Bird lore - Project Puffin

THE CHESTNUT-SIDED WARBLER
By T. GILBERT PEARSON
Cfje Ji^ational Hsijfocmtion of Mububon Societies;
EDUCATIONAL LEAFLET NO. 85
Among the most charming birds in the world are the members of that
group classified as the family of Wood Warblers. There are about one hundred
and fifty-five known species, and they are found in no other country but
America. Seventy-four kinds occur in North America, and fifty-five of these
have been recorded in the United States.
They are small birds, the majority measuring rather less than five and one-
half inches from bill-tip to tail- tip. They are birds mainly of woods and thickets,
a few only venturing into open country. The Warbler's bill is longer than that
of most small birds, and is well adapted for seizing the soft-bodied insects
upon which it so largely preys.
One of the most common members of the family in the Eastern States is
the Chestnut-sided Warbler. The general appearance of the male is that of a
particularly trim little bird with olive-green back and bright yellow crown; the
under parts are lighter, and the sides are marked by deep chestnut—that is,
this is the way the male looks in spring. At this season the female is quite
similar, although its colors are duller. In the fall and winter the plumage
presents a very different appearance. The upper parts then are yellowish
olive-green, sometimes with faint streaks on the back. The deep-chestnut of
the sides has given way to a few spots or patches of this color.
In seeking the Chestnut-sided Warbler, one should go to woodlands that
have been cut over and grown up in bushes. There are found the conditions
which this bird dearly loves, and in such a situation one may pass a whole
forenoon and seldom be out of sight or hearing of one or more of them.
The nest is made of strips of bark, soft dead leaf-stems, and similar material;
it is lined with tendrils and rootlets. Usually the nest is from two and a half
to three and a half feet from the ground. Rarely have I found one so situated
that it could not readily be reached by the spring of an agile house-cat, and
there is much evidence to show that many are pulled down every year by these
feline hunters.
It is commonly reported that as many as five eggs are deposited in the
nest before the bird begins sitting, but fully three-fourths of those nests that
I have found contained only four eggs. They are white, with numerous brown
markings of various shades—some distinct, others more or less obscure, as if
the inside of the shell had been painted and the color was showing through.
The spots and blotches are gathered chiefly in a wreath about the larger end.
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