Dusky, Gray, and Slate-colored 



Spanish or Usnea " moss" drapes itself over the cypresses, as it 

 can find here at the north. Its rarely beautiful nest, that hangs 

 suspended from a slender branch very much like the Baltimore 

 oriole's, is so woven and festooned with this moss that its con- 

 cealment is perfect. 



Black-throated Blue Warbler 



(Dendroica ccerulescensj Wood Warbler family 



Length— 5. 30 inches. About an inch shorter than the English 

 sparrow. 



Male — Slate-color, not blue above ; lightest on forehead and 

 darkest on lower back. Wings and tail edged with bluish. 

 Cheeks, chin, throat, upper breast, and sides black. Breast 

 and underneath white. White spots on wings, and a little 

 white on tail. 



Female — Olive-green above ; underneath soiled yellow. Wing- 

 spots inconspicuous. Tail generally has a faint bluish tinge. 



Range — Eastern North America, from Labrador to tropics, where 

 it winters. 



Migrations — May. September. Usually a migrant only in the 

 United States. 



Whoever looks for this beautifully marked warbler among 

 the bluebirds, will wish that the man who named him had pos- 

 sessed a truer eye for color. But if the name so illy fits the 

 bright slate-colored male, how grieved must be his little olive- 

 and-yellow mate to answer to the name of black-throated blue 

 warbler when she has neither a black throat nor a blue feather! 

 It is not easy to distinguish her as she flits about the twigs and 

 leaves of the garden in May or early autumn, except as she is 

 seen in company with her husband, whose name she has taken 

 with him for better or for worse. The white spot on the wings 

 should always be looked for to positively identify this bird. 



Before flying up to a twig to peck off the insects, the birds 

 have a pretty vireo trick of cocking their heads on one side to in- 

 vestigate the quantity hidden underneath the leaves. They seem 

 less nervous and more deliberate than many of their restless family. 



Most warblers go over the Canada border to nest, but there 

 are many records of the nests of this species in the Alleghanies 

 as far south as Georgia, in the Catskills, in Connecticut, northern 



95 



