Length: About 5 inches.
Male: Olive-green above, except for a black crown, outlined with yellow in front and at the sides of crown; under parts yellow, except for a grayish tinge at the sides; wings and tail without white bars and patches.
Female: Similar to male, but without a clearly defined black cap.
Song: A loud, sweet trill, containing variations.
Habitat: Low thickets, usually at the edges of woods, rather than in treetops.
Range: Eastern North America. Breeds in the tree-regions of northern Canada south to southern Saskatchewan, northern Minnesota, central Ontario, New Hampshire, Maine, and Nova Scotia; winters in eastern Central America; migrates through the Alleghanies; practically unknown from Virginia to Louisiana.
This attractive little warbler with its black cap might easily be confused with the goldfinch by a beginner in bird-study. The olive-green back, wings, and tail differentiate it. Unlike the goldfinch, it is not a resident, but a traveler to northern forests where it breeds. It journeys enormous distances.
“It appears very irregularly, some years in great abundance and some seasons not at all.”[150]
6. THE BLACK-THROATED GREEN WARBLER
Length: About 5 inches.
Male: Olive-green above; dull black patch below eye, encircled with a broad rim of yellow; throat and breast black, becoming yellowish-white on the belly; sides streaked with black; wings with two whitish bars; tail with outer feathers largely white.
Female: Similar to male; black of throat and breast mottled with yellow, streaks on sides less conspicuous.
Song: An insect-like trill, zee-zee? ze-ze-zee?
Habitat: Coniferous woods preferably.
Range: North America, from central Canada to northern Ohio and Long Island and in the Alleghany Mts., to Georgia and South Carolina; winters from Mexico to Panama.
For three summers I heard the persistent buzzing of this little Black-throat in the Maine woods before I was able to catch more than a fleeting glimpse of him. He is very shy and elusive. An opportunity to see this beautiful little jeweled bird at close range is an event to bird-lovers. He is an industrious gleaner of small insects from dark pine and spruce forests.
7. THE CANADIAN WARBLER
Length: About 5½ inches.
Male: Gray above without white wing-bars or spots on tail; crown with fine black spots; eye-ring, and line from bill to eye-ring bright yellow; under parts bright yellow; short black streaks extending across the entire breast; white under tail.
Female: Similar to male, with fainter streaks on breast.
Song: A rapid and clear warble, more easily recognized than that of some warblers.
Habitat: “The Canadian Warbler during the migration season is found about our door-yard shrubbery, and the thickets on the edges of streams and woodland.... In the nesting season we must seek for it in cooler gullies or in damp, cool woodlands of deciduous or mixed growth.”[151]
Range: Eastern North America. Breeds from south-central Canada to central Minnesota, Michigan, New York, and Massachusetts, and along the Alleghanies to North Carolina and Tennessee; winters in Ecuador and Peru.
8. THE YELLOW-BREASTED CHAT
Length: About 7½ inches; the largest of the warblers.
Male and Female: Olive-green above; bright yellow throat and breast; belly white; broad white streak extending from bill above eye; white crescent beneath eye; white streak at each side of throat, separating the olive-green and yellow areas.
Song: A medley impossible to describe, full of chucks and gurgles—a strange mixture of sounds. As a singer, the chat is in a class by himself; he is very different from the other warblers.
Habitat: Thickets and bushy pastures.
Range: Eastern United States; winters from Vera Cruz to Panama.