Life histories of North American wood warblers, Part 1 (of 2)

[xii]

INTRODUCTION

This is the nineteenth in a series of bulletins of the United States National Museum on the life histories of North American birds. Previous numbers have been issued as follows:

107. Life Histories of North American Diving Birds, August 1, 1919.

113. Life Histories of North American Gulls and Terns, August 27, 1921.

121. Life Histories of North American Petrels and Pelicans and Their Allies, October 19, 1922.

126. Life Histories of North American Wild Fowl (part), May 25, 1923.

130. Life Histories of North American Wild Fowl (part), June 27, 1925.

135. Life Histories of North American Marsh Birds, March 11, 1927.

142. Life Histories of North American Shore Birds (pt. 1), December 31, 1927.

146. Life Histories of North American Shore Birds (pt. 2), March 24, 1929.

162. Life Histories of North American Gallinaceous Birds, May 25, 1932.

167. Life Histories of North American Birds of Prey (pt. 1), May 3, 1937.

170. Life Histories of North American Birds of Prey (pt. 2), August 8, 1938.

174. Life Histories of North American Woodpeckers, May 23, 1939.

176. Life Histories of North American Cuckoos, Goatsuckers, Hummingbirds, and Their Allies, July 20, 1940.

179. Life Histories of North American Flycatchers, Larks, Swallows, and Their Allies, May 8, 1942.

191. Life Histories of North American Jays, Crows, and Titmice, January 27, 1947.

195. Life Histories of North American Nuthatches, Wrens, Thrashers, and Their Allies, July 7, 1948.

196. Life Histories of North American Thrushes, Kinglets, and Their Allies, June 28, 1949.

197. Life Histories of North American Wagtails, Shrikes, Vireos, and Their Allies, June 21, 1950.

The paragraphs on distribution for the Colima and Kirtland’s warblers were supplied by Dr. Josselyn Van Tyne with his contributions on these species.

All other data on distribution and migration were contributed by the Fish and Wildlife Service under the supervision of Frederick C. Lincoln.

The same general plan has been followed as explained in previous bulletins, and the same sources of information have been used. It does not seem necessary to explain the plan again here. The nomenclature of the Check-List of North American Birds (1931), with its supplements, of the American Ornithologists’ Union, has been followed. Forms not recognized in this list have not been included.

Many who have contributed material for previous Bulletins have continued to cooperate. Receipts of material from several hundred contributors has been acknowledged in previous Bulletins. In addition to these, our thanks are due to the following new contributors: G. A. Ammann, O. L. Austin, Jr., F. S. Barkalow, Jr., Ralph Beebe, H. E. Bennett, A. J. Berger, Virgilio Biaggi, Jr., C. H. Blake, Don Bleitz, B. J. Blincoe, L. C. Brecher, Jeanne Broley, Maurice Broun, J. H. Buckalew, I. W. Burr, N. K. Carpenter, May T. Cooke, H. L. Crockett, Grace Crowe, Ruby Curry, J. V. Dennis, E. von S. Dingle, M. S. Dunlap, J. J. Elliott, A. H. Fast, Edith K. Frey, J. E. Galley, J. H. Gerard, Lydia Getell, H. B. Goldstein, Alan Gordon, L. I. Grinnell, Horace Groskin, F. G. Gross, G. W. Gullion, E. M. Hall, R. H. Hansman, Katharine C. Harding, H. H. Harrison, J. W. Hopkins, N. L. Huff, Verna R. Johnston, Malcolm Jollie, R. S. Judd, M. B. Land, Louise de K. Lawrence, R. E. Lawrence, G. H. Lowery, J. M. Markle, C. R. Mason, D. L. McKinley, R. J. Middleton, Lyle Miller, A. H. Morgan, R. H. Myers, W. H. Nicholson, F. H. Orcutt, H. L. Orians, R. A. O’Reilly, A. A. Outram, G. H. Parks, K. C. Parkes, M. M. Peet, J. L. Peters, F. A. Pitelka, Mariana Roach, James Rooney, Jr., O. M. Root, G. B. Saunders, James Sawders, Mary C. Shaub, Dorothy E. Snyder, Doris Heustis Speirs, E. A. Stoner, P. B. Street, H. R. Sweet, E. W. Teale, A. B. Williams, G. G. Williams, R. B. Williams, Mrs. T. E. Winford, and A. M. Woodbury.

As the demand for these Bulletins is much greater than the supply, the names of those who have not contributed to the work during recent years will be dropped from the author’s mailing list.

Dr. Winsor M. Tyler has again read and indexed for this volume a large part of the current literature on North American birds and has contributed four complete life histories. Dr. Alfred O. Gross has written stories on the yellow-throats (Geothlypis trichas) and has contributed three other complete life histories. Edward von S. Dingle, Alexander Sprunt, Jr., and Dr. Josselyn Van Tyne have contributed two complete life histories each.

William George F. Harris has increased his valuable contribution to the work by producing the entire paragraphs on eggs, including descriptions of the eggs in their exact colors, assembling and averaging the measurements, and collecting and arranging the egg dates, as they appear under Distribution; the preparation of this last item alone required the handling of over 5,600 records.

Clarence F. Smith has furnished references to food habits of all the species of wood warblers. Aretas A. Saunders has contributed full and accurate descriptions of the songs and call notes of all the species with which he is familiar, based on his extensive musical records. Dr. Alexander F. Skutch has sent us full accounts of all the North American wood warblers that migrate through or spend the winter in Central America, with dates of arrival and departure. James Lee Peters has furnished descriptions of molts and plumages of several species and has copied several original descriptions of subspecies from publications that were not available to the author.

Eggs were measured for this volume by American Museum of Natural History (C. K. Nichols), California Academy of Sciences (R. T. Orr), Colorado Museum of Natural History (F. G. Brandenburg), C. E. Doe, W. E. Griffee, W. C. Hanna, E. N. Harrison, H. L. Heaton, A. D. Henderson, Museum of Comparative Zoology (W. G. F. Harris), and Museum of Vertebrate Zoology (M. Jollie).

The manuscript for this Bulletin was written in 1945; only important information could be added. If the reader fails to find in these pages anything that he knows about the birds, he can only blame himself for failing to send the information to—

The Author.

LIFE HISTORIES OF
NORTH AMERICAN WOOD WARBLERS

Order PASSERIFORMES: Family Parulidae

By Arthur Cleveland Bent
Taunton, Mass.

GENERAL REMARKS ON THE FAMILY PARULIDAE

Contributed by Winsor Marrett Tyler

The family of wood warblers, Parulidae, is the second largest family of North American birds, surpassed only in number of species by the family Fringillidae. The wood warblers occur only in the Western Hemisphere; they are distinct from the Old World warblers, Sylviidae, although the two families play a similar rôle in nature’s economy.

The wood warblers are largely nocturnal migrants, whose long journeys in the dark of night over sea and lake and along the coast expose them to many perils, one being the lighthouses they strike with frequently fatal results. Their notes are seldom heard from the night sky during their spring migration, but on many a calm, quiet night in August and September, as they fly overhead, their sharp, sibilant, staccato notes punctuate the rhythmic beat of the tree-crickets singing in the shrubbery and stand out clearly among the soft, whistled calls of the migrating thrushes.

The length of migration varies greatly; the pine warbler withdraws in winter only a short distance from the southern limit of its breeding range, whereas the most northerly breeding black-polls migrate from Alaska to the Tropics. In spring many species migrate at nearly the same time, apparently advancing northward in intermittent waves of great numbers during favorable nights. Flocks made up of sometimes a dozen species together flash about in their bright plumage during the week or two at the height of the migration and furnish days of great excitement to ornithologists. Their return in late summer and autumn is more leisurely and regular; in loose flocks they drift slowly by for several weeks, their southward passage evident even in daytime. The flocking begins early, soon after nesting is over, and to the north is apparent early in July, if closely watched for, even before the leaves begin to wither. The mixed fall flocks, with adults in winter plumage and young birds in duller colors, present many fascinating problems in identification as the birds move quietly along.

[Author’s Notes: When I asked Dr. Tyler to contribute these remarks we discussed Professor Cooke’s (1904) theory of trans-Gulf migration, which has been generally accepted until recently, when it was challenged by George C. Williams (1945). This paper started a discussion in which George H. Lowery, Jr. (1945), has taken a prominent part, and of which we have not yet heard the last. Routes of migration from South America to the United States are evidently well established through the West Indies and the Bahamas to the southeastern States; across the Caribbean to Jamaica, Cuba, and Florida; through Central America and directly across the Gulf from Yucután to the Gulf States; through eastern Mexico and Texas; and through western Mexico to the southwestern States. Professor Cooke was probably correct in assuming that the majority of wood warblers breeding in eastern North America migrate directly across the Caribbean or the Gulf. Some species may confine themselves to only one of the routes named, but we need more data to say just which species uses what route.]

The literature contains descriptions of several warblers not recognized as established species by the A. O. U. Check-List (1931). Some, described and illustrated by older writers such as Wilson and Audubon, cannot be identified; others are presumably hybrids; and one, Sylvia autumnalis Wilson, the autumn warbler, is clearly the black-poll in fall plumage. The first category includes Dendroica carbonata (Audubon), the carbonated warbler, of which the Check-List says “the published plates may have been based to some extent on memory”; D. montana (Wilson), the blue mountain warbler, which is “known only from the plates of Audubon and Wilson”; and Wilsonia (?) microcephala (Ridgway), the small-headed flycatcher, of which it says: “Known only from the works of Wilson and Audubon whose specimens came from New Jersey and Kentucky respectively. There is some question whether they represent the same species.”

In the second category is Vermivora cincinnatiensis (Langdon), the Cincinnati warbler, described in 1880. “The unique type is regarded as a hybrid between Vermivora pinus (Linnaeus) and Oporornis formosa (Wilson).” Recently, in a letter dated August 3, 1948, Dr. George M. Sutton reports to Mr. Bent the discovery of a second Cincinnati warbler, taken in Michigan on May 28, 1948. He says: “Its bill and feet are large for Vermivora and its under tail coverts proportionately too long for that genus. It has only a faint suggestion of wing-barring and the merest shadow of a pattern on the outer rectrices. One of its most interesting and beautiful characters is the gray tipping of the feathers at the rear of the crown, as in O. formosus. The effect is very unusual, for the gray-tipped feathers are yellow. It is, in short, obviously a cross between Vermivora and Oporornis.”

The status of Vermivora leucobronchialis and V. lawrencii and the relationship between them puzzled ornithologists for upward of two generations. William Brewster (1876) described the former as a new species, and since that time, as Walter Faxon (1911) writes, “almost every conceivable hypothesis has been advanced by one writer or another to fix its true status in our bird-fauna.” In addition to being considered a valid species, it has been regarded as a hybrid (Brewster, 1881), as a dichromatic phase, that is, a leucochroic phase of V. pinus (Ridgway, 1887), as a mutant (Scott, 1905), and finally as a phase, “ancestral in character” (atavistic) of the goldenwing (C. W. Townsend, 1908).

Lawrence’s warbler is a very rare bird. The first specimen was described in 1874 (Herold Herrick, 1874), and since that time the bird was taken or seen infrequently, chiefly in regions where the breeding ranges of V. chrysoptera and V. pinus overlap. Consensus of opinion in the main regarded it as a hybrid between V. chrysoptera and V. pinus, as it combined characters of both the supposed parents. John Treadwell Nichols (1908) some years ago brought new light to the problem. He says:

In any discussion of the status of Lawrence’s and Brewster’s Warblers it is well to bear in mind the facts, including the much greater abundance of Brewster’s, are in accord with Mendel’s Law of Heredity, supposing both forms to be hybrids between Helminthophila pinus and H. chrysoptera. * * * All the first generation hybrids will be Brewster’s Warbler in plumage. In the next generation there will be pure Golden-winged Warblers, pure Blue-winged Warblers, pure Brewster’s Warblers, and pure Lawrence’s Warblers; also mixed birds of the first three forms, but none of the last form, which, being recessive, comes to light only when pure. The original hybrids then (which will be all Brewster’s in plumage) must be fertile with one another or with the parent species for any Lawrence’s to occur; and if they are perfectly fertile Lawrence’s must still remain a small minority. After the first generation the proportion of plumages of birds with mixed parentage should be: 9 Brewster’s, 3 chrysoptera, 3 pinus, 1 Lawrence’s.

