WOOD WARBLERS 
415 
the crest of the Sierra in full plumage and full song. There is little 
to suggest the dull, streaked bird of winter in this warbler, whose 
handsome yellow pointed plumage makes such a brilliant showing 
against the dark green of the firs. 
His song is of a strong warbler type, opening toward the end, 
chwee, chicee-chwee-ah, chwee, between the song of the yellow war- 
bier and that of the junco. 
By the third week in July we saw the Audubons feeding a trailing 
family of streaked young in the fir tops, the abstracted chase for 
insects going on more strenuously than ever. 
656.1. Dendroica nigrifrons Brewst. Black-fronted Warbler. 
Like auduboni , but larger and darker; adult summer male with fore¬ 
head, sides of crown, and cheeks mainly black instead of gray; hack black 
with feathers edged with bluish gray; under parts more solidly black; 
winter male with less black on upper parts, forehead only streaked with 
black, bluish gray of upper parts with little if any brown, black of under 
parts with only narrow whitish tips to feathers; adult female more heavily 
streaked on darker ground ; young more heavily streaked with dusky. 
Male: length (skins) 5.00-5.55, wing 3.05-3.31, tail 2.28-2.53, bill .37- 
.38. Female: length (skins) 5.00-5.10, wing 2.97-3.04, tail 2.26-2.35, bill 
•35-.3S. 
Distribution. — From Huachuca and Chiricahua Mountains, Arizona, 
south to northwestern Mexico. 
657. Dendroica maculosa ( Gmel .). Magnolia Warbler. 
Adult male in spring and summer. — Under parts bright yellow, strikingly 
marked by black necklace and black streaking down breast; top of head 
and hind neck plain gray , sides of head and back black; 
rump yellow, partly streaked with black and sometimes 
partly olive green; upper tail coverts, wings, and tail 
black; wings with conspicuous white patch and tail with 
subterminal band of ivhite. Adult male in fall and win¬ 
ter: crown and hind neck brownish gray, back and 
scapulars olive green, feathers with mostly concealed 
black centers; wing patch replaced by two narrow wing bars; chest with¬ 
out black streaks or spots. Adult female: duller; back mainly olive 
green; wing with two white bands; streaks on under parts narrower. 
Young male in first fall and winter: chest with broad grayish or whitish 
band. Young female in first fall or winter: like young male, but smaller 
and much duller, crown browner, back without concealed black markings, 
white of tail restricted, flanks indistinctly streaked. Male: length (skins) 
4.13-4.65, wing 2.24-2.52, tail 1.86-2.04, bill .34-.40. Female: length 
(skins) 4.25-4.41, wing 2.14-2.28, tail 1.81-1.91, bill .35. 
Remarks. — The white subterminal tail band is enough to distinguish the 
magnolia warbler in any plumage. 
Distribution. — Breeds in Boreal zone in eastern North America, west to 
the Rocky Mountains; from Hudson Bay south to northern parts of New 
England and Michigan and southward in the Alleghanies ; casually to Cali¬ 
fornia ; winters in Cuba, the Bahamas, and south through Mexico to Pan¬ 
ama ; accidental in Greenland. 
Nest. — Largely of fine twigs, grass, and weed stalks, lined with fine 
Fig. 524. 
