Length: About 5 inches.

Male: Crown yellow, bordered with black; back gray, streaked with black and yellow; ear-patch and under parts white; black line extending from bill meets broad chestnut streak which runs down the side of the body; wings with two broad yellowish-white wing-bars; tail black, outer feathers with large white spots varying in size.

Female: Somewhat like male, but duller; the colors are less sharply contrasted.

Song: In the spring a loud warble, not unlike that of the yellow warbler; in the summer, a weaker trill.[157]

Habitat: Thickets, bushy roadsides, edges of woods, open woodlands.

Range: Eastern North America from central Canada to eastern Nebraska, northern Ohio, New Jersey, Rhode Island, and Massachusetts, and in the Alleghany Mts. to Tennessee and North Carolina.

The male Chestnut-sided Warbler is very easily identified; its sharp contrasts in coloring make it conspicuous. While the bay-breasted warbler also has chestnut sides, it differs in having the color extend to the breast and throat, instead of bordering the white under parts.

The dainty little chestnut-sided warbler is rather commoner than some species. Dr. F. H. Herrick in his book, “The Home Life of Wild Birds,” tells of taming a female. She ate from his hand and allowed him to stroke her as she sat on her nest.