This explanation removed the stumbling block, long believed to be insurmountable, that a black-throated bird, mating with a yellow-throated bird, could produce progeny having a white throat. Under Mendel’s Law the dominant color (white) of chrysoptera would appear by the suppression of the recessive black throat.

Fortunately, Walter Faxon (1913) not long afterward found a female blue-winged warbler mated with a goldenwing and was successful in following the resulting brood of young birds until they had acquired their first winter plumage when, fulfilling Mendel’s Law, they were all in “the garb of Helminthophila leucobronchialis,” thus establishing beyond a doubt the hybrid nature of the bird. At the end of his paper, Walter Faxon (1913) relates a bit of interesting ancient history regarding these three species of Vermivora. He says:

In my paper published in 1911, after stating the different hypotheses proposed in order to explain the relations existing among the Golden-winged, Blue-winged, Brewster’s, and Lawrence’s Warblers I added, half in jest, that the only hypothesis left for a new-comer in the field was this: that the Golden-winged and the Blue-winged Warblers themselves were merely two forms of one species. Curiously enough, not long after this I found that this very opinion had been expressed, and in a most unexpected quarter: in a letter dated Edinburgh, Sept. 15, 1835, Audubon wrote to Bachman that he suspected the golden-winged warbler and the blue-winged warbler were one species! That Audubon at that early date, ignorant (as he was assumed to be) of the existence of Brewster’s and Lawrence’s warblers, and but superficially acquainted with the golden-wing, should suspect that two birds so diverse as the blue-wing and the golden-wing were one species seemed incomprehensible, and in the light of what we now know about these birds, his surmise seemed to presuppose an almost superhuman faculty of prevision.

As a possible explanation of Audubon’s letter I have only this to offer: in the winter of 1876-77 Dr. Spencer Trotter discovered in the collection of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia a specimen of Brewster’s warbler without a label, the third specimen known up to that time; on the bottom of the stand was written in the autograph of John Cassin, “J. C., 20 October, 1862,” and also a badly blurred legend “Not from Bell.” An appeal to J. G. Bell elicited the response that he remembered shooting a peculiar warbler in Rockland Co., N. Y., about the year 1832—a warbler something like a golden-wing, but lacking, although in high plumage, the black throat of that species; a great many years afterward, he sold this specimen in Philadelphia but knew nothing of its ultimate fate. Dr. Trotter justly inferred that the Philadelphia Academy specimen was in all probability the very bird shot by Bell.

Now as Audubon was intimately associated with Bell, is it not possible that he had examined this example of Brewster’s warbler? In that case, seeing that this bird’s characters were in part those of the blue-wing, in part those of the golden-wing, he may have inferred the interbreeding of these two birds, and so (rather unwarrantably, it is true) their identity. If this be not the explanation of the passage in Audubon’s letter to Bachman I have no other to suggest.

When Audubon came to publish his account of the Golden-winged Warbler in 1839 (Ornithological Biography, 1839, 5, p. 154) he said not a word about its connection with the Blue-winged Warbler.

Recently Karl W. Haller (1940) described “a new wood warbler from West Virginia” from two specimens, male and female, which he collected on May 30 and June 1, 1939, respectively, at points 18 miles apart, and proposed for it the new name Dendroica potomac, Sutton’s warbler. These birds resemble the yellow-throated warbler in plumage but lack streaks on the sides. They also suggest the parula warbler in having a faint yellowish wash on the back and, in the male, “an almost imperceptible hint of raw sienna” on the upper breast. The male sang a song much like the parula’s, but doubled by repetition.

Two more Sutton’s warblers have been carefully observed in the field: one at the point where the type was collected on May 21, 1942, by Maurice Brooks and Bayard H. Christy (1942); the second about 18 miles to the westward on June 21, 1944, by George H. Breiding and Lawrence E. Hicks (1945). Another aberrant warbler has been described by Stanley G. Jewett (1944), who examined four specimens which show a curious intermingling of the plumage characters of the hermit and Townsend warblers.

[Author’s Note: Since the above was written, Kenneth C. Parkes (1951) has published a study of the genetics of the golden-winged—blue-winged warbler complex, to which the reader is referred.]

MNIOTILTA VARIA (Linnaeus)

BLACK-AND-WHITE WARBLER

Contributed by Winsor Marrett Tyler

Plates [1]-[3]

HABITS

The black-and-white warbler is one of the earliest spring warblers to reach its breeding-ground in the Transition Zone. Most of the other members of this family arrive in or pass through the region in mid-May or somewhat later, according to the season, when the oaks are in bloom and the opening flowers attract swarms of insects.

The black-and-white warbler, however, owing to its peculiar habit of feeding on the trunks and the large limbs of the trees, does not have to wait for the bounty supplied by the oaks but finds its special feeding-ground well stocked with food long before the oaks blossom or their leaves unfold. It comes with the yellow palm warbler late in April, when many of the trees are nearly bare, and not long after the pine warbler.

Mniotilta is a neat little bird, dressed in modest colors, at this season singing its simple but sprightly song as it scrambles over the bark—the black-and-white creeper, Alexander Wilson calls it.

Milton B. Trautman (1940), speaking of the spring migration at Buckeye Lake, Ohio, shows that the male birds are preponderant in the earliest flights. He says: “The first spring arrivals, chiefly males, were noted between April 16 and 30, and between May 1 and 5, 2 to 15 birds, mostly males, could be daily noted. The peak of migration usually lasted from May 6 to May 18, and then from 3 to 42 individuals, consisting of a few old males and the remainder females and young males, were daily observed. On May 18 or shortly thereafter a decided lessening in numbers occurred, and by May 23 all except an occasional straggler had left.”

Courtship.—Forbush (1929) gives this hint of courtship, which resembles the activities of most warblers at this season: “When the females arrive there is much agitation, and often a long-continued intermittent pursuit, with much song and fluttering of black and white plumage, and much interference from rival males before the happy pair are united and begin nesting.”

Nesting.—The black-and-white warbler usually builds its nest on the ground, tucking it away against a shrub or tree, or even under the shelter of an overhanging stone or bank. The nest is generally concealed among an accumulation of dead leaves which, arching over it, hides it from above. It is made, according to A. C. Bent (MS.), “of dry leaves, coarse grass, strips of inner bark, pine needles and rootlets, and is lined with finer grasses and rootlets and horsehair.” I have seen a nest made chiefly of pine needles on a base of dry leaves.

Henry Mousley (1916), writing of Hatley, Quebec, mentions moss as a component part of the nest, and says of three nests that they were all “heavily lined with long black and white horse hairs,” a peculiarity of coloration mentioned in one of Mr. Bent’s nests. Thomas D. Burleigh (1927b) speaks of a nest in Pennsylvania “built of dead leaves and rhododendron berry stems, lined with fine black rootlets and a few white hairs.” H. H. Brimley (1941) describes an exceptional nest. He says: “There was no particular departure from normal in its construction except for the fact that it was lined with a mixture of fine rootlets and very fine copper wire, such as is used in telephone cables. Fragments of such cable, discarded by repair men, were found nearby where a telephone line ran through the woods.”

Cordelia J. Stanwood (1910c) speaks of a nest “built in a depression full of leaves, behind a flat rock. * * * The cavity was shaped on a slant, the upper wall forming a partial roof. * * * It looked not unlike a small-sized nest of an Oven-bird. On the inside, the length was 2¹⁄₂ inches, width 1¹⁄₂ inches, depth 2 inches. On the outside, length 3¹⁄₂ inches, width 2¹⁄₂ inches, depth 2¹⁄₂ inches. Thickness of wall at the top of nest, 1 inch; at the bottom, ¹⁄₂ inch.” Henry Mousley (1916) gives the average dimensions of three nests as “outside diameter 3³⁄₄, inside 1³⁄₄ inches; outside depth 2¹⁄₄, inside 1¹⁄₂ inches.”

F. A. E. Starr (MS.) writes to A. C. Bent from Toronto, Ontario, that all the nests he has found have been in broken-off stumps in low woods. “The cavity in the top of the stump,” he says, “is filled with old leaves, and the nest proper is made chiefly of strips of bark with grass and fiber.” Guy H. Briggs (1900) reports a nest “in a decayed hemlock stump, fifteen inches from the ground.” In such cases, of course, while the nest is well above the ground level, it rests on a firm foundation.

Audubon (1841) says: “In Louisiana, its nest is usually placed in some small hole in a tree,” but he quotes a letter to him from Dr. T. M. Brewer on the subject, thus: “This bird, which you speak of as breeding in the hollows of trees, with us always builds its nest on the ground. I say always, because I never knew it to lay anywhere else. I have by me a nest brought to me by Mr. Appleton from Batternits, New York, which was found in the drain of the house in which he resided.”

Minot (1877) speaks of two nests found near Boston, Mass., well above the ground. He says: “The first was in a pine grove, in the cavity of a tree rent by lightning, and about five feet from the ground, and the other on the top of a low birch stump, which stood in a grove of white oaks.”

Gordon Boit Wellman (1905) states: “Toward the last of the incubation time one of the birds was constantly on the nest. I found the male sitting usually at about dusk, but I think the female sat on the eggs over night.”

Eggs.—[Author’s Note: The black-and-white warbler usually lays 4 or 5 eggs to a set, normally 5, seldom fewer or more. These are ovate to short ovate and slightly glossy. The ground color is white or creamy white. Some are finely sprinkled over the entire surface with “cinnamon-brown,” “Mars brown,” and “dark purplish drab”; others are boldly spotted and blotched with “russet” and “Vandyke brown,” with underlying spots of “brownish drab,” “light brownish drab,” and “light vinaceous-drab.” Speckled eggs are commoner than the more boldly blotched type. The markings are usually concentrated at the large end, and on some of the heavily spotted eggs there is a solid wreath of different shades of russet and drab. The measurements of 50 eggs average 17.2 by 13.3 millimeters; the eggs showing the four extremes measure 18.8 by 13.7, 17.9 by 14.7, 15.7 by 12.7, and 16.3 by 12.2 millimeters (Harris).]

Young.—Cordelia J. Stanwood (MS.) speaks of the nestlings a few days from the egg as “very dark gray, much like young juncos and Nashville warblers.” But when they leave the nest they are clearly recognizable as young black-and-white warblers, although they are slightly tinged with brownish. By mid-July, here in New England, they assume their first winter plumage, and, as both sexes of the young birds have whitish cheeks, they resemble very closely their female parent.

Unlike the young of some of the other warblers which remain near the ground for many days, the young black-and-white warblers shortly ascend to the branches of trees where they are fed by the old birds.

I find no definite record of the length of the incubation period, but in a nest I watched in 1914 it was close to 10 days. Burns (1921) gives the period of nestling life as 8 to 12 days.

Plumages.—[Author’s Note: Dr. Dwight (1900) calls the natal down mouse gray, and describes the juvenal plumage as follows: “Above, wood-brown streaked with dull olive-brown, the upper tail coverts dusky; median crown and superciliary stripe dingy white. Wings and tail dull black, edged chiefly with ashy gray, the tertiaries (except the proximal which is entirely black) broadly edged with white, buff tinged on the middle one. Two buffy white wing bands at tips of greater and median wing coverts. The outer two rectrices with terminal white blotches of variable extent on the inner webs. Below, dull white, washed on the throat and sides with wood-brown, obscurely streaked on throat, breast, sides and crissum with dull grayish black.”

A postjuvenal molt begins early in July, involving everything but the flight feathers; this produces in the young male a first winter plumage which is similar to the juvenal, but whiter and more definitely streaked. “Above, striped in black and white, the upper tail coverts black broadly edged with white; median crown and superciliary stripe pure white. The wing bands white. Below, pure white streaked with bluish black on sides of breast, flanks and crissum, the black veiled by overlapping white edgings; the chin, throat, breast and abdomen unmarked. Postocular stripe black; the white feathers of the sides of the head tipped with black.”

