Part 30

_a._ Sides more or less rufous, and without black or dusky streaks on under surfaces.

12. D. pennsylvanica. ♂. Crown pure yellow; throat and auriculars pure white; ♀ _ad._ similar, but crown greenish, and more or less streaked. _Juv._ Above bright olive-green, nearly grass-green, _without streaks_ except on the back; side of head, and sides, clear ashy, the latter with or without a trace of chestnut; eyelids and medial lower parts pure white. _Hab._ Eastern Province of United States, south to Panama; Bahamas.

13. D. castanea. ♂. Crown reddish-chestnut; throat and sides rufous; auriculars black. ♀ similar, but crown thickly streaked, sometimes without a trace of rufous; jugulum and throat only tinged with rufous. _Juv._ Above greenish-olive, streaks obsolete; beneath, _including lower tail-coverts_, pale greenish-buff, or whitish-buff, and without any trace of streaks on the sides (distinction from ♀ of _D. striata_) the sides usually with a tinge of chestnut. _Hab._ Eastern Province of North America, from Hudson’s Bay Territory to New Granada.

_b._ Sides without any rufous, and with black or dusky streaks.

_Medial lower parts not streaked; inner webs of tail-feathers with broad patch of white._

14. D. striata. ♂. Crown deep black; auriculars and lower parts white; throat with two series of black streaks, converging and forming an angle on the chin. Above ashy streaked with black. ♀ similar, but crown greenish streaked with black; lower parts tinged with greenish. _Juv._ Above greenish-olive, the streaks obsolete; beneath pale greenish-yellow; _the lower tail-coverts pure white_. _Hab._ Eastern Province of North America, north to Greenland and Kodiak, south to Bogota, Cuba, and Bahamas.

_Medial lower parts streaked with black; inner webs of tail-feathers merely edged with white._

15. D. pharetra.[48] ♂. Above grayish-white, with broad streaks of black; posteriorly, plain brownish-gray; lower parts with cuneate spots of black. _Hab._ Jamaica.

_Series VI._

A. A black “mask” around the eye and on auriculars, and extending down the side of the throat; a light superciliary stripe continued back into a large space, of similar color, on side of neck.

16. D. blackburniæ. Crown with an orange or yellowish spot (exposed or concealed); superciliary stripe, side of neck and throat, intense orange-red (♂ ad.), or varying from this to pale buff (_juv._). ♀ intense black above; back streaked with white or yellowish. ♀ olive-gray above, streaked with black. _Juv._ olive-gray above without distinct streaks. _Hab._ Eastern Province of United States, south to Ecuador; Bahamas.

17. D. dominica. Crown without an orange or yellowish spot; superciliary stripe and side of neck pure white; throat gamboge-yellow; above ash, without streaks.

Superciliary stripe bright yellow anterior to the eye. Bill, .45; tarsus, .60; wing, 2.60; tail, 2.00. _Hab._ Atlantic United States and West Indies … var. _dominica_.

Superciliary stripe pure white anterior to the eye. Bill, .35; tarsus, .60; wing, 2.70; tail, 2.20. _Hab._ Mississippi region of United States; Mexico (Yucatan on east coast, and Colima on west coast); Guatemala and Honduras … var. _albilora_.

B. No black “mask.” Superciliary stripe scarcely reaching behind the eye. Sides of neck ashy like the back.

18. D. graciæ. Auriculars, neck, crown, and upper parts generally, ashy; a supra-loral stripe, a crescent on the lower eyelid, and the anterior lower parts gamboge-yellow. Crissum white.

_Back and sides streaked with black; abdomen white._

Yellow of throat terminating abruptly at the jugulum; supra-loral stripe extending about .20 of an inch past the eye, this portion of it white; dorsal streaks broad. Wing, 2.60; tail, 2.20. _Hab._ Arizona (Fort Whipple) … var. _graciæ_.

Yellow of throat covering whole jugulum, and not ending abruptly; supra-loral stripe scarcely passing the eye, and wholly yellow; dorsal streaks narrow. Wing, 2.20; tail, 1.95. _Hab._ British Honduras (Belize) … var. _decora_.

_Back and sides not streaked with black; abdomen yellow._

Yellow of throat extending back to the crissum; supra-loral stripe as in the last; dorsal streaks wanting. Wing, 2.10; tail, 1.95. _Hab._ Porto Rico … var. _adelaidæ_.[49]

_Series VII._

Throat black in ♂, mixed with black in ♀.

