(_Dendroica maculosa_) Wood Warbler family
_Called also_: BLACK-AND-YELLOW WARBLER; SPOTTED WARBLER;
BLUE-HEADED YELLOW-RUMPED WARBLER
_Length_--4.75 to 5 inches. About an inch and a half smaller
than the English sparrow.
_Male_--Crown of head slate-color, bordered on either side by
a white line; a black line, apparently running through the
eye, and a yellow line below it, merging into the yellow
throat. Lower back and under parts yellow. Back, wings, and
tail blackish olive. Large white patch on the wings, and the
middle of the tail-quills white. Throat and sides heavily
streaked with black.
_Female_--Has greener back, is paler, and has less distinct
markings.
_Range_--North America, from Hudson Bay to Panama. Summers
from northern Michigan and northern New England northward;
winters in Central America and Cuba.
_Migrations_--May. October. Spring and summer migrant.
In spite of the bird's name, one need not look for it in the glossy
magnolia trees of the southern gardens more than in the shrubbery on
New England lawns, and during the migrations it is quite as likely to
be found in one place as in the other. Its true preference, however,
is for the spruces and hemlocks of its nesting ground in the northern
forests. For these it deserts us after a brief hunt about the tender,
young spring foliage and blossoms, where the early worm lies
concealed, and before we have become so well acquainted with its
handsome clothes that we will instantly recognize it in the duller
ones it wears on its return trip in the autumn. The position of the
white marks on the tail feathers of this warbler, however, is the clue
by which it may be identified at any season or any stage of its
growth. If the white bar runs across the _middle_ of the warbler's
tail, you can be sure of the identity of the bird. A nervous and
restless hunter, it nevertheless seems less shy than many of its kin.
Another pleasing characteristic is that it brings back with it in
October the loud, clear, rapid whistle with which it has entertained
its nesting mate in the Canada woods through the summer.