The first nuptial plumage is acquired by a partial prenuptial molt in late winter, which involves a large part of the body plumage, but not the wings or the tail. “The black streaks of the chin and throat are acquired, veiled with white, and the loral, subocular and auricular regions become jet-black. The brown primary coverts distinguish young birds and the chin is less often solidly black than in adults.”

The adult winter plumage is acquired by a complete postnuptial molt, beginning early in July. It differs from the first winter dress "in having the chin and throat heavily streaked with irregular chains of black spots veiled with white edgings, the wings and tail blacker and the edgings a brighter gray. * * * The female has corresponding plumages and moults, the first prenuptial moult often very limited or suppressed. In juvenal dress the wings and tail are usually browner with duller edgings and the streaking below obscure. In first winter plumage the streakings are dull and obscure everywhere, a brown wash conspicuous on the flanks and sides of the throat. The first nuptial plumage is gained chiefly by wear through which the brown tints are largely lost, the general color becoming whiter and the streaks more distinct. The adult winter plumage is rather less brown than the female first winter, the streaking less obscure and the wings and tail darker. The adult nuptial plumage, acquired partly by moult, is indistinguishable with certainty from the first nuptial.”]

Food.—McAtee (1926) summarizes the food of the species thus:

In its excursions over the trunks and larger limbs of trees the Black and White Creeper is certainly not looking for vegetable food, and only a trace of such matter has been found in the stomachs examined. The food is chiefly insects but considerable numbers of spiders and daddy-long-legs also are eaten. Beetles, caterpillars, and ants are the larger classes of insect food, but moths, flies, bugs, and a few hymenoptera also are eaten. Among forest enemies that have been found in stomachs of this species are round-headed wood borers, leaf beetles, flea beetles, weevils, bark beetles, leaf hoppers, and jumping plant lice. The hackberry caterpillar, the hackberry psyllid, an oak leaf beetle Xanthonia 10-notata, and the willow flea beetle, are forms specifically identified. Observers have reported this warbler to feed also upon ordinary plant lice, and upon larvae of the gypsy moth.

Forbush (1929) adds the following observation: “The food of this bird consists mostly of the enemies of trees, such as plant-lice, scale-lice, caterpillars, both hairy and hairless, among them such destructive enemies of orchard, shade and forest trees as the canker-worm and the gipsy, brown-tail, tent and forest tent caterpillars. Wood-boring and bark-boring insects, click beetles, curculios and many other winged insects are taken. Sometimes when the quick-moving insects escape its sharp bill, it pursues them on the wing but most of its attention is devoted to those on the trees.”

H. H. Tuttle (1919), speaking of the male parent feeding the young birds, says: “The fare which he provided was composed entirely of small green caterpillars, cut up into half-lengths.”

Behavior.—The black-and-white warbler seems set apart from others of the group, perhaps because of its marked propensity for clambering over the trunks of trees and their larger branches. Although, like other warblers, it seems at home among the smaller twigs, it spends a large part of its time on upright surfaces over which it moves easily and quickly, upward, downward, and spirally, with great agility and sureness of footing, constantly changing direction, and not using the tail for support. As it scrambles over the bark, it switches from side to side as if at each hop it placed one foot and then the other in advance, and even on slim branches it hops in the same way, the tail alternately appearing first on one side of the branch and then on the other; it reminds us of a little schoolgirl swishing her skirt from side to side as she walks down the street. The bird is alert and watchful, and if it starts an insect from the bark, or sees one flying near, it may pursue it and catch it in the air.

H. H. Tuttle (1919) describes an extreme example of behavior simulating a wounded bird. He says: “She struck the leaves with a slight thud and turned over on her side, while the toes of one up-stretched leg clutched at the air and her tail spread slowly into a pointed fan. * * * Deceived for a moment then, I turned a step in her direction. She lay quite still except for a quivering wing. I reached out toward her with a small stick and touched her side; she screamed pitifully; I stretched out my hand to pick her up, but with a last effort she righted herself, and by kicking desperately with one leg, succeeded in pushing forward a few inches.”

We associate this warbler with dry, rocky hillsides where the ground is strewn with dead leaves, but the bird may breed also in the dry portions of shady, wooded swamps.

Voice.—The black-and-white is one of the high-voiced singers. Its song is made up of a series of squeaky couplets given with a back-and-forth rhythm, a seesawing effect, like the ovenbird’s song played on a fine, delicate instrument. It may be suggested by pronouncing the syllables we see rapidly four or five times in a whispered voice. In the distance the song has a sibilant quality; when heard near at hand a high, clear whistle may be detected in the notes. The final note in the song is the accented see.

Albert R. Brand (1938), in his mechanically recorded songs of warblers, placed the black-and-white’s song as the fourth highest in pitch in his last of 16 species, the black-poll, blue-winged, and the Blackburnian being higher. He gives the approximate mean (vibrations per second) of the black and white as 6,900 and of the blackpool as 8,900.

Aretas A. Saunders (MS.) says: “The pitch of the songs varies, according to my records, from B‴ to E‴′, a range of three and a half tones more than an octave. A single song, however, does not vary more than three and a half tones.”

A second song, not heard, I think, until the bird has been on its breeding ground for some time, is rather more pleasing, less monotonous, than the first. It is longer, somewhat faster, more lively, and is modulated in pitch. Francis H. Allen (MS.) speaks of it thus: “Later in the season a more elaborate song is very commonly heard. I have been accustomed to syllabify it as weesy, weesy, weesy, weesy, woosy, woosy, weesy, weesy. The notes indicated by woosy really differ from the others only by being pitched lower.”

Occasionally we hear aberrant songs which prove puzzling until we can see the singer. Allen remarks that he has heard several such songs, and I remember hearing one in which the lower note of each couplet was reduplicated, thereby strongly suggested one of the songs of the Blackburnian warbler. Sometimes Mniotilta sings during flight. I once heard a song from a bird flying within a few feet of me—at this range a sound of piercing sharpness.

Of the minor notes Andrew Allison (1907) says: “I know of no other warbler except the Chat that can produce so great a variety of sounds; and since nearly all of the notes resemble those of other warblers, this is a most confusing bird to deal with during the busy season of ‘waves’.”

The call note often has a buzzing quality, and often runs into a long chatter (also characteristic of the young bird), but it may be given so sharply enunciated that it suggests the chip of the black-poll. Allen (MS.) writes it chi, “like pebbles struck together,” and Cordelia J. Stanwood (1910) renders it sptz, saying “the sound resembled the noise made by a drop of syrup sputtering on a hot stove.”

Field marks.—The black-poll, in its spring plumage, and the black-and-white warbler resemble each other in coloration, but the latter bird may be readily distinguished by its white stripe down the center of the crown and the white line over the eye. The contrast in the behavior of the two birds separates them at a glance.

Enemies.—Like other birds which build on the ground, the black-and-white is subject, during the nesting season, to attacks by snakes and predatory mammals. A. D. DuBois (MS.) cites a case in which maggots destroyed a nestful of young birds.

Harold S. Peters (1936) reports that a fly, Ornithoica confluens Say, and a louse, Myrsidea incerta (Kellogg), have been found in the plumage of the black-and-white warbler.

Herbert Friedmann (1929) says: “This aberrant warbler is a rather uncommon victim of the Cowbird, only a couple dozen definite instances having come to my notice. * * * The largest number of Cowbirds’ eggs found in a single nest of this Warbler is five, together with three eggs of the owner.” George W. Byers (1950) reports a nest of this warbler, in Michigan, that held two eggs of the warbler and eight of the cowbird, on which the warbler was incubating. His photograph of the eggs suggests that they were probably laid by four different cowbirds.

Fall.—Several of the warblers show a tendency to stray from their breeding grounds soon after their young are able to care for themselves, perhaps even before the postnuptial molt is completed and long before the birds gather into the mixed autumn flocks. Among these early wandering birds the black-and-white warbler is a very conspicuous species, perhaps because it is one of our commoner birds or, more probably, because of its habit of feeding in plain sight on the trunks and low branches of dead or dying trees and shrubs instead of hiding, like other warblers, high up in the foliage. It may be that the warblers we see at some distance from their breeding grounds thus early in the season have already begun their migration toward the south: they often appear to be migrating.

Behind the house in Lexington, Mass., where I lived for years, there was a little hill, sparsely covered with locust trees, to the southward from my dooryard. This hill was a favorite resort for warblers in late summer. No warbler bred within a mile of the spot, except the summer yellowbird, to use the old name, yet soon after the first of July the black-and-white warblers began to assemble there. Not infrequently I have seen a single bird come to the hill, flying in from the north across Lexington Common, and join others there. The small company might remain for an hour or more, frequently singing (evidently adult males) as the birds fed in the locust trees.

Later in the season, as August advances, migration appears more evident. The birds now gather in larger numbers, sometimes as many as eight or ten; they pause in the locust trees for a shorter time before flying off; they are no longer in song; and the majority of the birds have white cheeks, most of them presumably young birds. Although they are almost silent as they climb about feeding, if you stand quietly in the midst of a company of four or five, now and then you may hear a faint note, and at once the note comes from all sides, each bird apparently reporting its whereabouts—a sound which calls to mind the south-bound migrants as they roam through the quiet autumn woods. Other warblers, unquestionably migrants, visit this hillside in August, notably the Tennessee, an early arrival who has already traveled a long way.

The fall migration of the black-and-white is long-drawn-out. The bird does not depend, like many of the warblers, on finding food among the foliage, so it may linger long after the trees are bare of leaves, sometimes, here in New England, well into October. I saw a bird in eastern Massachusetts on October 23, 1940, a very late date.

Winter.—Dr. Alexander F. Skutch (MS.) sent to A. C. Bent the following comprehensive account of the bird on its winter quarters: "None of our warblers is more catholic in its choice of a winter home than the black-and-white. Upon its departure from its nesting range, it spreads over a vast area from the Gulf States south to Ecuador and Venezuela, from the Pacific coast of Mexico and Central America eastward through the Antilles. And in the mountainous regions of its winter range it does not, like so many members of the family, restrict itself to a particular altitudinal zone, but on the contrary scatters from sea level high up into the mountains. As a result of this wide dispersion, latitudinal and altitudinal, it appears to be nowhere abundant in Central America during the winter months, yet it has been recorded from more widely scattered localities than most other winter visitants. On the southern coast of Jamaica, in December 1930, I found a greater concentration of individuals than I have ever seen in Central America during midwinter.

“Wintering throughout the length of Central America, from near sea level up to 9,000 feet and rarely higher, the black-and-white warbler is somewhat more abundant in that portion of its altitudinal range comprised between 2,000 or 3,000 and 7,000 or 8,000 feet above sea level. It is found in the heavy forest, in the more open types of woodland, among the shade trees of the coffee plantations, and even amid low second-growth with scattered trees. It creeps along the branches in exactly the same fashion in its winter as in its summer home. Solitary in its disposition, two of the kind are almost never seen together. The only time I have heard this warbler sing in Central America was also one of the very few occasions when I found two together. Early on the bright morning of September 1, 1933, when the warblers were arriving from the north, I heard the black-and-white’s weak little song repeated several times among the trees at the edge of an oak wood, at an altitude of 8,500 feet in the Guatemalan highlands. Looking into the tree tops, I saw two of these birds together. Apparently they were singing in rivalry, as red-faced warblers, Kaup’s redstarts, yellow warblers, and other members of the family solitary during the winter months will sing in the face of another of their kind, at seasons when they are usually silent. Often such songs lead to a pursuit or even a fight; but I have never seen black-and-white warblers actually engaged in a conflict in their winter home.

“Although intolerant of their own kind, the black-and-white warblers are not entirely hermits; for often a single one will attach itself to a mixed flock of small birds. In the Guatemalan highlands, during the winter months, such flocks are composed chiefly of Townsend’s warblers; and each flock, in addition to numbers of the truly gregarious birds, will contain single representatives of various species of more solitary disposition, among them often a lone black-and-white, so different in appearance and habits from any of its associates.

“This warbler arrives and departs early. It has been recorded during the first week of August in Guatemala, and by the latter part of the month in Costa Rica and Panamá. In Costa Rica, it appears not to linger beyond the middle or more rarely the end of March; while for northern Central America my latest date is April 22.