A. Sides streaked; black of throat with its posterior outline concave.

_a._ Side of head white and black.

19. D. nigrescens. A small yellow spot over the lore; above ash; beneath white. ♂. Whole crown, uniform glossy black; back streaked with black. ♀. Crown ash streaked with black; throat mixed with white anteriorly. _Juv._ Crown and cheeks ashy; throat mostly white; back without streaks. _Hab._ Western and Middle Province of United States, south, in winter, into Western Mexico (Oaxaca).

_b._ Side of head yellow and black, or yellow and olive.

_Black of throat covering jugulum; a hidden yellow spot in middle of forehead._

20. D. chrysopareia. Black above, pure white below; no tinge of yellow behind the black jugular patch. _Hab._ Eastern Middle America, from Guatemala to Texas (San Antonio).

21. D. virens. Olive-green above, the crown and back without streaks; beneath white, the breast and anal region tinged with black. _Hab._ Eastern Province of North America, from Greenland to Panama; Cuba; Oaxaca; Heligoland, Europe!

_Black of throat confined anteriorly to the jugulum; no yellow spot on forehead._

22. D. townsendi. Above olive-green, the crown and back with conspicuous black streaks; beneath yellow anteriorly, and white posteriorly. ♀, black of throat mixed with yellow; _juv._, no black on throat, and streaks on back obsolete. _Hab._ North and Middle Province of United States, south, in winter, into Guatemala.

B. Sides not streaked; black of throat with its posterior outline convex.

23. D. occidentalis. Above ash tinged with olive; beneath white. Head nearly all yellow. ♂. Top of head yellow with a few small black spots; nape black; back streaked with black; sides pure white. (♀ not seen.) _Juv._ Yellow of crown overlaid by olive; above greenish-plumbeous, without any black on nape or back; throat yellowish-whitish; sides tinged with ashy. _Hab._ Western and Middle Province of United States, south to Guatemala.

Group C.

A. Above ash; no supra-loral stripe; eyelids not yellow.

24. D. kirtlandi. Above, including side of head and neck, bluish-ash; crown and back streaked with black; beneath (except crissum) pale yellow; breast speckled, and sides streaked with black; lores and orbital region, black; eyelids white. _Hab._ Eastern Province of United States (Cleveland, Ohio), and Bahamas.

25. D. pityophila.[50] Above, including side of head and neck, dull ash; the forehead and crown olive-green; crown and back not streaked; beneath white; the throat and jugulum yellow; sides ashy; no specks on breast, nor streaks on sides, but a few along side of neck, between the ash and yellow. _Hab._ Cuba.

B. Olive-green or brown above; a supra-loral stripe of yellow; eyelids yellow.

_a._ Above olive-green, without streaks; crissum white; sides of breast with obsolete grayish streaks.

26. D. pinus. Forehead and ear-coverts olive; abdomen white; yellow supra-loral stripe not continued behind the eye. ♀ more grayish; _juv._ above umber, beneath light grayish-brown, tinged with yellow. _Hab._ Eastern Province of United States; Bahamas.

? 27. D. montana. Forehead and ear-coverts yellow; abdomen yellow; yellow supra-loral stripe continued past the eye into the yellow of the auriculars. (♀ and other stages unknown.) _Hab._ “Blue Mountains of Virginia.”

_b._ Above olive-green, the back streaked with chestnut; crissum yellow; streaks of black on sides.

28. D. discolor. Bright gamboge-yellow beneath; streak on lores and along side of neck, as well as along sides and flanks, deep black; dorsal feathers chestnut medially. ♀ duller, but similar; _juv._ not seen. _Hab._ Eastern Province of United States: in winter, throughout West Indies.

_c._ Above olive-brown, the back not streaked; crissum gamboge-yellow; streaks of reddish-chestnut on sides.

29. D. palmarum. _Ad._ Forehead and crown deep rufous; superciliary stripe bright yellow, continued back over auriculars; sexes alike. _Juv._ and _ad._ in winter. Crown brownish, streaked with dusky; streaks on sides more dusky. _Hab._ Eastern Province of North America, north to Fort Simpson and Hudson’s Bay; Bahamas; Cuba, St. Domingo, and Jamaica, in winter.

Dendroica æstiva, BAIRD.

YELLOW WARBLER; SUMMER YELLOW-BIRD.

