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Parula, or Blue yellow-back Warbler
Adult male--Upper parts gray blue, with a yellowish green patch in the middle of the back; throat and breast yellow, with a dark brown or black patch; sides rufous; belly white.
Adult female--Very similar, sometimes lacking the rufous colour on the sides. Length--4.73.
Breeding Range--Locally throughout the Eastern States where the usnea moss is found.
The nest is placed within tufts of hanging moss (usnea); it is perhaps more strictly speaking globular than pensile, as the entrance is often at the side; it is usually at a distance of from "three to forty feet" from the ground, and may be found in trees or bushes. The eggs, 4 to 5 in number, are white, speckled with various shades of light reddish brown and lilac, chiefly at the larger end. Size--.67 x .49.
It is in the swampy woods where on the trees and bushes the grey moss hangs in graceful festoons that the Parula makes his summer home; the nest being completed towards the end of May.