Page 397
NEST OF MAGNOLIA WARBLER.
Page 398



 Chestnut-sided Warblers.
Bay-breasted Warblers. 659. Chestnut-sided Warbler. Dendroica pensylvanica. Range.--United States, east of the Plains, breeding in the Middle States and Illinois, north to Manitoba and New Brunswick. Winters south of our border. White. The adults of this handsome species may readily be known by the white underparts and the broad chestnut stripe on the flanks; the crown is yellow. They frequent low brush in open woods or on hillsides and pastures, nesting at low elevations, usually below three feet from the ground, and often concealing their nests beneath the leaves in the tops of low small bushes. The nests are made of grasses, weed stems and some fibres, but they do not have as wooly an appearance as those of the Yellow Warblers which nest in the same localities and similar locations. Their eggs are white or creamy white (never greenish white), specked with brown and gray. Size .65 × .50. Data.--Worcester, Mass., June 6, 1890. Nest in the top of a huckleberry bush, 2 feet from the ground; made of grasses and plant fibres. Bird did not leave nest until touched with the hand. 660. Bay-breasted Warbler. Dendroica castanea. Range.--North America, east of the Plains, breeding from northern United States north to the Hudson Bay; winters in Central and South America. White. This species has the crown, throat and sides a rich chestnut; forehead and face black; underparts white. They nest in coniferous trees in swampy places, making their nests of bark shreds and rootlets and placing them in horizontal forks at elevations of from five to thirty feet from the ground. The three or four eggs are laid late in May or during June; they are white, usually quite heavily spotted and blotched with reddish brown, umber and grayish. Size .70 × .50.
Page 399 Black-poll Warblers.
Blackburnian Warblers. 661. Black-poll Warbler. Dendroica striata. Range.--North America, east of the Rockies, breeding from northern United States north to Labrador and Alaska; winters in South America. White. This black and white Warbler has a solid black cap, and the underparts are white, streaked with black on the sides. In the woods they bear some resemblance to the Black and White Warbler, but do not have the creeping habits of that species. During migrations they are found in equal abundance in swamps or orchards. In their breeding range, they nest at low elevations in stunted pines or spruces, making their nests of rootlets and lichens, lined with feathers. The eggs are dull whitish, spotted or blotched with brown and neutral tints. Size .72 × .50. Data.--Grand Manan, N. B., June 12, 1883. Nest and four eggs on branch of a stunted spruce 2 feet from the ground. 662. Blackburnian Warbler. Dendroica fusca. Range.--North America, east of the Plains, breeding from Massachusetts and Minnesota north to Hudson Bay; south in the Alleghanies to the Carolinas. Winters in Central and South America. Greenish white. This species is, without exception, the most exquisite of the family; the male can always be known by the bright orange throat, breast and superciliary stripe, the upper parts being largely black. They arrive with us when the apple trees are in bloom and after a week's delay pass on to more northerly districts. Their nests are constructed of rootlets, fine weed stalks and grasses, lined with hair, and are placed on horizontal limbs of coniferous trees. The three or four eggs are greenish white, speckled, spotted and blotched with reddish brown and neutral tints. Size .70 × .48. Data.--Lancaster, Mass., June 21, 1901. Nest in a white pine, 38 feet from the ground on a limb 4 feet from the trunk; composed of fine rootlets and hair, resembling the nest of a Chipping Sparrow.



Page 400
BLACKBURNIAN WARBLERS.
Page 401 Yellow-throated Warblers.
Grace's Warblers. 663. Yellow-throated Warbler. Dendroica dominica dominica. Range.--South Atlantic and Gulf States, north to Virginia and casually farther; winters in Florida and the West Indies. Greenish white. This species has gray upper parts with two white wing bars, the throat, breast and superciliary line are yellow, and the lores, cheeks and streaks on the sides are black. These birds nest abundantly in the South Atlantic States, usually in pines, and either on horizontal limbs or in bunches of Spanish moss. The nests are made of slender pieces of twigs, rootlets and strips of bark, and lined with either hair or feathers, the eggs are three to five in number, pale greenish white, specked about the large end with reddish brown and gray. Size .70 × .50. Data.--Raleigh, N. C., May 3, 1890. Nest 43 feet up on limb of pine; made of grasses and hair. 663a. Sycamore Warbler. Dendroica dominica albilora. Range.--Mississippi Valley, breeding north to Ohio and Illinois, and west to Kansas and Texas; winters south of the United States. This bird is precisely like the last except that the superciliary stripe is usually white. Their nesting habits are precisely like those of the last, and the nests are usually on horizontal branches of sycamores; the eggs cannot be distinguished from those of the Yellow-throated Warbler. 664. Grace's Warbler. Dendroica graciæ. Range.--Southwestern United States, abundant in Arizona and New Mexico. White. This Warbler is similar in markings and colors to the Yellow-throated variety except that the cheeks are gray instead of black. The nesting habits of the two species are the same, these birds building high in coniferous trees; the nests are made of rootlets and bark shreds, lined with hair or feathers; the eggs are white, dotted with reddish brown and lilac. Size .68 × .48.