“Early dates of fall arrival in Central America are: Guatemala—passim (Griscom), August 3; Sierra de Tecpán, August 23, 1933; Santa María de Jesús, August 6, 1934; Huehuetenango, August 14, 1934. Honduras—Tela, August 19, 1930. Costa Rica—San José (Cherrie), August 20; Carrillo (Carriker), September 1; San Isidro de Coronado, September 8, 1935; Basin of El General, September 19, 1936; Vara Blanca, September 5, 1937; Murcia, September 11, 1941. Panamá—Canal Zone (Arbib and Loetscher), August 24, 1933, and August 29, 1934. Ecuador—Pastaza Valley, below Baños, October 17, 1939.

“Late dates of spring departure from Central America are: Costa Rica—Basin of El General, February 23, 1936, March 10, 1939, March 26, 1940, March 3, 1942, March 18, 1943; Vara Blanca, March 13, 1938; Guayabo (Carriker), March 30; Juan Viñas (Carriker), March 21. Honduras—Tela, April 22, 1930. Guatemala—Motagua Valley, near Los Amates, April 17, 1932; Sierra de Tecpán, February 20, 1933.”

The bird has a wide winter range, as shown above. Dr. Thomas Barbour (1943) speaks of it thus in Cuba: “Common in woods and thickets. A few arrive in August, and by September they are very abundant, especially in the overgrown jungles about the Ciénaga.”

Edward S. Dingle (MS.) has sent to A. C. Bent a remarkable winter record of a black-and-white warbler seen on Middleburg plantation, Huger, S. C., on January 13, 1944.

DISTRIBUTION

Range.—Canada to northern South America.

Breeding range.—The black-and-white warbler breeds north to southwestern Mackenzie, rarely (Simpson and Providence; has been collected at Norman); northern Alberta (Chipewyan and McMurray); central Saskatchewan (Flotten Lake, probably Grand Rapids, and Cumberland House); southern Manitoba (Duck Mountain, Lake St. Martin, Winnipeg, and Indian Bay); central Ontario (Kenora, Pagwachuan River mouth, and Lake Abitibi; has occurred at Piscapecassy Creek on James Bay, and at Moose Factory); southern Quebec (Lake Tamiskaming, Blue Sea Lake, Quebec, Mingan, and Mascanin; has occurred at Sandwich Bay, Labrador); and central Newfoundland (Deer Lake, Nicholsville, Lewisport, and Fogo Island). East to Newfoundland (Fogo Island and White Bear River); Nova Scotia (Halifax and Yarmouth); the Atlantic coast to northern New Jersey (Elizabeth and Morristown); eastern Pennsylvania (Berwyn); Maryland (Baltimore and Cambridge); eastern Virginia (Ashland and Lawrenceville); North Carolina (Raleigh and Charlotte); South Carolina (Columbia and Aiken); and central Georgia (Augusta and Milledgeville). South to central Georgia (Milledgeville); south central Alabama (Autaugaville); north-central Mississippi (Starkville and Legion Lake); northern Louisiana (Monroe; rarely to southern Louisiana, Bayou Sora); and northeastern and south-central Texas (Marshall, Dallas, Classen, Kerrville, and Junction). West to central Texas (Junction and Palo Dura Canyon); central Kansas (Clearwater); central-northern Nebraska (Valentine); possibly eastern Montana (Glasgow); central Alberta (Camrose, Glenevis, and Lesser Slave Lake); to southwestern Mackenzie (Simpson). There is a single record of its occurrence in June at Gautay, Baja California, 25 miles south of the international border.

Winter range.—In winter the black-and-white warbler is found north to southern Texas (Cameron County, occasionally Cove, and Texarkana); central Mississippi, occasionally (Clinton); accidental in winter at Nashville, Tenn.; southern Alabama (Fairfield); southern Georgia (Lumber City, occasionally Milledgeville, and Athens); and rarely to central-eastern South Carolina (Edisto Island and Charleston). East to the coast of South Carolina, occasionally (Charleston); Georgia (Blackbeard Island); Florida (St. Augustine, New Smyrna, and Miami); the Bahamas (Abaco, Watling, and Great Abaco Islands); Dominican Republic (Samaná); Puerto Rico; Virgin Islands and the Lesser Antilles to Dominica; and eastern Venezuela (Paria Peninsula). South to northern Venezuela (Paria Peninsula, Rancho Grande, and Mérida); west-central Colombia (Bogotá); and central Ecuador (Pastazo Valley). West to central and western Ecuador (Pastazo Valley and Quito); western Colombia (Pueblo Rico); western Panamá (Dvala); El Salvador (Mount Cacaguatique); western Guatemala (Mazatenango); Guerrero (Acapulco and Coyuca); Colima (Manzanillo); northwestern Pueblo (Metlatayuca); western Nuevo León (Monterey); and southern Texas (Cameron County). It also occurs casually in the Cape region of Baja California and in southern California (Dehesa and Carpenteria). There are also several records in migration from California and from western Sinaloa.

Migration.—Late dates of spring departure from the winter home are: Venezuela—Yacua, Paria Peninsula, March 20. Colombia—Santa Marta region, March 12. Panamá—Gatún, March 26. Costa Rica—El General, April 9. Honduras—Tola, April 22. Guatemala—Quiriguá, April 17. Veracruz—El Conejo, May 15. Puerto Rico—Algonobo, April 27. Haiti—Île à Vache, May 6. Cuba—Habana, May 25. Bahamas—Abaco, May 6. Florida—Orlando, May 21. Georgia—Cumberland, May 26. Louisiana—Avery Island, April 27.

Early dates of spring arrival are: South Carolina—Clemson College, March 20. North Carolina—Weaverville, March 3. Virginia—Lawrenceville, March 23. District of Columbia—Washington, March 30. New York—Corning, April 18. Massachusetts—Stockbridge, April 16. Vermont—St. Johnsbury, April 19. Maine—Lewiston, April 27. Quebec—Montreal, April 26. Nova Scotia—Wolfville, April 29. Mississippi—Deer Island, March 4. Louisiana—Schriever, March 8. Arkansas—March 12. Tennessee—Nashville, March 20. Illinois—Chicago, April 17. Michigan—Ann Arbor, April 6. Ohio—Toledo, April 7. Ontario—Guelph, April 22. Missouri—Marionville, April 3. Iowa—Grinnell, April 16. Wisconsin—Milwaukee, April 20. Minnesota—Lanesboro, April 23. Kansas—Independence, April 1. Omaha—April 21. North Dakota—April 28. Manitoba—Winnipeg, April 28. Alberta—Edmonton, May 6; McMurray, May 15. Mackenzie—Simpson, May 22.

Late dates of fall departure are: Alberta—Athabaska Landing, September 11. Manitoba—Aweme, September 22. North Dakota—Argusville, October 2. Minnesota—Minneapolis, October 10. Iowa—Davenport, October 1. Missouri—Columbia, October 24. Wisconsin—Madison, October 7. Illinois—Port Byron, October 15. Ontario—Hamilton, October 3. Michigan—Detroit, October 15. Ohio—Youngstown, October 15. Kentucky—Danville, October 14. Tennessee—Athens, October 17. Arkansas—Winslow, October 17. Louisiana—New Orleans, October 25. Mississippi—Gulfport, November 19. Quebec—Quebec, September 18. New Brunswick—St. John, September 19. Nova Scotia—Yarmouth, September 23. Maine—Portland, October 17. New Hampshire—Ossipee, October 18. Massachusetts—Cambridge, October 15. New York—New York, October 6. Pennsylvania—Atglen, October 29. District of Columbia—Washington, October 18. Virginia—Charlottesville, October 18. North Carolina—Raleigh, October 29. South Carolina—Charleston, November 15. Georgia—Savannah, October 29.

Early dates of fall arrival are: South Carolina—Charleston, July 19. Florida—Pensacola, July 12. Cuba—Artemisa, Pinar del Río, August 1. Dominican Republic—Ciudad Trujillo, September 27. Puerto Rico—Mayagüez, October 9. Louisiana—New Orleans, July 21. Mississippi—Bay St. Louis, July 4. Michoacán—Tancitaro, August 7. Guatemala—Huehuetenango, August 14. Honduras—Cantarranas, August 7. Costa Rica—San José, August 20. Panamá—Tapia, Canal Zone, August 24. Colombia—Bonda, Santa Marta region, August 21. Ecuador—Pastaza Valley, October 17. Venezuela—Estado Carabobo Las Trincheras, October 9.

Banding.—A single banding recovery is of considerable interest: A black-and-white banded at Manchester, N. H., on August 31, 1944, was found on March 17, 1945, at Friendship P. O., Westmoreland, Jamaica.

Casual records.—This warbler is casual in migration or winters in Bermuda, having been recorded in six different years from October to May.

At Tingwall, Shetland Islands, north of Scotland one was picked up on November 28, 1936. This is almost as far north as the northernmost record of occurrence in North America and later than it is normally found in the United States.

A specimen was collected near Pullman, Wash., on August 15, 1948, the first record for the State.

Egg dates.—Massachusetts: 31 records, May 18 to June 14; 17 records, May 25 to June 3, indicating the height of the season.

New Jersey: 7 records, May 18 to June 8.

Tennessee: 3 records, May 1 to 17.

North Carolina: 6 records, April 20 to 28.

West Virginia: 7 records, May 6 to 29 (Harris).

PROTONOTARIA CITREA (Boddaert)

PROTHONOTARY WARBLER

Plates [4]-[6]

HABITS

I do not like the above name for the golden swamp warbler. The scientific name Protonotaria, and evidently the common name, were apparently both derived from the Latin protonotarius, meaning first notary or scribe. I sympathize with Bagg and Eliot (1937), who exclaimed:

What a name to saddle on the Golden Swamp-bird! Wrongly compounded in the first place, wrongly spelled, wrongly pronounced! We understand that Protonotarius is the title of papal officials whose robes are bright yellow, but why say “First Notary” in mixed Greek and Latin, instead of Primonotarius? Proto is Greek for first, as in prototype. Why and when did it come to be misspelled Protho? Both Wilson and Audubon wrote Protonotary Warbler, a name seemingly first given to the bird by Louisiana Creoles. Both etymology and sense call for stress on the third syllable, yet one most often hears the stress laid on the second. Here, certainly, is a bothersome name fit only to be eschewed!

The scientific name cannot be changed under the rules of nomenclature, but a change in the common name would seem desirable. However, the name does not make the bird or detract from its charm and beauty. It will still continue to thrill with delight the wanderer in its swampy haunts.

The center of abundance of the prothonotary warbler as a breeding bird in this country is in the valleys of the Mississippi River and its tributaries, notably the Ohio, the Wabash, and the Illinois Rivers. Its summer range extends eastward into Indiana and Ohio, northward into southern Ontario, Wisconsin, Michigan, and Minnesota, and westward into Iowa, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, and eastern Texas—wherever it can find suitable breeding grounds.

It also breeds in the Atlantic Coast States from Virginia to Florida.

It is essentially a bird of the damp and swampy river bottoms and low-lying woods, which are flooded at times and in which woodland pools have been left by the receding water. Perhaps this warbler abounds more than anywhere else in the valley of the lower Wabash, where William Brewster (1878) found it to be—

one of the most abundant and characteristic species. Along the shores of the rivers and creeks generally, wherever the black willow (Salix niger) grew, a few pairs were sure to be found. Among the button-bushes (Cephalanthus occidentalis) that fringed the margin of the peculiar long narrow ponds scattered at frequent intervals over the heavily timbered bottoms of the Wabash and White Rivers, they also occurred more or less numerously. Potoka Creek, a winding, sluggish stream, thickly fringed with willows, was also a favorite resort; but the grand rendezvous of the species seemed to be about the shores of certain secluded ponds lying in what is known as the Little Cypress Swamp. Here they congregated in astonishing numbers, and early in May were breeding almost in colonies. In the region above indicated two things were found to be essential to their presence, namely, an abundance of willows and the immediate proximity of water. * * * So marked was this preference, that the song of the male heard from the woods indicated to us as surely the proximity of some river, pond, or flooded swamp, as did the croaking of frogs or the peep of the Hylas.

