Length: A little less than 5 inches.

Male: Grayish-blue above, with a bright olive-yellow patch in the middle of the back; yellow throat and breast, with a dark bluish or reddish-brown band across the breast; belly white; sides sometimes reddish-brown; two white wing-bars; tail gray, edged with blue, with white spots near tips of inner webs.

Female: Similar to male, except that the reddish-brown markings and band across the breast are less distinct or wanting.

Song: A “buzzing” song rather evenly accented.

Habitat: “During the migration season, the Parula Warbler may be found among the foliage of our shade trees and orchards, being most common about the time of the apple-blossoms. As soon as he reaches his summer home, however, he is practically confined to swamps ... preferring, during the nesting season evergreen trees, although occasionally found in mixed groves where deciduous trees predominate.”[154] He lives in localities where he can find the Usnea moss, in which he loves to build his nest. Look for him along streams or near swamps where this moss hangs from the trees.

Range: From eastern Nebraska and Minnesota, central Ontario, Anticosti and Cape Breton Islands, south to Texas, Louisiana, Alabama, Virginia, and Maryland; winters probably in the Bahamas and from Vera Cruz to Nicaragua.

The southern species or PARULA WARBLER, differs slightly from his northern relative; his throat is yellower and his breast-band is less distinct. He lives in the southeastern United States, and is common where there are cypresses hung with moss. He is very active; he reminds one of the kinglet and the chickadee as he hangs head downward from a spray, seeking the tiny insects that he likes to eat.