Length -- 5 to 5.75 inches. About an inch shorter than the
English sparrow.
Male -- Head, neck, chin, and throat black like a hood in mature
male specimens only. Hood restricted, or altogether wanting in
female and young. Upper parts rich olive. Forehead, cheeks, and
underneath yellow. Some conspicuous white on tail feathers.
Female -- Duller, and with restricted cowl.
Range -- United States east of Rockies, and from southern
Michigan and southern New England to West Indies and tropical
America, where it winters. Very local.
Migrations -- May. September. Summer resident.
This beautifully marked, sprightly little warbler might be mistaken in his
immaturity for the yellowthroat; and as it is said to take him nearly three
years to grow his hood, with the completed cowl and cape, there is surely
sufficient reason here for the despair that often seizes the novice in
attempting to distinguish the perplexing warblers. Like its Southern
counterpart, the hooded warbler prefers wet woods and low trees rather than
high ones, for much of its food consists of insects attracted by the dampness,
and many of them must be taken on the wing. Because of its tireless activity
the bird's figure is particularly slender and graceful -- a trait, too, to
which we owe all the glimpses of it we are likely to get throughout the
summer. It has a curious habit of spreading its tail, as if it wished you to
take special notice of the white spots that adorn it; not flirting it, as the
redstart does his more gorgeous one, but simply opening it like a fan as it
flies and darts about.
Its song, which is particularly sweet and graceful, and with more variation
than most warblers' music, has been translated "Che-we-eo-tsip, tsip,
che-we-eo," again interpreted by Mr. Chapman as "You must come to the woods,
or you won't see me."