登陆注册
14719500000028

第28章

After one has seen a golden-winged warbler fluttering hither and thither about the shrubbery of a park within sight and sound of a great city's distractions and with blissful unconcern of them all, partaking of a hearty lunch of insects that infest the leaves before one's eyes, one counts the bird less rare and shy than one has been taught to consider it. Whoever looks for a warbler with gaudy yellow wings will not find the golden-winged variety. His wings have golden patches only, and while these are distinguishing marks, they are scarcely prominent enough features to have given the bird the rather misleading name he bears. But, then, most warblers' names are misleading. They serve their best purpose in cultivating patience and other gentle virtues in the novice.

Such habits and choice of haunts as characterize the blue-winged warbler are also the golden-winged's. But their voices are quite different, the former's being sharp and metallic, while the latter's zee, zee, zee comes more lazily and without accent.

MYRTLE WARBLER (Dendroica coronata) Wood Warbler family Called also: YELLOW-RUMPED WARBLER [AOU 1998]; MYRTLE BIRD;YELLOW-CROWNED WARBLER

Length -- 5 to 5.5 inches. About an inch smaller than the English sparrow.

Male -- In summer plumage: A yellow patch on top of head, lower back, and either side of the breast. Upper parts bluish slate, streaked with black. Upper breast black; throat white; all other under parts whitish, streaked with black. Two white wing bars, and tail quills have white spots near the tip. In winter:

Upper parts olive-brown, streaked with black; the yellow spot on lower back the only yellow mark remaining. Wing-bars grayish.

Female -- Resembles male in winter plumage.

Range -- Eastern North America. Occasional on Pacific slope.

Summers from Minnesota and northern New England northward to Fur Countries. Winters from Middle States south ward into Central America; a few often remaining at the northern United States all the winter.

Migrations -- April. October. November. Also, but more rarely, a winter resident.

The first of the warblers to arrive in the spring and the last to leave us in the autumn, some even remaining throughout the northern winter, the myrtle warbler, next to the summer yellowbird, is the most familiar of its multitudinous kin. Though we become acquainted with it chiefly in the migrations, it impresses us by its numbers rather than by any gorgeousness of attire. The four yellow spots on crown, lower back, and sides are its distinguishing marks; and in the autumn these marks have dwindled to only one, that on the lower back or rump. The great difficulty experienced in identifying any warbler is in its restless habit of flitting about.

For a few days in early May we are forcibly reminded of the Florida peninsula, which fairly teems with these birds; they become almost superabundant, a distraction during the precious days when the rarer species are quietly slipping by, not to return again for a year, perhaps longer, for some warblers are notoriously irregular in their routes north and south, and never return by the way they travelled in the spring.

But if we look sharply into every group of myrtle warblers, we are quite likely to discover some of their dainty, fragile cousins that gladly seek the escort of birds so fearless as they. By the last of May all the warblers are gone from the neighborhood except the constant little summer yellowbird and redstart.

In autumn, when the myrtle warblers return after a busy enough summer passed in Canadian nurseries, they chiefly haunt those regions where juniper and bay-berries abound. These latter (Myrica cerifera), or the myrtle wax-berries, as they are sometimes called, and which are the bird's favorite food, have given it their name. Wherever the supply of these berries is sufficient to last through the winter, there it may be found foraging in the scrubby bushes.

Sometimes driven by cold and hunger from the fields, this hardiest member of a family that properly belongs to the tropics, seeks shelter and food close to the outbuildings on the farm.

PARULA WARBLER (Compsothlypis americana) Wood Warbler family Called also: BLUE YELLOW-BACKED WARBLER; [NORTHERN PARULA, AOU1998]

Length -- 4.5 to 4.75 inches. About an inch and a half shorter than the English sparrow.

Male and Female -- Slate-colored above, with a greenish-yellow or bronze patch in the middle of the back. Chin, throat, and breast yellow. A black, bluish, or rufous band across the breast, usually lacking in female. Underneath white, sometimes marked with rufous on sides, but these markings are variable.

Wings have two white patches; outer tail feathers have white patch near the end.

Range -- Eastern North America. Winters from Florida southward.

Migrations -- April. October. Summer resident.

Through an open window of an apartment in the very heart of New York City, a parula warbler flew this spring of 1897, surely the daintiest, most exquisitely beautiful bird visitor that ever voluntarily lodged between two brick walls.

