Length -- 5.5 to 6 inches. A trifle smaller than the English
sparrow.
Male -- Yellowish olive above; clear yellow below, shading to
grayish white, with obscure dark streaks on side of breast. Two
whitish wing-bars; two outer tail feathers partly white.
Female -- Duller; grayish white only faintly tinged with yellow
underneath.
Range -- North America, east of the Rockies; north to Manitoba,
And south to Florida and the Bahamas. Winters from southern
Illinois southward.
Migrations -- March or April. October or later. Common summer
resident.
The pine warbler closely presses the myrtle warbler for the first place in the
ranks of the family migrants, but as the latter bird often stays north all
winter, it is usually given the palm. Here is a warbler, let it be recorded,
that is fittingly named, for it is a denizen of pine woods only; most common
in the long stretches of pine forests at the south and in New York and New
England, and correspondingly uncommon wherever the woodsman's axe has laid the
pine trees low throughout its range. Its "simple, sweet, and drowsy song,"
writes Mr. Parkhurst, is always associated "with the smell of pines on a
sultry day." It recalls that of the junco and the social sparrow or chippy.
Creeping over the bark of trees and peering into every crevice like a
nuthatch; running along the limbs, not often hopping nervously or flitting
like the warblers; darting into the air for a passing insect, or descending to
the ground to feed on seeds and berries, the pine warbler has, by a curious
combination, the movements that seem to characterize several different birds.
It is one of the largest and hardiest members of its family, but not
remarkable for its beauty. It is a sociable traveller, cheerfully escorting
other warblers northward, and welcoming to its band both the yellow redpolls
and the myrtle warblers. These birds are very often seen together in the pine
and other evergreen trees in our lawns and in the large city parks.