Dr. Chapman (1907) writes of this bird in its haunts:

The charm of its haunts and the beauty of its plumage combine to render the Prothonotary Warbler among the most attractive members of the family. I clearly recall my own first meeting with it in the Suwanee River region of Florida. Quietly paddling my canoe along one of the many enchanting, and, I was then quite willing to believe, enchanted streams which flowed through the forests into the main river, this glowing bit of bird-life gleamed like a torch in the night. No neck-straining examination with opera-glass pointed to the tree-tops, was required to determine his identity, as, flitting from bush to bush along the river’s bank, his golden plumes were displayed as though for my special benefit.

Dr. Lawrence H. Walkinshaw (1938) says that the golden swamp warbler “nests rather abundantly along southwestern-Michigan rivers. * * * Winding streams, bordered densely with oak, maple, ash, and elm, shallow ponds with groups of protruding willows and flooded, heavily shaded bottom-lands are favorite nesting habitats for the Prothonotary Warbler (Protonotaria citrea). Such habitats occur along the banks of the Kalamazoo River and its tributary the Battle Creek River in Calhoun County, Michigan.”

Territory.—The males arrive on the breeding grounds a few days or a week before the females come and immediately try to establish their territories, select the nesting sites, and even build nests. Dr. Walkinshaw (1941) writes:

The Prothonotary Warbler is a very strongly territorial species. When a male takes possession of a certain area he continually drives off all opponents if he is able. At certain areas in Michigan I have watched these birds battle intermittently for two or three days, usually for the same bird house, one male finally taking possession. In addition I have observed them to drive off House Wrens (Troglodytes aedon), Black-capped Chickadees (Penthestes atricapillus) and Yellow Warblers (Dendroica aestiva). * * * The male Prothonotary Warbler selects the territory, selecting the nesting site before he becomes mated for the first nest, but thereafter both birds inspect the new nest sites.

On observations made near Knoxville, Tenn., Henry Meyer and Ruth Reed Nevius (1943) found that—

three males established territories. Male I arrived April 14. By the next day he was singing on an area 550 feet long and for the most part not more than 200 feet wide. It included three kinds of habitats: (a) a grassy terrace on which several nesting boxes were located, (b) river banks densely covered with small trees and bushes, and (c) a small open orchard which constituted the connecting link between the terrace and the river bank. Male II arrived on April 18 and occupied a narrow territory along a brook confined by wooded slopes and which contained two lotus ponds. The area was about 400 feet long and 100 feet wide. A nesting box was on a stake above one of the ponds. Male III appeared May 5 in the terraced area being claimed by Male I. During the day, the 2 males sang energetically and flew often only a few inches apart. Male I maintained his territory and Male III disappeared.

There were a number of nesting boxes on the area that the males investigated, carrying nesting material into some of them while they were waiting for the females to arrive. The mate of the first male came on April 20, and—

on this day this pair communicated by their full call-note. Twice the male was seen pursuing the female rapidly in a small semi-circle and pausing, called a soft, full note which was later heard only when the two sexes were together.

The mate of Male II came April 22, four days after the latter’s arrival.

Combat with other species found within the territories of these birds was observed. Combat with the Bluebird was most frequent but one or more indications of opposition was noticed with the Flicker, Downy Woodpecker, Acadian Flycatcher, Tufted Titmouse, Robin, and Cardinal.

The males sing persistently and energetically from the time that they arrive on their territories, hoping to attract their mates, but they are not always successful, especially in regions where the species is rare or not very common, and their nest-building brings no occupant. Edward von S. Dingle writes to me that, at Summerton, S. C., a male prothonotary warbler built a nest in a low stub, but no female was ever seen. He sang frequently and remained in the vicinity for several weeks. And Frederic H. Kennard, in far-away Massachusetts, mentions in his notes that he saw one and watched it for several days, June 16-20, 1890. “He sang loudly and clearly and sweetly, and seemed to like a particular place by the side of the river, for when I returned later in the day, he was still there, on the other side of the river.” On June 19, he watched him for half an hour. He was always in the same locality. On a later search, no nest or no mate could be found.

Courtship.—Brewster (1878a) gives the following full account of this performance:

Mating began almost immediately after the arrival of the females, and the “old, old story” was told in many a willow thicket by the little golden-breasted lovers. The scene enacted upon such occasions was not strikingly different from that usual among the smaller birds; retiring and somewhat indifferent coyness on the part of the female; violent protestations and demonstrations from the male, who swelled his plumage, spread his wings and tail, and fairly danced around the object of his affections. Sometimes at this juncture another male appeared, and then a fierce conflict was sure to ensue. The combatants would struggle together most furiously until the weaker was forced to give way and take to flight. On several occasions I have seen two males, after fighting among the branches for a long time, clinch and come fluttering together to the water beneath, where for several minutes the contest continued upon the surface until both were fairly drenched. The males rarely meet in the mating season without fighting, even though no female may be near. Sometimes one of them turns tail at the outset; and the other at once giving chase, the pursuer and pursued, separated by a few inches only, go darting through the woods, winding, doubling, now careering away up among the tree-tops, now down over the water, sweeping close to the surface until the eye becomes weary with following their mad flight. During all this time the female usually busies herself with feeding, apparently entirely unconcerned as to the issue. Upon the return of the conqueror her indifference, real or assumed, vanishes, he receives a warm welcome, and matters are soon arranged between them.

Nesting.—The prothonotary warbler and Lucy’s warbler are the only two American warblers that habitually build their nests in cavities, usually well concealed. The normal, and probably the original, primitive, nestling sites are in natural cavities in trees and most nests are still to be found in such situations today. The prothonotary is not at all particular as to the species of trees, nests having been found in many kinds of trees, although perhaps a slight preference is shown for dead willow stumps. Nor is it particular as to the size or condition of the cavity, or its location, though quite often choosing one over water or near it. The height above the ground or water varies from 3 feet or less to as much as 32 feet but there are more nests below 5 feet than there are above 10, the height of the majority being between 5 and 10 feet. The size and shape of the cavity are of little concern; if the cavity is too deep, the industrious little birds fill it with nesting material up to within a few inches of the top; sometimes a very shallow cavity is used, so that the bird can be plainly seen from a distance as it sits on the nest. The old deserted holes of woodpeckers or chickadees are favorite nesting sites; the entrances to these have often been enlarged by other agencies, or are badly weathered. In very rotten stumps, the warblers have been known to excavate partially or to enlarge a cavity.

The nests built by the males in early spring, referred to above, are probably rarely used as brood nests and might be classed as dummy nests. The family nest is built almost entirely by the female, with encouragement and a little help from her mate, who accompanies her to and from the nest and in the search for material; much of the soft, green moss used extensively in the nest is often obtainable from fallen logs and stumps in the vicinity.

Brewster (1878a) mentions a nest taken from a deep cavity that “when removed presents the appearance of a compact mass of moss five or six inches in height by three or four in diameter. When the cavity is shallow, it is often only scantily lined with moss and a few fine roots. The deeper nests are of course the more elaborate ones. One of the finest specimens before me is composed of moss, dry leaves, and cypress twigs. The cavity for the eggs is a neatly rounded, cup-shaped hollow, two inches in diameter by one and a half in depth, smoothly lined with fine roots and a few wing-feathers of some small bird.”

In Dr. Walkinshaw’s (1938) Michigan nests, “moss constituted the bulk of the nesting material in nearly all cases, completely filling the nest space whether it was large or small. On top of this the nest proper was shaped and a rough lining of coarse grape-bark, dead leaves, black rootlets procured from the river-banks, and poison-ivy tendrils was added. Above this a lining of much finer rootlets, leaf-stems, and very fine grasses was used.”

In addition to the materials listed above Meyer and Nevius (1943) mention hackberry leaves, hairs, pine needles, horsehair, and cedar bark in their Tennessee nests. They say that from 6 to 10 days were required for nest construction, and that from 3 to 5 days more elapsed before the first eggs were laid. Their four nests were all in bird-boxes; one was in an orchard over plowed ground, one over a lotus pond in a wooded ravine, and two were over lily pools near buildings.

Dr. Walkinshaw (1938) publishes a map showing the location of 21 nesting boxes along the winding banks of the Battle Creek River, in Calhoun County, Mich., and writes: “Of the 28 nests found during 1937, 19 were in bird-houses over running water, 6 were in stubs over water (2 of which were over running water), and the other 3 were in natural holes back from the river bank. Of 44 nests found from 1930 through 1937, excluding the 21 in bird-houses, six were over running water in old woodpecker holes, one in a bridge-support in a slight depression, and nine in natural holes over standing water. Seven were in old woodpecker holes from two to a hundred and sixty feet back from the river-bank.”

Many and varied are the odd nesting sites occupied by prothonotary warblers. Dr. Thomas S. Roberts (1936) writes:

The vagaries of this bird in choosing artificial nesting-places are shown by the positions of the following nests. On the La Crosse railroad bridge: in a cigar-box nailed on the engine-house on top of the draw; on one of the piers; in a metal ventilator-cap four inches in diameter, that had fallen and lodged just at the point where the draw banged against the pier, and close under the tracks; in a shallow cavity in a piece of slab-wood nailed to a trestle-support close under the road-bed of the railroad; these all far out in the middle of the Mississippi River. Still others are: in a Bluebird box on a low post by a switching-house and busy railroad platform; in a cleft in a pile in the river; in a tin cup in a barn, to reach which the birds entered through a broken pane of glass; in a pasteboard box on a shelf in a little summer-house; in an upright glass fruit jar in a house-boat; and other similar situations. In most cases the birds had to carry the nesting-material long distances, especially to the places on the bridge.

John W. Moyer (1933) relates an interesting story that was told to him by people living in a farm house along the Kankakee River. A pair of these warblers built their nests and raised their broods for three consecutive seasons in the pocket of an old hunting-coat, hung in a garage; each year the man cleaned out the nest and used the coat in the fall, and the next spring the birds used it again. M. G. Vaiden tells me of a similar case.

Nests have been found in buildings, on beams and other supports. Louis W. Campbell (1930) reports two on shelves in sheds, one in a small paper sack partly filled with staples and another in a coffee can similarly filled. Nests in cans in various situations have been found a number of times, and others have been reported in a tin pail hung under a porch, in a mail box, in a box on a moving ferry boat, in a Chinese lantern on a pavilion, and in an old hornets’ nest.

Dr. Walkinshaw writes to me: “At Reelfoot Lake, Tenn., during July, 1940, I found 8 nests of the prothonotary warbler, all built a few feet above the water in small natural holes in cypress knees. Evidently these are regular late-summer nesting sites.” The knees were farther under water earlier in the season. Most of his 76 Michigan nests were over water, or less than 100 feet from it; but 10 were 300 or more feet away from it and 2 were over 400 feet away. M. G. Vaiden tells me of a pair that nested in the tool box of a log-loading machine that was in daily operation, hauling logs.

Eggs.—From 3 to 8 eggs have been found in nests of the prothonotary warbler, from 4 to 6 seem to be the commonest numbers, 7 is a fairly common number, and at least 3 sets of 8 have been reported; in the J. P. Norris series of 70 sets are 34 sets of 6, 15 sets of 7, and 2 sets of 8.

The eggs vary in shape from ovate to short ovate, and they are more or less glossy. The eggs are undoubtedly the most striking of the warblers’ eggs, with their rich creamy, or rose-tinted cream, ground color, boldly and liberally spotted and blotched with “burnt umber,” “bay,” “chestnut brown,” and “auburn,” intermingled with spots and undertones of “light Payne’s gray,” “Rood’s lavender,” “violet-gray,” and “purplish gray.” There is quite a variation in the amount of markings, which are generally more or less evenly scattered over the entire egg; some are sparingly spotted and blotched, while others are so profusely marked as almost to obscure the ground color (Harris).

J. P. Norris (1890b), in his description of his 70 sets, describes 2 eggs in each of 2 sets as “unmarked, save for four or five indistinct specks of cinnamon.” These were in sets of 6 eggs each. Pure white, unmarked eggs were once taken by R. M. Barnes (1889). Dr. Walkinshaw (1938) gives the measurements of 78 eggs as averaging 18.47 by 14.55 millimeters; the eggs showing the four extremes measured 20 by 15, 19 by 16, and 17 by 13 millimeters.

