54 
DENDB (ECA CJEB ULES CENS. 
DENDRfflCA CHRULESCENS. 
Black-throated Blue Warbler. 
j Dendrceca cwrulescens Baird, Review of North American Birds, 1864, 186. 
DESCRIPTION. 
Sp. Ch. Form, rather slender. Size, moderate. Bill, rather slender. Tail, slightly rounded. Tongue, rather 
broad, bifid and ciliated for one-fourth of its terminal length. 
Color. Adult male. Above, uniform slaty-blue which is brightest on the head, where the feathers show narrow 
central lines of black. Wings, dark brown, edged on the outer webs with greenish. Inner webs of the secondaries 
margined with white, which extends to the shaft on the basal third. Primaries, also edged with white on the inner 
webs, but this color extends entirely across the basal third of all the feathers excepting the outer, forming a patch 
upon the wing that is partly concealed by the spurious wing, which is black. Tail, black, with the six outer feathers 
spotted, terminally on the inner webs with white. The outer webs are edged with slaty. Throat, sides of head, 
upper part of breast, sides, flanks, and narrow line on forehead, black. Remaining under parts, including under tail 
and under wing coverts, pure white. 
Adult female. Above, olivaceous-green. Wings and tail, brown, edged with olivaceous, which inclines to bluish 
on the latter. The wings and tail are also marked with white much as in the. male, excepting that this color is not 
as much extended. Beneath, yellowish-white, with a superciliary stripe of the same color. Ear coverts and 
lores, dusky. 
Toung male, similar to the adult but the head is washed above with olivaceous, on the black beneath with 
whitish and on the white with yellowish. The white of the wings is more extended, the outer web of the first 
quill being white for its basal half. 
The young female is slightly browner above and has the white patch on the wing less decided than in the adult. 
OBSERVATIONS. 
The male of this species is well marked and may easily be known by the descriptions. The female does not 
resemble the male, in coloration, but may be distinguished from all other warblers by the white patch on the wings 
which is always present. The young birds of this species from which I have taken the above description were 
kindly loaned me by Mr. Brewster. I am also indebted to this gentleman and Mr. Deane for several specimens of 
this and other species. The habitat of these birds during the breeding season is the eastern section of North 
America from latitude 44°, north, to about 52°. They winter at Key West and the West Indies. 
DIMENSIONS. 
Average measurements of six specimens.—Length, 5-12; stretch, 7-69; wing, 2*44; tail, 1*94; bill, *40; tarsus, 
•73. Longest specimen, 5-10; greatest extent of wings, 7’88; longest wing, 2-57; tail, 2-02; bill, -47; tarsus, -77. 
Shortest specimen, 5-00; smallest extent of wings, 7-12; shortest wing, 2-19; tail, 1-75; bill, -37; tarsus, 70. 
HABITS. 
Just to the eastward of the lighthouse, at Key West, is a little pond which is very deep ; 
indeed, it is reported to have no bottom. The edges are oovered with a luxuriant growth of 
grass and aquatic plants which gradually merge into a higher mass of shrubs and low trees that 
surround the pool. I frequently visited this little pond because its shores and waters abounded 
with bird life. The thicket, especially, was nearly always swarming with various members of 
the feathered tribes, the majority of which w T ere Warblers. 
These little songsters were most active in the early morning, hopping about on the trees or 
searching among the lower shrubs for insects. I was collecting in this place one day, just 
before sunrise, when I was surprised by shooting a fine male Black-throated Blue Warbler. 
This was the first and only time that I ever saw this species in Florida. It was on the 
ground at the time, which is the usual habit of this species during the autumnal migrations 
in Massachusetts. But on the contrary during spring they usually keep in the tops of the 
highest trees, where the peculiar lisping song of the males may be heard at intervals. I have 
found them common in summer among the deciduous forests of Northern Maine. Here they 
also frequent the topmost branches and must construct their domiciles there, but I do not know 
