Show me willows over water and any day in May or June I'll show you a Yellow Warbler. Shade and fruit trees also attract him and he may build his cotton-padded nest in their branches or in the shrubbery below. The song is a simple we-chee, chee, chee, chee, cher-wee, resembling that of the Chestnut-side, but has its own distinctive tone which permits of ready identification, once it has been learned. The bluish white eggs, thickly marked with shades of brown, are laid the latter half of May.
BLACK-THROATED BLUE WARBLER
Dendroica cærulescens cærulescens. [Case 6], Figs. 58, 59
The male is unmistakable; the female may be known by the white spot at the base of the outer wing-feathers. L. 5¼.
Range. Nests from northern Connecticut, the mountains of Pennsylvania, and southern Michigan north to Canada; winters in the tropics.
Washington, very common T.V., Apl. 19-May 30; Aug. 4-Oct. 9. Ossining, common T.V., Apl. 25-May 28; Aug. 26-Oct. 10. Cambridge, rather common. T.V., May 10-25; Sept. 20-Oct. 10. N. Ohio, common. T.V., Apl. 27-May 29; Sept. 5-Oct. 16. Glen Ellyn, common T.V., Apl. 29-May 29; Aug. 25-Oct. 10. SE. Minn., uncommon T.V., May 11.
A true Wood Warbler, traveling through the trees with the scattered bands of other members of his family as he journeys to and from his summer home. This, in the northern part of his nesting range, is in coniferous forests, in the southern part, deciduous forests. In both, however, the birds require heavy undergrowth in which their bark-covered nest is built within a foot or two of the ground. The grayish white, brown-marked eggs are laid in late May or early June. Miss Paddock in "Warblers of North America" describes the Black-throated Blue's song as "an insect-like buzzing note repeated three or four times with a rising inflection."
Cairn's Warbler (D. c. cairnsi) is a nearly related race having, in the male, black centers to the feathers of the back. It nests in the upper parts of the Alleghanies, from Maryland to Georgia, and winters in the West Indies.
MYRTLE WARBLER
Dendroica coronata. [Case 5], Fig. 27
The yellow rump is always evident, but in fall and winter the whole plumage is duller, more brownish and the yellow patches at the sides of the breast and in the crown are less conspicuous. A rather large Warbler. L. 5¾.
Range. Nests from northern New England and northern Minnesota to Canada; winters from Kansas and southern New England to the tropics.