Incubation.—The eggs are laid, usually one each day, very early in the morning; Dr. Walkinshaw (1941) says between 5:00 and 7:00 a. m. in Michigan; Meyer and Nevius (1943), in Tennessee, saw the female enter the nest to lay as early as 5:00 a. m. on May 2, and as early as 4:44 on May 23, remaining in the nest from 28 to 36 minutes on different occasions. The period of incubation is recorded as 12, 13¹⁄₂, and 14 days by different observers; about 13 seems to be the average, according to Dr. Walkinshaw (MS.), probably depending on conditions and the method of reckoning. Incubation seems to be performed entirely by the female, but the male feeds her to some extent while she is on the nest. Incubation starts the day before the last egg is laid.

Young.—Meyer and Nevius (1943) write:

The adults shared feeding duties, and both removed fecal sacks. During the first three days the female steadily brooded the young. One female, observed from 4:55 to 8:10 a. m., when the young were one day old, spent a total of 70 minutes off and 155 minutes on the nest. Trips from the nest lasted an average of 8.6 minutes, while periods on the nest averaged 19.4 minutes. * * * At one nest when the young were eight days old, activities were noted during the eight and one-half hours from 8:30 a. m. to 5:30 p. m. The young were fed an average of 16 times an hour. * * * The adults were seen carrying spiders and insects, small green caterpillars frequently being used. Mr. H. P. Ijams saw a male offer a 10-day old nestling a may-fly. An incubator-hatched bird accepted egg-yolk, ants, ant larvae, crickets, earthworms, and spiders.

They say of the development of the young: “The young on the day of hatching had orange-red skin. The mouth lining was red. Down was distributed over the frontal and occipital areas of the capital tract, spinal tract, femoral, altar, and humeral tracts. Feather sheaths of the alar tracts penetrated the skin the first day after hatching. On the second day after hatching the eye-slits began to open. Feather sheaths of the humeral, femoral, and crural tracts emerged on the third day; those on the dorsal and ventral tracts emerged on the fourth day, and those of the capital and caudal tracts on the fifth day. On the fifth day the sheaths began breaking.” During the next five days the young developed rapidly and became more and more active, and on the tenth day began to leave the nest.

Young observed by Dr. Walkinshaw (1914) at Reelfoot Lake “averaged 11 days of age when leaving the nest in 1939, while 21 young in Michigan during 1939 and 1940 remained in the nest for a period of 10³⁄₄ days.” Of the comparative nesting success in the two localities, he says:

In Michigan from 1930 through 1940, 121 nests of the Prothonotary Warbler were observed. Only 28, or 23.14 per cent, were successful. Out of 413 eggs, 159 (38.47 per cent) hatched and 100 young were fledged (.87 per total nest; 3.78 per successful nest). The fledgling success was 25.66 per cent of eggs laid. More failures in Michigan resulted in more nestings by individual birds.

In Tennessee during 1939, 30 nests were observed until terminated or successful; 19 were successful (63.33 per cent) while out of 139 eggs, 78 hatched and all the young lived to leave the nest or 56.11 per cent fledging success of eggs laid; 2.6 young were fledged per total nest; 4.1 per successful nest.

He also notes that in Michigan the species is typically single-brooded if the first nesting is successful, but that in Tennessee it is typically double-brooded.

Plumages.—According to Dr. Dwight (1900) the natal down, located as indicated above, is brownish mouse-gray. Ridgway (1902) gives rather the best description of the juvenal plumage as follows: “Pileum, hindneck, back, and scapulars dull olive-greenish; wing-coverts, tertials, rump, and upper tail-coverts slate-gray, tinged with olive, the middle and greater wing-coverts narrowly tipped with light olive-greenish, producing two very indistinct bands; secondaries, primaries, and rectrices as in adults; sides of head pale yellowish olive; chin, throat, and chest dull light grayish olive, darkest on chest rest of under parts dull white, passing on sides and flanks into olive-grayish.”

In very young birds, according to Dr. Dwight, there is a variable amount of brownish wash on the back, which fades out to gray. And Dr. Chapman (1907) says that the white on the inner webs of the tail feathers is more restricted than in adults and more or less mottled with blackish. This first plumage is followed in June and July by a partial postjuvenal molt involving all the contour plumage and the wing coverts but not the rest of the wings or the tail. The young bird now becomes a golden swamp warbler, the young being nearly like the adults, the females being considerably duller in color than the males and having less white in the tail.

The crown and hind neck in both sexes, both old and young, are washed with dusky or olive in the fall. Spring plumages are produced by very slight wear without molt. There is one complete, annual molt in late summer.

Food.—Very little seems to have been recorded on the food of the prothonotary warbler. It is evidently highly insectivorous, obtaining most of its food from the trunks and branches of trees and shrubs and from fallen logs. Brewster (1878) says: “This Warbler usually seeks its food low down among thickets, moss-grown logs, or floating débris, and always about water. Sometimes it ascends tree-trunks for a little way like the Black-and-White Creeper, winding about with the same peculiar motion.”

Dr. Roberts (1936) lists “ants, and other insects and their larvae,” as its food. Some of the food of the young is mentioned above, most of which is doubtless included in the food of the adults. Spiders, beetles, may-flies, and other insects should be included, as well as many caterpillars and the larvae of water insects. Audubon (1841) says: “It often perches upon the rank grasses and water plants, in quest of minute molluscous animals which creep upon them, and which, together with small land snails, I have found in its stomach.”

Behavior.—Brewster (1878a) observes:

When seen among the upper branches, where it often goes to plume its feathers and sing in the warm sunshine, it almost invariably sits nearly motionless. Its flight is much like that of the Water-Thrush (either species), and is remarkably swift, firm, and decided. When crossing a broad stream it is slightly undulating, though always direct. * * *

In general activity and restlessness few birds equal the species under consideration. Not a nook or corner of his domain but is repeatedly visited through the day. Now he sings a few times from the top of some tall willow that leans out over the stream, sitting motionless among the yellowish foliage, fully aware, perhaps, of the protection afforded by its harmonizing tints. The next moment he descends to the cool shades beneath, where dark, coffee-colored water, the overflow of the pond or river, stretches back among the trees. Here he loves to hop about on floating drift-wood, wet by the lapping of pulsating wavelets; now following up some long, inclining, half-submerged log, peeping into every crevice and occasionally dragging forth from its concealment a spider or small beetle, turning alternately his bright yellow breast and olive back towards the light; now jetting his beautiful tail or quivering his wings tremulously, he darts off into some thicket in response to a call from his mate; or, flying to a neighboring tree-trunk, clings for a moment against the mossy bole to pipe his little strain or look up the exact whereabouts of some suspected insect prize.

Voice.—The same gifted writer and careful observer (Brewster, 1878) gives the following good account of the distinctive song of this warbler:

The usual song of the Prothonotary Warbler sounds at a distance like the call of the Solitary Sandpiper, with a syllable or two added,—a simple peet, tweet, tweet, tweet, given on the same key throughout. Often when the notes came from the farther shore of a river or pond we were completely deceived. On more than one occasion, when a good opportunity for comparison was offered by the actual presence of both birds at the same time, we found that at the distance of several hundred yards their notes were absolutely undistinguishable; nearer at hand, however, the resemblance is lost, and a ringing, penetrating quality becomes apparent in the Warbler’s song. It now sounds like peet, tsweet, tsweet, tsweet, or sometimes tweet, tr-sweet, tr-sweet, tr-sweet. When the bird sings within a few yards the sound is almost startling in its intensity, and the listener feels inclined to stop his ears. The male is a fitful singer, and is quite as apt to be heard in the hot noontide or on cloudy days, when other birds are silent, as during the cool morning and evening hours. The ordinary note of alarm or distress is a sharp one, so nearly like that of the Large-billed Water Thrush (Siurus motacilla) that the slight difference can only be detected by a critical ear. When the sexes meet a soft tchip of recognition common to nearly all the Warblers is used. In addition to the song above described the male has a different and far sweeter one, which is reserved for select occasions,—an outpouring of the bird’s most tender feelings, intended for the ears of his mate alone, like the rare evening warble of the Oven-Bird (Siurus auricapillus). It is apparently uttered only while on the wing.

Although so low and feeble as to be inaudible many rods away, it is very sweet, resembling somewhat the song of the Canary, given in an undertone, with trills or “water-notes” interspersed. The flight during its delivery is very different from that at all other times. The bird progresses slowly, with a trembling, fluttering motion, its head raised and tail expanded. This song was heard most frequently after incubation had begun.

Dr. Roberts (1936) refers to this flight song, as delivered “after the manner of the Maryland Yellow-throat, * * * consisting first of the usual rapid monotone of five or six notes and ending with a pleasing, varied warble, full and strong in some of its notes and far sweeter than the usual utterance.”

Dr. Walkinshaw (1938) says of the usual song: “Uttered at the rate of five or six times per minute, the song lasts slightly over one second. It is given all day long from the time of arrival until the young have left the nest and has been heard as late as the 16th of August (1931). The frequency is much greater during the early nesting season and during the earlier hours. During midday on warmer days the number of times per hour seems much less. Later, from four until near sundown, it again increases. During late nesting, when the young are about to leave the nest, the rate again decreases, but it is heard several days after the young leave the nest.” Aretas A. Saunders tells me that the songs are pitched at C‴′ or B‴, and the call note, tseek, at A‴.

Field marks.—The golden swamp warbler could hardly be mistaken for anything else. The rich, brilliant yellow of the head and breast, sometimes almost orange on the head, only slightly paler in the female, the absence of wing bars, and the large amount of white in the tail will distinguish it.

Enemies.—Dr. Walkinshaw (1941) says that the house wren is a serious competitor with the prothonotary warbler in Michigan, contending with it for nesting sites in the bird-boxes.

The cowbird is a persistent enemy of this warbler in spite of its hole-nesting habits; perhaps if the warbler nested in deeper holes it might find some relief from this pest. Among 70 sets of eggs of this warbler in the J. P. Norris collection, 18 contain cowbirds’ eggs. Dr. Friedmann (1929) found no less than 36 records of such parasitism in the literature, and says: “As many as four eggs of the Cowbird have been found in a single nest together with four of the Warbler’s. There are several cases on record of doubled-storied nests of this bird, with a Cowbird’s egg buried in the lower story. Such cases are, however, not common, and usually the Warbler seems to make no attempt to get rid of the strange eggs.” E. M. S. Dale wrote to me of a nest, found near Toronto in 1933, that contained seven eggs of the cowbird and none at all of the warbler!

Snakes sometimes destroy the eggs or young.

Fall.—Dr. Walkinshaw (1938) says that “the majority of the Prothonotaries leave our rivers [Michigan] by the second or third of July. One may canoe some years a good many miles during the latter part of July or the early part of August without finding a single Prothonotary, whereas in other years many groups can be found. The majority evidently are early migrants. Very few remain until late August or early September, the latest date being September 9, 1934, at Battle Creek.”

The 1931 A. O. U. Check-List states that this warbler apparently crosses the Gulf of Mexico in migration “and is not found in Mexico north of Campeche,” but probably some migration is along the coast of Texas and Mexico, as suggested by George G. Williams (1945).

Dr. Chapman (1907) says: “The route of the Prothonotary Warbler in its fall migration is interesting; the breeding birds of the Middle Atlantic States apparently pass southwest to northwestern Florida and then take a seven-hundred-mile flight directly across the Gulf of Mexico to southern Yucatan, instead of crossing to Cuba and thence to Yucatan.”

Alexander F. Skutch writes to me: “Unrecorded from Guatemala, the prothonotary warbler is a rare bird of passage and very rare winter resident in the more southerly portions of Central America. When Carriker published his list of Costa Rican birds in 1910, he had a few records from the highlands—apparently of migrating birds—and from the Pacific lowlands, but none from Caribbean lowlands. But on March 4, 1934, I found it not uncommon at Puerto Limón, where I saw one among the royal palms in Vargas Park, and several among the shrubbery about the outlying cottages, all within a hundred yards of the Caribbean Sea. It has been recorded a number of times from the Canal Zone, but it is not common there. It is almost always seen in the vicinity of water.”

