(_Geothlypis philadelphia_) Wood Warbler family
_Called also_: MOURNING GROUND WARBLER
_Length_--5 to 5.6 inches. About an inch smaller than the
English sparrow.
_Male_--Gray head and throat; the breast gray; the feathers
with black edges that make them look crinkled, like crape. The
black markings converge into a spot on upper breast. Upper
parts, except head, olive. Underneath rich yellow.
_Female_--Similar, but duller; throat and breast buff and
dusky where the male is black. Back olive-green.
_Range_--"Eastern North America; breeds from eastern Nebraska,
northern New York, and Nova Scotia northward, and southward
along the Alleghanies to Pennsylvania. Winters in the
tropics."--_Chapman._
_Migrations_--May. September. Spring and autumn migrant.
Since Audubon met with but one of these birds in his incessant
trampings, and Wilson secured only an immature, imperfectly marked
specimen for his collection, the novice may feel no disappointment if
he fails to make the acquaintance of this "gay and agreeable widow."
And yet the shy and wary bird is not unknown in Central Park, New York
City. Even where its clear, whistled song strikes the ear with a
startling novelty that invites to instant pursuit of the singer, you
may look long and diligently through the undergrowth without finding
it. Dr. Merriam says the whistle resembles the syllables "_true, true,
true, tru, too_, the voice rising on the first three syllables and
falling on the last two." In the nesting season this song is repeated
over and over again with a persistency worthy of a Kentucky warbler.
It is delivered from a perch within a few feet of the ground, as high
as the bird seems ever inclined to ascend.
[Illustration: CARDINAL]
[Illustration: SCARLET TANAGER Male, in mature plumage, perching;
female on nest.]