360 BIRDS OF ONTARIO. 



Genus DENDROICA Gray. 



Subgenus PERISSOGLOSSA Baird. 



DENDROICA TIGRINA (Gmel.). 



268. Cape May Warbler. (650) 



Male in spring: — Back, yellowish-olive with dark spots; crown, blackish, 

 more or less interrupted with brownish ; ear patch, orange-brown ; chin, throat 

 and posterior portion of a yellowish superciliary line, tinged with the same; 

 a black loral line, rump and under parts rich yellow, paler on belly and crissum, 

 ■the breast and sides streaked with black ; wing bars, fused into a large whitish 

 patch ; tail blotches large, on three pairs of retrices ; bill and feet, black. 

 Female in spring: — Somewhat similar, but lacks the distinctive head markings ; 

 the under parts are paler and less streaked ; the tail spots small or obscure ; the 

 white on the wing less. Young: — An insignificant-looking bird, resembling 

 an overgrown Ruby-crowned Kinglet without its crest ; obscure greenish-olive 

 above ; rump, olive-yellow ; under parts, yellowish-white ; breast and sides with 

 the streaks obscure or obsolete ; little or no white on wings, which are edged 

 with yellowish ; tail spots very small. Length, 5-5J ; wing, 2| ; tail, 2J. 



Hab. — Eastern North America, north to Hudson's Bay Territory, west 

 to the Plains. Breeds from Northern New England northward and also in 

 ■Jamaica ; winters in the West Indies. 



Nest, fastened to the outermost twigs of a cedar bough about three feet 

 from the ground, composed of miniite twigs of dried spruce, grasses and 

 strawberry vines woven together with spider webs. The rim is neatly formed 

 and the lining is entirely of horse-hair. 



Eggs, three to five, creamy-white, marked with lilac and reddish-brown. 



This rare and beautiful Warbler is peculiar to the east, not yet 

 Tiaving been found west of the Mississippi. In the Eastern States it 

 is occasionally obtained, but is so rare that it is always regarded as a 

 prize, and the collector who recognizes in the woods the orange 

 ear-coverts and striped breast of this species is not likely soon to 

 forget the tingling sensation which passes up to his finger ends at 

 the time. 



I have altogether found six in Ontario, but the occasions of their 

 capture extended over a good many years. The above description of 

 the nest and eggs is condensed from an account given by Montague 

 Chambei'lain in the Auk for January, 1885, of the finding of a nest 

 on the northern boundary of New Brunswick in the summer of 1882. 