A number of such airy, tiny beauties flitting about among the blossoms of the shrubbery on a bright May morning and swaying on the slenderest branches with their inimitable grace, is a sight that the memory should retain into old age.

同类推荐
  • 月真歌

    月真歌

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 太上修真体元妙道经

    太上修真体元妙道经

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 护法录

    护法录

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 恢国篇

    恢国篇

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • The Aeneid

    The Aeneid

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
热门推荐
  • 双色魔狐

    双色魔狐

    魔法和剑士的世界,不强力也能成为主宰亲情,友情,爱情的交集泪水,欢笑在乾坤中荡漾黑暗的月神铸就朗朗乾坤不是只有光明才能温暖大地黑暗的极致就是光明八卦,黑与白相生相克相克相生万物分阴阳,白天与黑夜勇往直前只为和他,和她,和它相生相守爱情,友情,亲情魔狐,为情而生
  • 战天武圣

    战天武圣

    谁没有一些刻骨铭心事,谁能预计后果……这是莫凡的座右铭,也是他行事准则。为亲,纵逆战天下又何妨!为情,冲天一怒为红颜!血洗千里!!!为兄弟,征战天下,崩碎天地,横尸万域亦无悔……
  • 最强霸少

    最强霸少

    一个五岁就被父母寄养在外的孩子,从小跟着养父习武,练就了一身本事。在一次接触到了最强特种部队的首长,而这名首长竟然是养父的师弟,后来了解到这位首长是隐世门派的弟子,为了完成师门任务才来到世俗界。而这位少年也通过首长了解了一些关于隐世的事情,也知道了这位首长来世俗界的目的,为了帮自己养父的师弟完成任务。这位长大成人的少年也加入到这个任务当中,于是一段热血还有和各个美女数不清关系的征途,拉开序幕....
  • 不完整的完整故事

    不完整的完整故事

    同一故事,不同读者有不同的解读。这是一系列需要思考其中情节的故事。
  • 寒影堂

    寒影堂

    一场罕见的龙卷风暴将一个小水手带到了一个陌生的世界中来。一户好心的人家让这个侥幸活下来的小水手以为自己找到了温暖的家,自己这一生就在这个普通的家庭中平凡地度过。但是命运却跟他开了一个大大的玩笑。少年一夜屠杀数百人,只为了那一个少女。加入军队成护国将军,在街头救下了一个与记忆中那个人儿万分相似的少女,将之视为掌上明珠。只身独闯重水牢,只为了救出心爱的那个她。为了保护挚爱之人的安全,建立起一方巨擎寒影堂。
  • 腹黑大神:萌妻养成记

    腹黑大神:萌妻养成记

    叶凉笙崇拜很久的游戏中的大神竟然就是那个凭自己颜值、人气、成绩来打压她的同桌:苏景辰,她居然最后一个知道!最悲催的不是这,而是她发现苏景辰好像在追自己,他到底是何居心?!天若有情天亦老,你若想追我便跑。三十六计,先跑再说!但俗话好:男追女,隔个妈;女追男,隔层纱。当大神把未来丈母娘都搞定了,小白你还跑的出大神的五指山么?!
  • 皆有无限

    皆有无限

    刘子义只是一个平凡的护林员,在一个偶然中进入了山洞,发现了一本秘籍,开始了他奇幻的生活,但他却不知,这本秘籍仅仅是一个开始。
  • 黑帮老大的女人

    黑帮老大的女人

    什么男人!渴了!他是水!累了!他是床!痛了!他是药!烦了!他是靠!唐娜璟一个乖巧的女生与一个黑帮老大徐邵飞,发生一段鲜为人知的故事,社会险恶,人心丑陋……【本故事大部分情节根据本人修改】
  • 无常三启经

    无常三启经

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 邪眸梦何

    邪眸梦何

    “如果上天给我守护一切的力量,那请在我绝望灭世之前。”少年之路,经造化之光,六道之礼,修罗之炼,秩序之慧,无生之惘,邪情之变。身上背着无数谜团……醒掌诸神印,醉卧玄冰怀。如何真正的主宰一切?如何参透一切未知?一双邪眸深入你的内心,带你经历一场绝世传奇。你,真的要错过吗……