WOOD WARBLERS 
353 
650. Cape May Warbler, la fauvette tigree. Dendroica ligrina. L, 5. Male: 
throat, breast, and most of underparts bright yellow, finely and sharply striped with black 
on lower throat, breast, and flanks. A chestnut 
patch in the middle of the cheek cuts sharply against 
the yellow (Figure 439). Top of head black con- 
tinuing as elongated spots on the yellow-green of back. 
The rump is yellow and the wing has a large white 
patch. Female: olive-grey above, dirty white below 
warmed with yellow suffusion across breast which is 
faintly striped with dark. Rump yellowish, and 
white wing-patch replaced with vague bars. Juvenile: 
similar to spring birds but less bright; male, without 
chestnut cheeks. Females: even, dull olive-grey, 
slightly yellow on rump; dull white slightly olive 
below, faintly streaked with soft, dark lines, and with 
faint washes of yellowish olive on breast and flanks. 
Distinctions. Males are distinctive with their 
tiger-like colours of yellow with black stripings. 
Adult females show enough of the male's pattern to be recognizable. Juvenile females 
are more difficult to recognize. However, all show at least an appreciable yellowness 
on the basal parts of the feathers on the sides of the neck just behind the ears. This 
slight tinge sometimes shows in life when the bird turns its head, but with the bird in the 
hand the feathers must be separated to show it. 
Field Mai'ks. Adults and juvenile males are distinctive. Juvenile females may be 
recognized by the peculiar, fine, dim striping of breast against a slightly buffy, light olive- 
grey ground or by the concealed yellow spot on sides of the neck as described above. 
Nesting. On low branches in small trees in pastures or woodlands in partly pensile 
nest of twigs and grasses fastened together with spider-web and lined with horsehair. 
Distribution. Eastern North America. In Canada, west regularly to Manitoba, 
occasionally to central Alberta. Has been taken as far north as Mackenzie Valley. 
Figure 439 
Cape May Warbler (male); natural size. 
654. Black- throated Blue Warbler, la fauvette bleue 1 gorge noire. 
Dendroica caerulescens. L, 5-28. Male: deep blue above from crown to tail-coverts; 
below, white; cheeks, throat, foreneck, and flanks 
black (Figure 440). Female: dull, dark olive all 
above, lightening on throat, breast, and abdomen to 
dull olivaceous-cream. White spot at base of prim- 
aries in all plumages. 
Distinctions. The male, so descriptively named 
and strongly marked, is very distinctive. The female, 
however, especially in autumn, is more difficult to 
distinguish; it may resemble either the juvenile of the 
Tennessee, the autumn Black-poll, or the Bay-breast. 
The streaked back and wing-bars, however, of the 
two last are absent. It is darker and more greyish 
green than the Tennessee above and more buffy below. 
An indistinct and partly concealed white or light spot Figure 440 
at the base of the primaries is always diagnostic of Black-throated Blue Warbler (male); 
females of this species. natural size. 
Field Marks. The male is distinctive. The 
female in any plumage can usually be recognized from all other evenly coloured dull green 
warblers by the sometimes very faint light spot at the base of the primaries, which shows 
more conspicuously in life than might be expected. 
Distribution. Eastern North America. In Canada, common east of the Great Lakes. 
Reported on two occasions from eastern and southern Manitoba. 
SUBSPECIES. The subspecies accredited to Canada is the Northern Black-throated 
Blue (la Fauvette bleue h gorge noire du Nord) Dendroica caerulescens caerulescens. 
655. Myrtle Warbler, yellow-rumped warbler, la fauvette A croupion jau- 
ne. Dendroica coronala. L, 5-65. Plate LXV B. Male: slaty blue above; white on 
throat and below. A broad black breast-band extending brokenly along flanks; spot on 
crown; rump and patches between flank and breast lemon-yellow. Female: the same but 
duller, the black less pure and the blue clouded with buffy rust. Juveniles: similar in 
general, but back very rusty, breast dirty white with fine dark streaks, but with yellow 
marks as above always more or less evident. 
