Length: About 5¼ inches.

Male: Black, streaked with white—no yellow; head with broad black and white stripes; body with narrow stripes; white stripe over eye, black patch back of eye; striped throat and sides, white belly; tail grayish black; outer tail-feathers with white patches on inner web; wings black, with two distinct white bars.

Female: Similar, but with gray cheeks and whiter under parts, fainter streaks, and brownish sides.

Song: A thin, unmusical se-se'-se-se'-se-se'-se-se'.

This Black-and-White Warbler is as easy to identify as a zebra, because of its conspicuous black and white stripes. As it is found on tree-trunks, it is sometimes confused with the brown creeper. Its bill, however, is not curved like the creeper’s, nor is its tail used as a prop. It resembles the nuthatch in its ability to descend as well as ascend tree-trunks.

These warblers, though they obtain their food from trees, nest on the ground in nests not unlike those of the oven-bird.