Color Key to North American Birds Part 60

[Ill.u.s.tration: 672.]

=672. Palm Warbler= (_Dendroica palmarum_). L. 5.2. No white wing-bars; tail patches white. _Ads._ Crown dark chestnut; line over eye, throat, and breast yellow; breast and sides with reddish brown streaks; _belly_ much paler, often _grayish_ washed with yellow; back olive-brown; rump brighter. _Ad. in Winter and Yng._ No crown-patch; above grayish olive-brown indistinctly streaked; rump yellowish; below grayish white washed with yellow and streaked with brownish; _under tail coverts bright yellow_. _Notes._ Call, a recognizable _chip_; song, a short, simple trill.

Range--Eastern North America; breeds in interior of British America west of Hudson Bay; migrates south through Mississippi Valley and rarely north Atlantic States; winters in Florida and West Indies.

[Ill.u.s.tration: 673.]

=672a. Yellow Palm Warbler= (_D. p. hypochrysea_). Similar to No. 672, but underparts _entirely_ bright yellow; upperparts yellower. Winter specimens are whiter below but are still conspicuously yellow.

Range.--Eastern United States; breeds from Nova Scotia northward, east of Hudson Bay; migrates through Atlantic States and winters in Florida and west to Louisiana.

=673. * Prairie Warbler= (_Dendroica discolor_). L. 4.7. Wing-bars yellowish; tail-patches white. _Ad._ [Male]. Above bright olive-green with reddish chestnut spots in the back; below yellow, sides with black streaks. _Ad._ [Female]. Similar, but usually duller; chestnut spots smaller, sometimes absent. _Yng._ Similar to [Female] Ad., but browner. _Notes._ Song, a high, thin _zee_, _zee_, _zee_, _zee_, _zee-e_, _zee_, the next to last highest. (See page 196.)

Range.--Eastern United States; breeds from Florida to Ma.s.sachusetts, southern Ontario, and southern Michigan; winters from southern Florida into the West Indies.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Lawrence Warbler.]

=Lawrence Warbler= (_Helminthophila lawrencei_). Resembles No. 641, but has a black breast patch and a broad black stripe through the eye as in No. 642. It is believed to be a hybrid between the two. Some 15 specimens are known. Its notes are said to resemble those of both No. 642 and No. 641.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Brewster Warbler.]

=Brewster Warbler= (_Helminthophila leucobronchialis_). Resembles No. 642 above, but is white usually tinged with yellow below, this type being connected with No. 641, by specimens showing more green above and yellow below. Hybridism and dichromatism are believed to account for these birds of which somewhat over a hundred specimens are known, chiefly from the lower Hudson and Connecticut Valleys.

Some songs resemble those of No. 642, others those of 641.

[Ill.u.s.tration: 644.]

=644. Virginia Warbler= (Helminthophila virginiae). L. 4.5. No white in wings or tail. _Ad._ [Male]. Above gray, crown-patch chocolate; upper tail-coverts yellowish; below whitish, breast-patch and under tail-coverts yellow. _Ad._ [Female]. Similar, but less (sometimes no) chocolate in crown and yellow on tail-coverts; duller below. _Yng._ No crown patch; below washed with buff, little or no yellow on breast.

_Notes._ Very musical, with a song of remarkable fullness for so small a bird. (Aitken.)

Range.--Rocky Mountain region from Nevada and Colorado (rarely Wyoming) south into Mexico.

[Ill.u.s.tration: 655.]

=655. Myrtle Warbler= (_Dendroica coronata_). L. 5.6. Crown, sides of breast and rump yellow. _Ad._ [Male]. Above blue-gray streaked with black; throat white, breast largely black; two white wing-bars; outer tail-feathers with white. _Ad._ [Female]. Browner above, less black on breast. [Male] _in winter_. Above brown, back indistinctly streaked with black; below whitish, breast and sides streaked with black.

_Yng._ [Female]. Similar, but less yellow on crown and sides.

_Notes._ Call, a characteristic _tchip_; song, a trill.

Range.--Eastern North America, west in migrations, to the Rockies; breeds from northern New England and northern Minnesota north to Labrador and Alaska; winters from Ma.s.sachusetts and Kansas south into West Indies and Central America.

[Ill.u.s.tration: 659.]

=659. Chestnut-sided Warbler= (_Dendroica pensylvanica_). L. 5. _Ad._ [Male]. Sides chestnut, crown yellow; back streaked black and greenish yellow; cheek-patch and sides of throat black. _Ad._ [Female]. Crown duller; chestnut and black reduced. _Yng._ Above bright yellow-green, back with or without black spots; below grayish white, sides sometimes with traces of chestnut; wing-bars yellowish white. _Notes._ Song, resembles that of Yellow Warbler. (See page 197.)

Range.--Eastern North America; breeds from northern New Jersey and Central Illinois north to Newfoundland and Manitoba (and south in the Alleghanies to South Carolina); winters in Central America.

