Conspicuously Yellow and Orange 
trip in the autumn. The position of the white marks on the tail 
feathers of this warbler, however, is the clue by which it may be 
identified at any season or any stage of its growth. If the white 
bar runs across the middle of the warbler’s tail, you can be sure 
of the identity of the bird. A nervous and restless hunter, it 
nevertheless seems less shy than many of its kin. Another pleas- 
ing characteristic is that it brings back with it in October the loud, 
clear, rapid whistle with which it has entertained its nesting mate 
in the Canada woods through the summer. 
Mourning Warbler 
(Geothlypis Philadelphia) Wood Warbler family 
Called also : MOURNING GROUND WARBLER 
Length — 5 to 5.6 inches. About an inch smaller than the English 
sparrow. 
Male — Gray head and throat; the breast gray; the feathers with 
black edges that make them look crinkled, like crape. The 
black markings converge into a spot on upper breast. Upper 
parts, except head, olive. Underneath rich yellow. 
Female — Similar, but duller; throat and breast buff and dusky 
where the male is black. Back olive-green. 
Range — “Eastern North America; breeds from eastern Nebraska, 
northern New York, and Nova Scotia northward, and south- 
ward along the Alleghanies to Pennsylvania. Winters in 
the tropics.” — Chapman. 
Migrations — May. September. Spring and autumn migrant. 
Since Audubon met with but one of these birds in his inces- 
sant trampings, and Wilson secured only an immature, imper- 
fectly marked specimen for his collection, the novice may feel no 
disappointment if he fails to make the acquaintance of this “gay 
and agreeable widow.” And yet the shy and wary bird is not 
unknown in Central Park, New York City. Even where its 
clear, whistled song strikes the ear with a startling novelty that 
invites to instant pursuit of the singer, you may look long and 
diligently through the undergrowth without finding it. Dr. 
Merriam says the whistle resembles the syllables “ true, true, 
true, tru, too, the voice rising on the first three syllables and 
falling on the last two.” In the nesting season this song is 
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