_Motacilla æstiva_, GM. Syst. Nat. I, 1788, 996.—_Sylvia æstiva_, LATH.; VIEILL. II, pl. xcv.—AUD. Orn. Biog. I, pl. xxxv. 93. _Sylvicola æst._ SWAINS.—AUD. Birds. Am. II, pl. lxxxviii. _Rhimamphus æst._ BON.; CAB. Jour. III, 472 (Cuba). _Dendroica æst._ BAIRD, Birds N. Am. 1858, 282; Rev. 195.—SCLATER, Catal. 1861, 32, no. 194 (Ecuador, Cayenne, N. Granada).—TAYLOR, Ibis, 1864, 81 (Trinidad).—COOPER & SUCKLEY, P. R. R. XII, II, 1859, 181 (N. W. coast).—SAMUELS, 237.—DALL & BANNISTER, (Alaska).—COOPER, Orn. Cal. 1, 1870, 87. _Sylvia carolinensis_, LATH. Ind. Orn. II, 1790, 551. _? Sylvia flava_, VIEILLOT, II, 1807, 31, pl. lxxxi. _Sylvia citrinella_, WILS. II, pl. xv, fig. 5. _Sylvia childreni_, AUD. Orn. Biog. I, 1831, pl. xxxv (young). _? Sylvia rathbonia_, AUD. Orn. Biog. I, 1831, pl. lxv. _Sylvicola r._ AUD. Birds Am. II, pl. lxxxix. _Motacilla rubiginosa_, PALLAS, Zoög. Rosso-Asiat. I, 1831, 496 (Kodiak). _Rhimamphus chryseolus_, BON. Bull. Soc. Linn. Caen, II, 1851, 32 (_D. æstiva_, from South America; Cayenne). Other localities: _Xalapa_, SCLATER, P. Z. S. 1859, 363. _Guatemala_, SCLATER & SALVIN, Ibis, 1859, page 11. _Panama_, winter, LAWR. Ann. N. Y. Lyc. 1861, 322. _Turbo, N. Granada_, CASS. Pr. A. N. Sc. 1860, 191. _Bogota_, SCLATER, Pr. 1855, 143. _City of Mexico_, IB. 1864, 172.

SP. CHAR. Bill lead-color. Head all round, and under parts generally, bright yellow; rest of upper parts yellow-olivaceous, brightest on the rump. Back with obsolete streaks of dusky reddish-brown. Fore breast and sides of the body streaked with brownish-red. Tail-feathers bright yellow; the outer webs and tips, with the whole upper surfaces of the innermost one, brown; extreme outer edges of wing and tail-feathers olivaceous like the back; the middle and greater coverts and tertials edged with yellow, forming two bands on the wings. _Female_ similar, with the crown olivaceous like the back, and the streaks wanting on the back, and much restricted on the under parts. Tail with more brown. Length of male, 5.25; wing, 2.66; tail. 2.25. (No. 940.) _Young._ Dull brownish-olive above; pale ochraceous-yellow beneath, with the throat more whitish; the yellow of tail restricted to inner half of inner webs. The latter feature will serve to distinguish it from any other North American species.

HAB. Entire North America, and in winter into South America as far as Ecuador, Cayenne, and Trinidad. Not recorded from West Indies, where replaced by allied species.

In the great abundance of this species and its wide range of distribution, there are many variations in size and color, though none that are not readily understood. In young birds the yellow of the tail-feathers is more restricted, sometimes confined to the edge of the inner webs. In adults there is occasionally a tinge of orange in the forehead.

_Sylvia rathbonia_ of Audubon is described with even tail, and the tail-feathers brown, edged externally with yellow; the reverse of _æstiva_. It is generally, however, considered a synonyme.

Birds of this type (“Golden Warblers”) of six or eight additional species are known to occur in the West Indies, the Galapagos, and in Middle America; one of them, _D. bryanti_, possibly to be met with in Southern Arizona. (See Baird, Review Am. Birds, 193.)

