Mr. Nuttall mentions finding these birds very abundant in Tennessee and also in West Florida.
In only a single instance has the writer met with this Warbler. This was about the middle of June, at the Fairmount Water Works in the city of Philadelphia, where, among the tops of the trees, a single individual was busily engaged in hunting insects, undisturbed by the large numbers and vicinity of visitors to the grounds. It kept in the tops of the trees, moving about with great agility.
Mr. Ridgway gives the Cærulean Warbler as the most abundant species of its genus in the Lower Wabash Valley, not only during the spring and fall migrations, but also in the summer, when it breeds more plentifully even than the D. æstiva. It inhabits, however, only the deep woods of the bottom lands, where it is seldom seen, and only to be distinguished by the naturalist. Inhabiting, mostly, the tree-tops, it is an inconspicuous bird, and thus one that easily escapes notice. In its habits it is perhaps less interesting than others of its genus, being so retired, and possessing only the most feeble notes.
Dendroica blackburniæ, Baird.
BLACKBURNIAN WARBLER; ORANGE-THROATED WARBLER.
Motacilla blackburniæ, Gmelin, Syst. Nat. I, 1788, 977. Sylvia bl. Lath.; Wilson, III, pl. xxiii.—Nutt.; Aud. Orn. Biog. II, V, pl. cxxxv, cccxcix. Sylvicola bl. Jard.; Rich.; Aud. Birds Am. II, pl. lxxxvii. Rhimanphus bl. Cab. Mus. Hein. 1850, 19. Dendroica bl. Baird, Birds N. Am. 1858, 274; Rev. 189.—Sclater & Salvin, Ibis, 1859, 11 (Guatemala).—Sclater, P. Z. S. 1859, 363 (Xalapa); Ib. 1860, 64 (Ecuador).—Ib. Catal. 1861, 30, No. 187. (Pallatanga and Nanegal, Ecuador).—Samuels, 227.—Sundevall, Ofv. 1869, 611.—Dresser, Ibis, 1865, 478. ? Motacilla chrysocephala, Gmelin, I, 1788, 971 (Figuier orangé et F. étranger, Buff. V, 313, pl. lviii, fig. 3, Guiana). Sylvia parus, Wils. V, pl. xliv, fig. 3.—Aud. Orn. Biog. II, pl. cxxxiv. Sylvicola parus, Aud. Birds Am. II, pl. lxxxiii. Sylvia lateralis, Steph. ? Motacilla incana, Gmel. I, 1788, 976. Sylvia incana, Lath.; Vieill. ? Sylvia melanorhoa, Vieill. Nouv. Dict. XI, 1817, 180 (Martinique).—Ib. Encycl. Méth. II, 444.
Localities quoted: Bogota, Sclater, P. Z. S. 1855, 143. Panama, Lawr. Ann. N. Y. Lyc. VII, 62. Costa Rica, Cab. Jour. 1860, 328. Bahamas, Bryant, Bost. Pr. VII, 1859. Veragua, Salvin. Orizaba (winter; rare), Sumichrast.
Sp. Char. Upper parts nearly uniform black, with a whitish scapular stripe and a large white patch in the middle of the wing-coverts. An oblong patch in the middle of the crown, and the entire side of the head and neck (including a superciliary stripe from the nostrils), the chin, throat, and forepart of the breast, bright orange-red. A black stripe from the commissure passing around the lower half of the eye, and including the ear-coverts; with, however, an orange crescent in it, just below the eye, the extreme lid being black. Rest of under parts white, strongly tinged with yellowish-orange on the breast and belly, and streaked with black on the sides. Outer three tail-feathers white, the shafts and tips dark brown; the fourth and fifth spotted much with white; the other tail-feathers and quills almost black. Female similar; the colors duller; the feathers of the upper parts with olivaceous edges. Length, 5.50; wing, 2.83; tail, 2.25.
Hab. Eastern Province of United States; Eastern Mexico, and south to Bogota and Ecuador; Bahamas alone of West Indies with certainty.
Autumnal males resemble the females. They have two white bands instead of one; the black stripes on the sides are larger; under parts yellowish; the throat yellowish, passing into purer yellow behind.