Conspicuously Yellow and Orange 
Wilson’s Warbler 
(Sylvania pusilla ) Wood Warbler family 
Called also: BLACKCAP; GREEN BLACK-CAPPED WAR- 
BLER ; WILSON’S FLYCATCHER 
Length — 4.75 to 5 inches. About an inch and a half shorter than 
the English sparrow. 
Male — Black cap ; yellow forehead ; all other upper parts olive- 
green ; rich yellow underneath. 
Female — Lacks the black cap. 
Range— North America, from Alaska and Nova Scotia to Panama. 
Winters south of Gulf States. Nests chiefly north of the 
United States. 
Migrations — May. September. Spring and autumn migrant. 
To see this strikingly marked little bird one must be on the 
sharp lookout for it during the latter half of May, or at the season 
of apple bloom, and the early part of September. It passes north- 
ward with an almost scornful rapidity. Audubon mentions hav- 
ing seen it in Maine at the end of October, but this specimen 
surely must have been an exceptional laggard. 
In common with several others of its family, it is exceedingly 
expert in catching insects on the wing ; but it may be known as 
no true flycatcher from the conspicuous rich yellow of its under 
parts, and also from its habit of returning from a midair sally to a 
different perch from the one it left to pursue its dinner. A true 
flycatcher usually returns to its old perch after each hunt. 
To indulge in this aerial chase with success, these warblers 
select for their home and hunting ground some low woodland 
growth where a sluggish stream attracts myriads of insects to 
the boggy neighborhood. Here they build their nest in low 
bushes or upon the ground. Four or five grayish eggs, sprinkled 
with cinnamon-colored spots in a circle around the larger end, 
are laid in the grassy cradle in June. Mr. H. D. Minot found one 
of these nests on Pike’s Peak at an altitude of 1 1,000 feet, almost 
at the limit of vegetation. The same authority compares the 
bird’s song to that of the redstart and the yellow warbler. 
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