Page 402




 Black-throated Warblers.
Golden-cheeked Warblers. 665. Black-throated Gray Warbler. Dendroica nigrescens. Range.--United States from the Rockies to the Pacific coast and north to British Columbia; winters south of our borders. Greenish white. The general color of this species is grayish above and white below as is a superciliary line and stripe down the side of the throat; the crown, cheeks and throat are black and there is a yellow spot in front of the eye. They inhabit woodland and thickets and are common in such localities from Arizona to Oregon, nesting usually at low elevations in bushes or shrubs; the nests are made of grasses and fibres, woven together, and lined with hair or fine grasses, resembling, slightly, nests of the Yellow Warbler. The eggs are white or greenish white, specked with reddish brown and umber. Size .65 × .52. Data.--Waldo, Oregon, June 1, 1901. Nest 3 feet from the ground in a small oak in valley. Collector, C. W. Bowles. (Crandall collection.) 666. Golden-cheeked Warbler. Dendroica chrysoparia. Range.--Central and southern Texas south to Central America. White. This beautiful and rare species is entirely black above and on the throat, enclosing a large bright yellow patch about the eye and a small one on the crown. In their very restricted United States range, the birds are met with in cedar timber where they nest at low elevations in the upright forks of young trees of this variety. Their nests are made of strips of cedar bark, interwoven with plant fibres and spider webs making compact nests, which they line with hair and feathers. Their three or four eggs are white, dotted and specked with reddish brown and umber. Size .75 × .55.
Page 403 Black-throated Green Warbler.
Townsend's Warblers. 667. Black-throated Green Warbler. Dendroica virens. Range.--Eastern United States, breeding from southern New England, South Carolina in the Alleghanies, and Illinois north to Hudson Bay; winters south of the United States. White. These common eastern birds are similar to the last but the entire upper parts are olive greenish. They are nearly always found, and always nest, in pines, either groves or hillsides covered with young pines. The nests are usually placed out among the pine needles where they are very difficult to locate, and resemble nests of the Chipping Sparrow. I have found them at heights ranging from six to forty or fifty feet from the ground. The three or four eggs, which they lay in June, are white, wreathed and speckled with brownish and lilac. Size .60 × .50. 668. Townsend's Warbler. Dendroica townsendi. White. Range.--Western United States, from the Rockies to the Pacific and from Alaska southward; winters in Mexico. This is the common western representative of the last species, and is similar but has black ear patches and the crown is black. They nest in coniferous woods throughout their United States and Canadian range, the nests being placed at any height from the ground and being constructed like those of the Black-throated Green. Their eggs are not distinguishable from those of the latter. Size .60 × .50.



Page 404



 Hermit Warblers.
Kirtland's Warblers. 669. Hermit Warbler. Dendroica occidentalis. Range.--Western United States and British Columbia chiefly on the higher ranges. Winters south to Central America. This peculiar species has the entire head bright yellow and the throat black; upperparts grayish, underparts white. They are found nesting in wild rugged country, high up in pine trees, the nests being located among bunches of needles so that they are very difficult to find. The nests are made of rootlets, shreds of bark, pine needles, etc., lined with fine grasses or hair. The three or four eggs are laid during June or the latter part of May; they are white or creamy white, and sometimes with a faint greenish tinge, specked and wreathed with brown and lilac gray. Size .68 × .52. 670. Kirtland's Warbler. Dendroica kirtlandi. Range.--Eastern United States; apt to be found in any of the South Atlantic, Middle or Central States, and in Ontario, Canada. Winters in the Bahamas where by far the greater number of specimens have been found. This very rare Warbler is bluish gray above, streaked with black, and yellow below with the throat and sides streaked. Until the summer of 1903, the locality where they bred was a mystery. The capture of a specimen, in June, in Oscodo Co., Michigan, led to the search for the nests by N. A. Wood, taxidermist for the Michigan Museum at Ann Arbor. He was successful in his quest and found two nests with young and one egg. The nest in which the egg was found contained two young birds also. It was in a depression in the ground at the foot of a Jack pine tree and only a few feet from a cart road. The nest was made of strips of bark and vegetable fibres, lined with grass and pine needles. The egg is white, sprinkled with brown in a wreath about the large end. Size .72 × .56. It is estimated that there were thirteen pairs of the birds in this colony.
Page 405 Pine Warblers.
Palm Warblers. 671. Pine Warbler. Dendroica vigorsi. Range.--Eastern United States, breeding from the Gulf to southern British Provinces; winters in the Gulf States and southward. Dull white. This common eastern species is greenish above and dull yellowish below, streaked with dusky on the sides. They are almost exclusively found in pine woods, either light or heavy growth, where they can always be located by their peculiar, musical lisping trill. They nest high in these trees, placing their nests in thick bunches of needles, so that they are very difficult to locate. They nest from March in the south to May in the northern states, laying three or four dull whitish eggs, specked or blotched with shades of brown and lilac; size .68 × .52. Data.--Worcester, Mass., May 28, 1891. Nest 30 feet up in a pine; made of pine needles and rootlets. 672. Palm Warbler. Dendroica palmarum palmarum. Range.--Interior of North America, breeding about Hudson Bay and northward and wintering in the lower Mississippi Valley and the West Indies. Creamy white. This species is brownish yellow above and yellow on the throat and breast, the crown and streaks on the sides are chestnut. They are found during migrations on or near the ground on the edges of woods or thickets and along roadsides; have a peculiar habit of "teetering" their tail which will readily identify them. They nest on the ground in, or on the edges of swampy places, lining the hollow with grasses and rootlets. In May or June they lay three or four eggs which are creamy white, variously specked with brown and lilac; size .68 × .52. 672a. Yellow Palm Warbler. Dendroica palmarum hypochrysea. Range.--Eastern North America, breeding from Nova Scotia, northward. This is the common Yellow Redpoll Warbler of the eastern states, and is very abundant during migrations. Their habits are the same, if not identical with the interior species. Their nests are also like those of the last, placed on the ground and the eggs are indistinguishable.




Page 406
PRAIRIE WARBLER NEST.