[Ill.u.s.tration: 604.]

=604. d.i.c.kcissel= (_Spiza americana_). L. 6.2. _Ad._ [Male]. Breast, bend of wing, line over eye and at side of throat yellow; throat-patch black; lesser wing-coverts reddish chestnut; no white in tail. _Ad._ [Female]. Less yellow and chestnut, no black on throat. _Notes._ Song, an earnest, but unmusical _d.i.c.k_, _d.i.c.k_, _che-che-che_, _che_.

Range.--Middle United States east of the Rockies, west of Alleghanies, breeds from Alabama and Texas to Minnesota; casual in Atlantic States; winters in Central and northern South America.

[Ill.u.s.tration: 618.]

=618. Bohemian Waxwing= (_Ampelis garrulus_). L. 8. Crested. _Ads._ Brownish gray; under tail-coverts, forecrown and sides of throat chestnut-rufous; _throat_ and eye-stripe black; wing-quills and primary coverts tipped with white or yellow; secondaries usually with red tips; tail tipped with yellow.

Range.--Northern parts of northern hemisphere; breeds in far north; winters south irregularly to northern United States, casually to Pennsylvania, Illinois, Kansas, and northern California.

[Ill.u.s.tration: 619.]

=619. Cedar Waxwing= (_Ampelis cedrorum_). L. 7. Crested. _Ads._ Grayish brown; belly _yellowish_; under tail-coverts white; no white tips on wing-quills; secondaries with red tips; tail tipped with yellow and rarely with red tips. _Notes._ A fine, lisping note; a string of notes usually uttered when taking flight.

Range.--North America: breeds from Virginia and the highlands of South Carolina, Kansas, and Oregon, north to Labrador and southern Alaska (?); winters from northern United States to Central America.

[Ill.u.s.tration: 628.]

=628. Yellow-throated Vireo= (_Vireo flavifrons_). L. 5.5. _Ads._ Throat and breast _bright_ yellow, belly white; above _bright_ olive-green, rump gray; two white wing-bars. _Notes._ Call, a scolding _cack_; song like Red-eye's but richer, more deliberate, _see me_; _I'm here_; _where are you_? in varying forms; also a mellow trill.

Range.--Eastern United States; breeds from Florida and Texas to Newfoundland and Manitoba; winters in tropics.

[Ill.u.s.tration: 683.]

=683. Yellow-breasted Chat= (_Icteria virens_). L. 7.5; T. 3.07.

_Ads._ Throat and breast bright yellow; lower belly white; above olive-green; line over eye and at side of throat white. _Notes._ Call, a gasping, mewing _kee-yuck_ and _chut_, _chut_; song, of whistles, caws and chucks, sometimes uttered in flight.

Range.--Eastern United States; breeds from northeastern Mexico (but not in Florida?) north to South Dakota, southern Minnesota, and Ma.s.sachusetts (locally); winters in Mexico and Central America.

=683a. Long-tailed Chat= (_I. v. longicauda_). Similar to No. 683, but grayer above; tail slightly longer.

Range.--Western United States, east to Plains; breeds from Mexico north to North Dakota and British Columbia; winters in Mexico.

[Ill.u.s.tration: 497.]

=497. Yellow-headed Blackbird= (_Xanthocephalus xanthocephalus_).

L. 10. _Ad._ [Male]. Black; head and breast orange yellow; outer wing-coverts white, black tipped. _Ad._ [Female]. Brownish, line over eye, throat and breast dull yellow, lower breast streaked with white; ear-coverts rusty. _Notes._ Call, a hoa.r.s.e _chuck_; song, a variety of hoa.r.s.e grunting, guttural whistles; usually uttered with apparent great effort and bodily contortion. The young utter a rolling, whistling call.

Range.--Western North America, east to Kansas, northern Illinois, and northwestern Indiana; west to the Pacific coast ranges; breeds locally from Texas (?), New Mexico, Arizona, and Southern California north to the Hudson Bay region, and southern British Columbia; winters from southwestern Louisiana, and California southward.

[Ill.u.s.tration: 501.]

=501. Meadowlark= (_Sturnella magna_). L. 10.7; W. 4.8. _Ads._ Above black varied with chestnut and buff; below yellow, a black breast-crescent; bars on middle tail-feathers _fused_ along shaft, yellow of throat _not_ spreading on to its sides. _Notes._ Calls, a nasal note and a rolling twitter; song, a high fife like whistle of rarely more than eight or ten notes; without gurgles or grace notes.

Range.--Eastern North America west to about Long. 100, north to New Brunswick and Minnesota; winters from Ma.s.sachusetts and Illinois southward.

=501a. Texas Meadowlark= (_S. m. hoopesi_). Similar to No. 501b, but yellow not spreading on to sides of the throat. _Notes._ Resemble in character those of No. 501.