In the Woods. 123 



chestnut, varying in shade in individuals. These markings will serve to iden- 

 tify the male in the spring. The back is ashy white with a brownish suffusion, 



„ , ^ . streaked with dusky brown or black. There are two white 

 Bay-breasted . , . ^ 



Warbler wmg bars and a patch of white on the inner web of the 



Dendroica castanea (wiis.). outer tail feathers near their ends. The belly is white 



suffused with buff. The female has an olive green crown streaked with black 



and frequently showing traces of chestnut. The lower parts are buffy white, 



with some suggestion of chestnut on the throat and sides. 



In the fall both sexes and the immature birds resemble the Black-poll 

 Warblers at that season, but may be always discriminated from that species 

 by the lighter green upper parts, and the buffy suffusion of the lower parts, 

 which are yellowish green in the Black-poll Warbler. This buffy tinge is 

 strongest on the flanks, and often grades into a very decided area of chestnut 

 in these regions. 



The nest is built of grasses and vegetable fibre, and is lined with hairs 

 and plant down. The eggs are about seven tenths of an inch long, and a 

 little over half an inch in their other diameter. They are white, with fine 

 markings of olive and reddish brown, mainly on the larger end. 



These birds are found in Eastern North America, north to Hudson's 

 Bay. They breed from Northern New England north, and winter in Central 

 America. 



This is the only Warbler, of the region under consideration, whose pre- 

 vailing color above is bright blue, which feature renders recognition of the 

 male birds an easy problem. In addition the head and 

 Cerulean Warbler, back are streaked with black, there are two white wing 

 bars, and all but the central tail feathers have white 

 patches on their inner webs. The under parts are white, and the sides and 

 flanks are streaked with blue black, which color also forms a more or less de- 

 fined band across the breast. The birds are four inches and a half long. 

 The female has the upper parts suffused with olive greenish over black, and 

 the under parts white, suffused with pale greenish yellow. Immature birds 

 are like the female, but the olive green and yellowish suffusion are intensified. 



The nest is placed in trees, higher generally than twenty-five feet from 

 the ground. Built of fine grasses and plant fibres, secured with spiders' webs, 

 and decorated with lichens, it is lined with finer plant fibres. The eggs are 

 usually four in number, and are white in color with profuse markings of red- 



