OF VIRGINIA 295 
[662]. Dendroica fusca (Miller). Blackburnian 
Warbler. 
Ranere.—Eastern North America and northern South 
America. Breeds in Lower Canadian and Upper Tran- 
sition zones from Manitoba, southern Keewatin, central 
Ontario, Quebee and Cape Breton Island to central Minne- 
sota, Wisconsin, northern Michigan, Massachusetts, and 
Connecticut, and in the Alleghenies from Pennsylvania to 
Georgia and South Carolina; winters from Colombia to 
central Peru and less commonly north to Yucatan; in 
migration to Nebraska, Texas, and Kansas, straggling to 
Utah, New Mexico and the Bahamas. 
Like all the warblers (except a few Pine), they do not 
winter with us, arriving in Tidewater Virginia from the 
south about May 2nd to 8th, and again in the fall August 
15th to October ist. Professor Smyth reports it “at 
Blacksburg as rare May 2nd-14th; but common through- 
out September.” They are a breeding bird with us in the 
Canadian zone only. They select generally coniferous 
trees, placing their nests near the extremity of the limbs, 
and at the highest possible elevation. The nest is com- 
posed of weed and grass stems, fine rootlets and bark 
fibers, lined with hair. The eggs number four, the ground 
having a bluish tint, spotted and finely specked with red- 
dish-brown, with under-markings of lavender. Size of 
eggs, .69x.50. The birds are the handsomest of all our 
mountain warblers, distinctive on account of the brilliant 
spot on head and throat, of orange. Their food is similar 
to that of the other warblers of our higher foliage. I 
found them breeding abundantly at Mountain Lake, 
altitude 4,000 feet, where they placed their nests in the 
balsams bordering the lake, and other ravines having these 
stately trees in them. Birds were first noted May 18th. 
Only one brood a season. 