After comparing a series of about one hundred and twenty North and Central American specimens (the latter being winter visitors to the region where obtained), nothing really characteristic of any particular region can be detected. Specimens from the Pacific coast of the United States are perfectly identical in colors with those from the Atlantic States; and they agree in size and proportions, except of the bill, which is appreciably longer and broader in the Eastern than in the Western birds. The most highly colored examples are from the interior regions, along the Mississippi Valley from Louisiana to Northern Illinois, and over the plains north to Fort Simpson. The majority of the specimens from this region are just appreciably different from others, in having the yellow more intense and prevalent, almost subduing the olive shades above; the crown more tinged with orange. Sometimes (as in No. 4,301, Calcasieu Pass, La.) the rump and upper tail-coverts are absolutely _pure_ yellow, only a medial stripe on the feathers being olivaceous like the back. The orange-rufous tinge on the crown is deepest in Nos. 4,665, Fort Lookout, and 4,300, Calcasieu Pass.

Three adult summer males from Alaska (Nos. 54,429, Kodiak; 54,425, Yukon River; and 27,267, Fort Yukon), as well as one from Maine (52,378, Calais), differ from others in having the olive pervading the whole surface above, even to the bill, the forehead being only tinged with yellow, and the edges of wing-coverts merely inclining to this color. The lower parts are much as in Southern specimens, though the yellow is less intense.

Females from Arizona (as 49,712, Camp Grant, May; 40,664, Fort Whipple, May; and 34,340, Los Pinos, New Mexico, June) differ from others in very bleached plumage, the lower parts being almost white, and the upper surface quite ashy. But this is, in fact, an actual bleaching, frequently to be seen in birds from that region.

HABITS. The geographical range of the common Summer Yellow-Bird is very nearly coextensive with North America. In its northern distribution it is found as far toward the arctic shores as any of our land birds. Richardson speaks of it as well known throughout the fur countries as far as the woods extend, and mentions meeting with it among the earliest arrivals in spring, coming in company with the equally well-known Robin and the Grakle. At Fort Franklin, latitude 66°, he saw it the 15th of May, about the time of its first appearance in New England. This was supposed to be the limit of its northern range, but more recent observations give abundant evidence of its presence, in considerable numbers, to the very shores of the Arctic Ocean. The late Mr. Hepburn, in manuscript notes, states it to be a common summer visitant both of California and Vancouver’s Island, and that along the coast he has traced it as far north as the frontier line of 54° 40′, where it arrives at the beginning of May, but does not nest until the end of the month.

Mr. Dall, in his notes on the birds of Alaska, states that this Warbler is a rather common bird all through that territory, and gives its arrival as about the 10th of May.

Its extreme southern limit is not so distinctly traced, but is at least as far as the northern portions of South America, inclusive of Cayenne and Ecuador. In all of the West Indies except Trinidad it is replaced by several closely allied species or local races. In Trinidad, Mr. E. C. Taylor states that he found this species common, and could perceive no difference from North American specimens. In Guatemala it is abundant in the winter.

Dr. Coues found this Warbler abundant in Arizona, where it is a summer resident, from April 25 to the middle of September. There, as elsewhere, its preference for watercourses was noticed. Wherever found, it is always most abundant in alluvial meadows, and more rare in other localities.

Dr. Samuel Cabot found this Warbler common in Central America, and Dr. Cragin, of Surinam, sent the Boston Society several specimens from Guiana. Dr. Woodhouse found it abundant in Texas and New Mexico, as did Drs. Suckley and Cooper in Washington Territory and California. It breeds over the whole area of North America, from Georgia on the southeast and from Mexico, northward. Dr. Sumichrast found it, only as a migratory bird, abundant on the plains of Mexico.

The notes of Mr. Kennicott and the memoranda of Messrs. McFarlane, Ross, and Lockhart attest the extreme abundance of this species in the farthest Arctic regions. In nearly every instance the nests were placed in willows from two to five feet from the ground, and near water. In one instance Mr. Ross found the eggs of this species in the nest of _Turdus swainsoni_, which had either been deserted or the parent killed, as the eggs were in it, and would probably have been hatched by the Warbler with her own.

Dr. Cooper found this Warbler very abundant in Washington Territory, and noticed their arrival in large numbers at the Straits of Fuca as early as April 8.

The Summer Yellow-Bird arrives in New England with great uniformity from the first to the middle of May. Its coming is usually the harbinger of the opening summer and expanding leaves. Unlike most of its family, it is confiding and familiar, easily encouraged, by attention to its wants, to cultivate the society of man. It confidingly builds its nest in gardens, often in close vicinity to dwellings, and in the midst of large villages and cities, among the shrubbery of frequented parks. This Warbler, soon after its arrival, begins the construction of its nest. It is usually placed in low bushes, three or four feet from the ground. Occasionally very different positions are chosen. Hedges of buckthorn and hawthorn, barberry-bushes, and other low shrubs, are their favorite places of resort. On one occasion the nest was placed some forty feet from the ground, in the top of a horse-chestnut tree overhanging the main street of a village. Such high positions are, however, not very common.

