Distribution.—Breeding from Minnesota to Nova Scotia southwards 
in the mountains to Virginia; south in winter through the middle 
states to southern Mexico and Nicaragua. 
The Parula is a rare straggler in Colorado. It was first taken by 
Aiken in El Paso co. on May 11th, 1872, and has since been definitely 
recorded twice only—from Clear Creek near Denver—a single female 
in May, 1904, and from Kit Carson in Cheyenne co. on May 27th, when 
Mr. Ferril killed one female from a flock (Smith). I have recently 
seen a male taken by Mr. Hersey at Barr, May 20th, 1909, now in the 
Natural History Museum at Denver. 
Habits.—During the migration period the Parula is 
generally distributed, though preferring deciduous to 
coniferous trees. In the breeding season it is only to 
be found where the usnea moss grows freely. This is 
a lichen, growing on trees in swampy places and forming 
great, freely hanging masses dependent from the branches. 
In this the Parula makes its nest, generally with a small 
side-entrance. The eggs, usually four, are white to 
creamy-white, with coarse, ill-defined markings of reddish- 
brown, chestnut and grey. They vary very much in 
size and shape, but average °67 x ‘48. The Parula 
is not known to nest in Colorado. 