Winter.—Apparently the main winter range is in Colombia and perhaps Venezuela. Referring to Magdalena, Colombia, P. J. Darlington, Jr. (1931), writes: “The Prothonotary Warbler swarms during the winter in the mangroves at Sevillano and in the fresh swamps at Cienaga. It was seen also in bushes on the sea beach at Donjaca September 15, and along the Rio Frio River in the edge of the foothills, where it was especially common in February. The birds usually occur near water, but numbers were noted again and again in yellow-flowering, acacia-like trees on the border of stump land and dry forest, far from water.”

DISTRIBUTION

Range.—Eastern United States to northwestern South America.

Breeding range.—The prothonotary warbler breeds north to southeastern Minnesota (Cambridge, Lake Pekin, and La Crescent); central Wisconsin (New London and Shiocton); southern Michigan (Hesperia, Lansing, and Ann Arbor); northern Ohio (Toledo and Cleveland); extreme southern Ontario (Rondeau); western New York (Buffalo and Oak Orchard); northern West Virginia (Parkersburg); central Maryland (Seneca and Bowie); and southern Delaware (Gumboro). East to southern Delaware (Gumboro); eastern Virginia (Dyke, near Alexandria, and Dismal Swamp); and the Atlantic coast to central Florida (Lake Gentry and Padgett Creek). South to central Florida (Padgett Creek and possibly Puntarossa); the Gulf coast to southeastern Texas (Cove, Houston, and Bloomington). West to central Texas (Bloomington, Fort Worth, and Gainesville); central Oklahoma (Norman and Oklahoma City); eastern Kansas (Emporia and Manhattan); northwestern Iowa (Lake Okoboji); and southeastern Minnesota (Rochester, Red Wing, and Cambridge).

The prothonotary warbler has been recorded as casual or accidental west to southeastern Nebraska (Powell and Lincoln); southeastern South Dakota (Yankton and Sioux Falls); and central Minnesota (Brainerd). North to southern Ontario (London and Hamilton); central New York (Ithaca); Massachusetts (Northampton, Amherst, and Concord); New Hampshire (Concord); and Maine (Matinicus Island and Calais).

Winter range.—The winter home of the prothonotary warbler is in Central America and northwestern South America where it has been found north to northwestern Costa Rica (Bolson); Nicaragua (Escondido River). East to northwestern Venezuela (Mérida and Encontrados); and western Colombia (San José de Cucuta and Villavieja). South to southwestern Colombia (Villavieja); and northwestern Ecuador (Esmeraldas). West to northwestern Ecuador (Esmeraldas); western Colombia (Antioquia); western Panamá (Paracote and David); and Costa Rica (Puntarenas and Bolson). It has been reported to occur in winter in Campeche and on Cozumel Island, Mexico, and casually or accidentally in Cuba (Habana), Jamaica, and St. Croix, Virgin Islands.

Migration.—The probable route of the prothonotary warbler between its summer and winter homes is across the Gulf of Mexico, from the Yucatan peninsula where it occurs in both spring and fall migration. The casual or accidental occurrences of this warbler in Cuba (Habana); Jamaica; and St. Croix, Virgin Islands, are in migration.

Late dates of spring departure are: Colombia—Villavieja, February 5. Panamá; Canal Zone—Barro Colorado, March 10. Nicaragua—Edén, March 23. Quintana Roo—Cozumel, April 6. Cuba—Habana, April 4.

Early dates of spring arrival are: Yucatán—Mérida, March 28. Jamaica—Black River, February 28. Cuba—Habana, March 31. Florida—Pensacola, March 18. Alabama—Booth, April 4. Georgia—Fitzgerald, March 21. South Carolina—Yemassee, March 27. North Carolina—Greenville, April 6. Virginia—Suffolk, April 10. Mississippi—Gulfport, March 18. Louisiana—Morgan City, March 10. Texas—Cove, March 28. Arkansas—Huttig, March 31. Missouri—St. Louis, April 17. Kentucky—Bowling Green, April 5. Illinois—Murphysboro, April 17. Ohio—Berlin Center, April 18. Michigan—Grand Rapids, May 3. Iowa—Iowa City, April 26. Wisconsin—Madison, May 2. Minnesota—Red Wing, May 7. Oklahoma—Tulsa, April 2. Kansas—Manhattan, April 26. Nebraska—Blue Springs, April 30.

Late dates of fall departure are: Nebraska—Watson, September 1. Oklahoma—Oklahoma City, September 14. Texas—Kemah, September 11. Wisconsin—Racine, September 22. Iowa—Sioux City, August 31. Michigan—Three Rivers, September 13. Ohio—Columbus, October 5. Illinois—Oak Park, October 17. Kentucky—Lexington, October 6. Tennessee—Elizabethton, October 19. Louisiana—Monroe, October 8. Mississippi—Deer Island, September 27. North Carolina—Raleigh, August 26. South Carolina—Charleston, September 17. Georgia—Atlanta, October 8. Yucatán—Chichén-Itzá, October 18.

Early dates of fall arrival are: Florida—Fort Myers, August 8. Yucatán—Chichén-Itzá, October 7. Honduras—Tela, September 8. Nicaragua—Río Escondido, September 2. Costa Rica—Bonilla, August 28. Panamá—Obaldia, September 15. Colombia—Gaira, September 11.

Banding records.—Banding provides a hint as to the life-span of the prothonotary warbler. One banded as an immature on June 16, 1940, in Convis township, Calhoun County, Mich., was color banded when it returned to the same place in 1942. Subsequently it was identified by the colored band on May 14, 1944, and May 10, 1945.

Casual records.—The prothonotary warbler was reported at Nassau, Bahamas, on August 29, 1898. It has been twice reported at Bermuda: one shot from a flock in the fall of 1874, and another specimen collected in November 1903. A single bird was observed at Mammoth Hot Springs, Yellowstone Park, Wyo., on September 10, 1931. There are two records for Arizona. On May 1, 1884, a specimen was taken near Tucson at an altitude of 2,300 feet, the highest record of the species in the United States. Another specimen was taken September 8, 1924, at Cave Creek, 4 miles northeast of Paradise in the Chiricahua Mountains.

Egg dates. Florida: 8 records, April 18 to May 9; 5 records, April 28 to 30.

Illinois: 79 records, May 6 to June 21; 46 records, May 20 to June 4, indicating the height of the season.

Iowa: 56 records, May 15 to June 26; 36 records, May 27 to June 6 (Harris).

LYMNOTHLYPIS SWAINSONII (Audubon)

SWAINSON’S WARBLER

Contributed by Edward von Siebold Dingle

Plates [7]—[9]

HABITS

“The history of our knowledge of Swainson’s Warbler,” write Brooks and Legg (1942), “is a curious one, falling into definite periods.” This bird was discovered in the spring of 1832 by the Rev. John Bachman “near the banks of the Edisto River, South Carolina.” His discovery of the bird is described as follows: “I was first attracted by the novelty of its notes, four or five in number, repeated at intervals of five or six minutes apart. These notes were loud, clear, and more like a whistle than a song. They resembled the sounds of some extraordinary ventriloquist in such a degree, that I supposed the bird much farther from me than it really was; for after some trouble caused by these fictitious notes, I perceived it near to me and soon shot it” (Audubon, 1841). Dr. Bachman took five specimens; then, up to the spring of 1884, Swainson’s warbler remained almost a lost species, for according to Brewster (1885a) there is no record of more than eight or nine birds being collected. Wayne, through collections and field work near Charleston, opened a productive 25-year period in the history of swainsonii, in which many valuable contributions were made by various observers. From 1910 to 1930 the name swainsonii was practically absent from the pages of current ornithological literature.

Brewster (1885a) has given us the best description of the bird’s haunts in the low country:

The particular kind of swamp to which he is most partial is known in local parlance as a “pine-land gall.” It is usually a depression in the otherwise level surface, down which winds a brook, in places flowing swiftly between well-defined banks, in others divided into several sluggish channels or spreading about in stagnant pools, margined by a dense growth of cane, and covered with lily leaves or other aquatic vegetation. Its course through the open pine-lands is sharply marked by a belt of hardwood trees nourished to grand proportions by the rich soil and abundant moisture. Beneath, crumbling logs cumber the ground, while an undergrowth of dogwood (Cornus florida), sassafras, viburnum, etc., is interlaced and made well-nigh impenetrable by a network of grapevines and greenbriar. These belts—river bottoms they are in miniature—rarely exceed a few rods in width; they may extend miles in a nearly straight line.

The writer has had a long acquaintance with Swainson’s warbler in the low country of Carolina. Except during September (fall migration) the birds were almost never seen out of sight of substantial growths of cane, even when the nests were built in bushes, low trees, or vines. This has been the experience of practically all observers and, as Brooks and Legg (1942) remark, “an idée fixe among ornithologists” existed; the familiar description of habitat by Brewster (1885a) became a dictum: “Briefly, four things seem indispensible to his existence, viz., water, tangled thickets, patches of cane, and a rank growth of semi-aquatic plants.”

Hence, the ornithological world received a surprise to learn that swainsonii was a summer resident and breeder in different localities of high altitude in the Appalachian Chain. Although several observers have found the bird nesting beyond the limits of the Coastal Plain, even in Piedmont territory, as La Prade (1922) did at 1,050 feet above sea level, it was E. A. Williams (1935) who first detected it in a truly mountainous terrain. During two successive summers he found birds near Tryon, N. C., “in open woods.”

Loomis (1887) was quite prophetic when, in recording a Swainson’s warbler from Chester, S. C., “in the heart of the Piedmont Region, one hundred and fifty miles from the coast,” he wrote: “It awakens the mind to the possibility of an Up-Country habitat, yet awaiting discovery, where the true centre of abundance will finally be located.”

The efforts of Brooks and Legg (1942) have shown Swainson’s warbler to be a locally common summer resident in south-central West Virginia up to an elevation of 2,000 feet above sea level; no positive evidence of breeding has been found, but it undoubtedly does breed. In Tennessee, Wetmore (1939) has found the bird in mountainous country at 3,000 feet.

The question naturally arises, Did Swainson’s warbler always inhabit higher altitudes, or is this a recent extension of range and partial change of habitat? The answer will probably never be found; but study of changing conditions in its low country habitat for the past several decades may throw light on this interesting problem. Within the writer’s experience the canebrake areas have long been exposed to forest fires, timber cutting, overgrazing, drainage, and the construction of a hydroelectric project, as a result of which thousands of acres of timbered swampland are now under water.

Spring.—The birds that winter in Jamaica enter the United States through Florida, but it is probable that those from Yucatán make a direct flight across the Gulf to the delta of the Mississippi. The earliest recorded spring arrival in the United States was on March 22, 1890, on the lower Suwanee River. The same year the species was taken at the Tortugas, March 25 to April 5 (Chapman, 1907). The earliest arrival near New Orleans, was March 30, 1905 (Kopman, 1915). Meanley (MS.) records it from central Georgia on March 31, 1944. Swainson’s warbler reaches the vicinity of Charleston, S. C, during the first week of April, the earliest being the fifth of that month.

Nesting.—Nests are built in bushes, canes, masses of vines, and briers; 10 feet seems to be the maximum height from the ground, while some nests have been found as low as 2 feet. The average elevation would be around 3 feet. As many nests are built over dry ground as over water. The nest is quite bulky and loosely constructed; a typical one in situ looks like a bunch of leaves lodged in a bush or cane, as the stems point upward. The outer walls of the nest are composed of various leaves such as oak, gum, maple, tupelo, and cane; the inner walls are usually of cane, while the lining is of pine needles, black fiber of moss Tillandsia, cypress leaves, rootlets, or grass stems. Sometimes horsehair is also present.

