(_Sylvania mitrata_) Wood Warbler family
_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."