The nest is invariably fastened to several twigs with great firmness, and with a remarkable neatness and skill. A great variety of materials is employed in the construction of their nests, though not often in the same nest, which is usually quite homogeneous. The more common materials are the hempen fibres of plants, fibrous strips of bark, slender stems of plants and leaves, and down of asclepias. Interwoven with these, forming the inner materials, are the down from willow catkins, the woolly furze from fern-stalks and the _Eriophorum virginicum_, and similar substances. These are lined with soft, fine grasses, hair, feathers, and other warm materials. Cotton, where procurable, is a favorite material; as also is wool, where abundant. I have known instances where nests were built almost exclusively of one or the other material. A pair of these birds, in 1836, built their nest under a parlor window in Roxbury, where all their operations could be closely watched. When discovered, only the framework, the fastening to the supporting twigs, had been erected. The work of completion was simple and rapid. The female was the chief builder, taking her position in the centre of the nest and arranging the materials in their places as her mate brought them to her. Occasionally, with outstretched wings and expanded tail, she would whirl herself round, giving to the soft and yielding materials their hemispherical form. At intervals she arrested her revolutions to stop and regulate with her bill some unyielding portion. When her mate was dilatory, she made brief excursions and collected material for herself, and when the materials brought her were deemed unsuitable, they were rejected in a most summary and amusing manner. The important part of the tail-feathers in shaping the nest and placing the materials in position was a striking feature in this interesting performance. The greater portion of the nest was thus constructed in a single day.

The wonderful sagacity displayed by this Warbler in avoiding the disagreeable alternative of either having to abandon its own nest or of rearing the young of the intrusive Cow Blackbird, when one of these eggs is dropped in her nest, was first noticed by Mr. Nuttall. The egg of the parasite, being too large for ejectment, is ingeniously incarcerated in the bottom of the nest, and a new lining built over it. Occasionally, either by accident or design, the intrusive egg has been fractured. Mr. Nuttall states that where the parasitic egg is laid after her own, the Summer Yellow-Bird acts faithfully the part of a foster-parent. This, however, is not according to my observations. In several instances I have known the Summer Yellow-Bird utterly refuse to act the part of a foster-parent, and, rather than do so, sacrifice her own eggs. So far as I know, this Warbler will never sit upon or hatch out the egg of the Cowbird, under any circumstances. Some powerful instinct, bordering closely upon reason, seems to teach these intelligent Warblers the character of the intruder, and they sacrifice their own eggs rather than rear the parasite. In this dilemma they will always, so far as I know, incarcerate their own eggs with the Cowbird’s and reconstruct the nest above them. In one instance the same pair of Yellow-Birds twice, in the same nest, covered up alien eggs in this manner, building, in fact, three nests one above the other, between the walls of which had been successively included two eggs of the Cowbird. This three-storied nest measured seven inches in length, and was built almost exclusively of raw cotton. The covering of the imprisoned eggs was about two thirds of an inch thick. In both instances the Cowbird’s eggs had been broken, apparently by design.

So far as I am aware this Warbler raises but one brood in Massachusetts in a season. In Pennsylvania it is said to raise two, and even three. The eggs are usually five and occasionally six in number.

This Warbler is conspicuous in its devotion to its young, evincing a strong attachment and an anxiety in regard even to an unoccupied nest, and betraying the site by this solicitude. They will also resort to various expedients to draw one away from their nest, by feigned lameness and other stratagems and manœuvres.

The song of the Summer Yellow-Bird is simple but pleasing, and is easily recognized when once known, though liable to be confounded with that of the Maryland Yellow-Throat, and also said to resemble the song of several other Warblers.

In confinement they usually become very tame, confiding, and reconciled to their imprisonment, and have been known to perch on an outstretched finger, and to catch flies in a room.

Their eggs vary in length from .61 to .70 of an inch, and in breadth from .49 to .52. They have a ground-color of a light green. Their dots and blotches vary greatly in number, size, and manner of distribution. Their colors are light purple, darker purplish-brown, and other shades of brown and lilac.

Dendroica coronata, GRAY.

YELLOW-RUMP WARBLER; MYRTLE WARBLER.