226 
SINGIXG BIRDS. 
CAPE MAY WARBLER. 
Dendroica tigrina. 
Char. Male; back yellowish olive, with darker spots ; crown blackish; 
ear-patch chestnut ; line from bill around the eyes black ; rump yellow, 
wing-bars white and fused into one large patch; white blotches on three 
pairs of tail-feathers ; beneath, yellow tinged with orange on chin and 
throat, spotted with black on breast and sides. Female : similar, but 
back grayish, and lacking distinctive marking on head ; under parts paler ; 
spots on wings and tail smaller or obscure. 
A'est. In a pasture or open woodland, on low branch of small tree ; a 
neat, cup-shaped structure, partially pensile, composed of twigs and grass 
fastened with spider’s webbing, lined with horse-hair. 
Eggs. 3-4 ; dull white or buffy, slightly specked, and wreathed around 
larger end with spots of brown and lilac ; 0.70 X 0.50. 
I’his very rare Warbler has only been seen near the swamps 
of Cape May by Edward Harris, Esq. ; near Moorestown, in 
New Jersey; and in the vicinity of Philadelphia, about the 
middle of May, — probably as a straggler on its way to some 
Northern breeding-place. Its notes and further history are yet 
unknown. 
Since Nuttall wrote, we have learned a little more of the life his- 
tory of this feathered beauty, though our knowledge of the bird’s 
habits is still very limited. So rare is the bird that examples adorn 
but few collections ; yet it has been seen occasionally throughout the 
Eastern States, and is reported by Thompson as “ plentiful ” along 
the Red River, in Manitoba. It has been traced north to Hudson 
Bay, and south (in winter) to the West Indies. The southern limit 
of its breeding area is probably about the 45th parallel. The nest 
has been found by Mr. H. B. Dailey at Umbagog Lake, in Maine, 
and by Mr. James W. Banks near St. John, N. B. 
Banks’s nest, which I had the privilege of examining, was com- 
pletely hidden amid the dense foliage of a clump of cedars, growing 
on an open hill-side, and quite close to a much-used thoroughfare. 
When first discovered it was unfinished, and the female was at 
work upon it. The male never appeared, nor was he heard in the 
vicinity, though the spot was visited frequently. After four eggs 
had been laid, female, nest, and eggs were “gathered.” 
The species had not been observed before near St. John, though 
Mr. Boardman had reported taking examples at St. Stephen’s, and 
I had seen several at Edmundston, near the Quebec border. 
