The song of an individual prairie warbler makes only a slight impression. It
consists "of a series of six or seven quickly repeated tees, the next to the
last one being the highest" (Chapman). But the united voices of a dozen or
more of these pretty little birds, that often sing together, afford something
approaching a musical treat.
WILSON'S WARBLER (Sylvania pusila) Wood Warbler family
Called also: BLACKCAP; GREEN BLACK-CAPPED WARBLER; WILSON'S
FLYCATCHER
Length -- 4.75 to 5 inches. About an inch and a half shorter than
the English sparrow.
Male -- Black cap; yellow forehead; all other upper parts
olive-green; rich yellow underneath.
Female -- Lacks the black cap.
Range -- North America, from Alaska and Nova Scotia to Panama.
Winters south of Gulf States. Nests chiefly north of the United
States.
Migrations -- May. September. Spring and autumn migrant.
To see this strikingly marked little bird one must be on the sharp lookout for
it during the latter half of May, or at the season of apple bloom, and the
early part of September. It passes northward with an almost scornful rapidity.
Audubon mentions having seen it in Maine at the end of October, but this
specimen surely must have been an exceptional laggard.
In common with several others of its family, it is exceedingly expert in
catching insects on the wing; but it may be known as no true flycatcher from
the conspicuous rich yellow of its under parts, and also from its habit of
returning from a midair sally to a different perch from the one it left to
pursue its dinner.
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