YELLOW WARBLER. 361 



Subgenus DENDROICA Gray. 



DENDROICA ESTIVA (Gmel.). 



269. Yellow Warbler. (652) 



Golden-yellow ; back, olive-yellow, frequently with obsolete brownish 

 streaks ; breast and sides, streaked with orange-brown, which sometimes 

 tinges the crown ; wings and tail, dusky, the latter marked witl) yellow 

 blotches ; bill, dark blue. Female and young, paler ; less or not streaked 

 below. Length, 5J ; wing, 2§ ; tail, 2J. 



Hab. — North America at large, south, in winter, to Central America and 

 Northern South America. 



Nest, placed in the crotch of a small tree or bush, composed of a variety of 

 soft, elastic materials, including wool, hair, moss, bark fibre and plant down, 

 closely felted together. 



Eggs, four or five, greenish-white, spotted and blotched with different shades 

 of reddish-brown. 



This is, perhaps, the best known of all the Warbler family, its 

 nest being more frequently found in a lilac bush in the garden than 

 in any njore retired situation. About the 10th of May it arrives 

 from the south, and soon makes its presence known by its sprightly 

 notes, the males being in full song at the time of their arrival. 



It spends much of its time picking small caterpillars off the foliage 

 of the willows, and is a general favorite on account of its sociable 

 disposition and confiding manners. Unfortunately for its domestic 

 comfort, it is often reluctantly compelled to become the foster-parent 

 of a young Cowbird, but it does not always accept the situation. 

 After the obnoxious egg has been deposited, it has been known to 

 raise the sides of the nest an inch higher, build a second bottom over 

 the top of the egg, and raise its own brood above, leaving the Cow- 

 bird egg to rot in the basement. 



This ambitious little bird, not satisfied with the United States 

 and Canada as a breeding ground, has extended the area to Alaska, 

 where Mr. Nelson says it is perhaps the most abundant "Warbler 

 throughout the territory. It is found everywhere in the wooded 

 interior, on the bushy borders of the watercourses, or among the 

 clumps of stunted alders on the shores of Behring Sea, and the coast 

 of the Arctic about Kotzebue Sound on the south-east coast of the 

 territory. Richardson reports its arrival at Fort Franklin in latitude 

 60°, on the 15th of May. 



This species and the Green Black-capped Flycatcher are the only 

 two of this class which breed in the alder thickets in the vicinity of 

 St. Michael's. 



