Family: Parulidae, Wood Warblers view all from this family

Description 4 1/2" (11 cm). Male gray above, white below, with black mask and throat; white eyebrow and "mustache"; yellow crown and wing patch. Female similar, but has gray mask and throat.

Habitat Abandoned fields and pastures grown to saplings, usually in drier situations than Blue-winged.

Nesting 5 purplish-spotted white eggs in a cup of dead leaves and fibers set on or near the ground in thick vegetation.

Range Breeds from southern Manitoba and New Hampshire south to New Jersey and Iowa, and in mountains to Georgia. Winters from southern Mexico to northern South America.

Voice   Slow, drawled, insect-like song resembling that of Blue-winged but longer, seee-bzzz, bzzz, with first note higher.

Discussion Where the breeding ranges of this species and the Blue-winged Warbler overlap, the two frequently hybridize; the offspring of these crosses show various combinations of the characteristics of the parent species and have been called "Brewster's Warbler" and "Lawrence's Warbler." The fact that these two species interbreed shows that they are closely related, and suggests that the striking differences between them have evolved during the last few tens of thousands of years.