[Author’s Note: A few more notes on the nesting of Swainson’s warbler may well be added to the above general statements. Brewster’s (1885b) nests, taken by Wayne in the low country of South Carolina, are evidently typical for that region. All four of these nests were in canes. Wayne (1886) says that the nests “are generally built in canes,” but he has also found them “in small bushes, and in one instance in a climbing vine, by the side of a large public road.” Brewster (1885b) gives the measurements of two of his nests; the smallest of the four measures—

externally 3.50 in diameter by 3.00 in depth; internally 1.50 in diameter by 1.50 in depth; the greatest thickness of the rim or outer wall being 1.00. * * * The nest June 27 is very much larger, in fact quite the largest specimen that I have seen, measuring externally 5.00 in diameter by 6.00 in depth; internally 1.50 in diameter by 1.25 in depth; with the rim in places 1.75 thick. It is shaped like an inverted cone, the apex extending down nearly to the point of junction of the numerous fascicled stems which surround and support its sides. Its total bulk fully equals the average nest of our Crow Blackbird, while it is not nearly as finished a specimen of bird architecture. Indeed it would be difficult to imagine anything ruder than its outer walls,—composed of mud-soaked leaves of the sweet gum, water oak, holly, and cane, thrown together into a loose mass, bristling with rough stems, and wholly devoid of symmetry or regularity of outline. The interior, however, lined with pine needles, moss fibre, black rootlets, and a little horse-hair, is not less smooth and rounded than in the other specimens.

Troup D. Perry (1887), with his friend George Noble, found no less than 24 nests near Savannah, Ga., in 1887; some of these were in gall or myrtle bushes and one was in a saw palmetto 2¹⁄₂ feet high. S. A. Grimes has sent us a photograph of a nest on the broad leaf of a saw palmetto (pl. 7). Albert J. Kirn (1918) says of the nesting sites of Swainson’s warbler in Oklahoma: “A well shaded clump of trees in the woods, such a place as would suggest itself for a Wood Thrush, yet not exactly so, with considerable ‘buck brush’ undergrowth, but no grass or weeds is selected for a nesting site. In the top of this ‘buck brush’ usually about two feet high the nest is built; about half of the nests found were close to the river bank—the Little Caney River. All but two were built in the brushy undergrowth. These two were fastened to briers and slender brush and were higher up, 3.5 and 4 feet.”

F. M. Jones wrote to Brooks and Legg (1942) of a nest found in southwestern Virginia: “This nest was in a very dense growth of rhododendron bushes close to a stream of water where the sunlight never penetrated. It was 5 ft. 6 in. up, built in the forks of a slender beech limb which grew across the top of a rhododendron bush (R. maximum) and partly supported by the top of the rhododendron. * * * The outside of the nest measured 7 in. wide by 5 in. deep and the inside 2 in. wide by 1¹³⁄₁₆ in. deep.”

It is evident, from the above and other similar accounts that, at higher elevations northward and westward, Swainson’s warbler nests in bushes and vines where there are no canes to be found.]

Eggs.—Swainson’s warbler usually lays three eggs; sets of four are rare and of five very rare. Although there are records of nests containing two incubated eggs or two young birds, these probably represent incomplete sets or cases where an egg or a nestling has been destroyed.

Eggs are quite globular, the two ends sometimes scarcely distinguishable; the shell is thick and has a distinct polish; the ground color is white with a bluish tinge; however, a set of three eggs in the writer’s collection had a faint greenish tinge, while several observers describe sets of pale pink or buffy white.

Rarely, spotted eggs are found. Wayne (1910) says: “Spotted eggs are, however, very rare and I have found only four or five nests containing them.” The only spotted egg the writer has found is in the set referred to above; of these, two are immaculate, while the third is “faintly though distinctly speckled around the larger end with reddish brown” (Dingle, 1926).

Brewster (1885b) describes a set collected by the late Arthur T. Wayne: “One is perfectly plain; another * * * has two or three minute specks which may be genuine shell markings; while the third is unmistakably spotted and blotched with pale lilac. Over most of the surface these markings are fine, faint, and sparsely distributed, but about the larger end they become coarser, thicker, and deeper colored, forming a well-defined ring or wreath.”

Burleigh (1923) writes: “Unlike all the descriptions I had read, and the few eggs I had seen, these were light pink in ground color and dotted distinctly over the entire surface with light brown spots, this almost forming a wreath at the larger end of one egg.” These eggs were found near Augusta, Ga., and the parent was secured.

Wayne (1910) was of the opinion that two broods are raised in a season.

[Author’s Note: The measurements of 50 eggs average 19.5 by 15.0 millimeters; the eggs showing the four extremes measure 21.6 by 14.2, 20.8 by 16.0, 18.0 by 14.1, and 19.5 by 13.5 millimeters (Harris).]

Plumages.—[Author’s Note: Ridgway (1902) describes the juvenal plumage of Swainson’s warbler as follows: “Head, neck, back, rump, upper tail-coverts, chest, sides, and flanks plain brown (varying from broccoli to bister); rest of under parts whitish or dull pale yellowish, more or less clouded with brown; middle and greater wing-coverts indistinctly tipped with cinnamon-brown; otherwise like adults, but no trace of lighter superciliary nor darker postocular stripes.” Specimens that I have seen in this plumage are more nearly “cinnamon-brown” than the colors named above on the back and wing coverts, and the latter show very little evidence of cinnamon tips.]

The postjuvenal molt, which evidently includes only the contour plumage and the wing coverts, occurs early in the summer; I have seen young birds beginning to acquire the first winter plumage as early as June 12, and others that had nearly completed the molt on July 20; these birds were not yet fully grown. Wayne (1910) writes: “I have taken young birds which were as large as the adults and which were acquiring their autumnal plumage as early as June 2, but it must be borne in mind that the season in which these young were taken (1906) was exceptionally advanced.”

Brewster (1885a) describes the young bird in its fall plumage as follows: “Entire upper parts rich olive strongly tinged with reddish-brown, the crown scarcely deeper-colored than the back, the wings a trifle redder; loral stripe blackish; superciliary stripe tinged with yellow; under parts strongly yellowish, otherwise like the adult.”

The nuptial plumage is apparently assumed by wear and fading, the reddish-brown and yellowish colors becoming much duller. There are no specimens available of either young or adult birds that indicate a prenuptial molt.

The postnuptial molt seems to occur mainly in August, but perhaps earlier, and is evidently complete; I have seen birds in full, fresh autumn plumage as early as August 28. This fresh plumage is similar to the spring plumage, but the crown and back are nearly uniform brown, the crown is darker than in spring, the back is browner than in spring, and the breast and flanks are more or less clouded with grayish.

Food.—Howell (1924) says that “four stomachs of this bird from Alabama contained remains of caterpillars, spiders, and Hymenoptera (ants, bees, etc.).”

Brewster (1885a) considered the principal food to be small coleopterous insects, "as well as some small green worms that are found on water plants, such as the pond lily (Nymphaea odorata) and the Nelumbium (Cyamus flavicomus).

Behavior.—Swainson’s warbler is an unsuspicious bird and can be easily observed in its haunts where the vegetation is not too dense and tangled and the tree canopy overhead partially open. The neutral color of the bird is often apt to conceal him in the shadowy undergrowth. Singing males usually remain on the same perch during their periods of song, apparently disinclined to move. He often sings from the ground during insect hunting; Meanley (MS.) says: “It was so wrapped up in its song as to be absolutely unconcerned; it sang at my very feet with its head thrown back, its beak pointing perpendicularly toward the sky, pouring forth its resounding melody in the best of warbler fashion.”

The female is a close sitter, and the observer has usually to touch her before she leaves the nest. Grimes (1936) writes: “This bird would not leave her eggs until pushed off, and when I held my hand over the nest she straddled my fingers in trying to get back onto it. * * * When I did drive her away from the nest she fluttered along on the ground in the manner of a crippled bird, her actions manifestly intended to induce me to follow. This bird certainly was not badly frightened, for within a few minutes she was back on her nest, accepting deerflies from my fingers and swallowing them with apparent relish.”

Brewster (1885a) gives an admirable portrayal:

His gait is distinctly a walk, his motions gliding and graceful. Upon alighting in the branches, after being flushed from the ground, he assumes a statuesque attitude, like that of a startled Thrush. While singing he takes an easier posture, but rarely moves on his perch. If desirous of changing his position he flies from branch to branch instead of hopping through the twigs in the manner of most Warblers. Under the influence of excitement or jealousy he sometimes jets his tail, droops his wings, and raises the feathers of the crown in a loose crest, but the tail is never jerked like that of a Geothlypis, or wagged like that of a Siurus. On the contrary, his movements are all deliberate and composed, his disposition sedentary and phlegmatic.

Voice.—The bird student who hears the song of Swainson’s warbler as he sings in his wooded retreat is fortunate, for it is one of the outstanding warbler songs and, once heard, leaves a lasting impression upon the listener. At a distance it bears much resemblance to the songs of the hooded warbler and the Louisiana water-thrush. Close up, however, the appealing quality, lacking in the other two, impresses the listener strongly. The song has, in the majority of individuals, a highly ventriloquial effect, but the writer has listened to birds whose notes did not in the slightest degree possess this quality.

The song varies in length and number of notes but can be separated into two distinct parts; the first few notes are uttered rather slowly, the last ones more rapidly and on a descending scale. The second part closely follows the first, with no apparent separation. Brooks and Legg (1942) write: “It might be translated as whee, whee, whee, whip-poor-will, the first two (or three) introductory notes on an even pitch, the last whee a half-tone lower, and the slurred phrase with will separated into two syllables, and accented on the whip and on the wi-part of the will. The last phrase sounded at times remarkably like one of the songs of the White-eyed Vireo.”

When the singer begins his performance, the bill is pointed directly up, and he seems entirely unconscious of anything but his own musical efforts. “During his intervals of silence,” says N. C. Brown (1878), “he remains motionless, with plumage ruffled, as if completely lost in musical reverie.” Brewster (1885a) adds:

It is very loud, very rich, very beautiful, while it has an indescribably tender quality that thrills the senses after the sound has ceased. * * * Although a rarely fervent and ecstatic songster, our little friend is also a fitful and uncertain one. You may wait for hours near his retreat, even in early morning, or late afternoon, without hearing a note. But when the inspiration comes he floods the woods with music, one song often following another so quickly that there is scarce a pause for breath between. In this manner I have known him to sing for fully twenty minutes, although ordinarily the entire performance occupies less than half that time. Such outbursts may occur at almost any hour, even at noontide, and I have heard them in the gloomiest weather, when the woods were shrouded in mist and rain.

Several times the writer has seen males when the inspiration had not quite come to them; the bird would throw back its head but utter only one or two opening notes of his song.

The call note is a chip, which Brewster calls “a soft tchip indistinguishable from that of Parula americana.” But Murray (1935) writes that it is “more throaty and full-bodied than that of most Warblers.” Brooks and Legg (1942) describe it as “clear, penetrating chirps, having (to our ears) much the same quality as do the chirps of the Mourning Warbler. They are not quite so loud, but have a more ringing quality than those of the Hooded Warbler.”

Field marks.—[Author’s Note: Swainson’s warbler is a plainly colored bird, with no conspicuous field marks. It is brownish olive above and whitish below, with no white in either wings or tail; there is a whitish line over the eye and a dusky streak through it; but the bill is long and sharply pointed.]

DISTRIBUTION

Range.—Southeastern United States to southern Mexico.

Breeding range.—Until about 1935 Swainson’s warbler was considered to be confined in summer to the southern canebrakes and coastal marshes. It is now known to breed north to extreme southern Illinois, probably (seen in breeding season to Olive Branch, Duquoin, and Mount Carmel); southeastern Kentucky (Big Black Mountain); central to northern West Virginia (Charleston, Mount Lookout, Sutton, and Buzzard Rocks, Monongalia County); and southeastern Maryland (Pocomoke River Swamp). East to eastern Maryland (Pocomoke River Swamp); eastern Virginia (Warwick County and Dismal Swamp); eastern North Carolina (New Bern, Lake Ellis, and Red Springs); eastern South Carolina (Summerton, Charleston, and Yemassee); eastern Georgia (Savannah and Okefinokee Swamp); and northeastern Florida (Jacksonville). South to northern Florida (Jacksonville, Oldtown, Whitfield, and Pensacola) and southern Louisiana (Mandeville, New Orleans, and Baton Rouge). West to eastern Louisiana (Baton Rouge, Bayou Sara, and Jena); central Arkansas (Camden and Conway); extreme northeastern Oklahoma (Copan); and central Missouri (Concordia).

Within this large breeding area are two almost discontinuous breeding ranges: the coastal and swamp range long considered the only home of the species; and the more recently discovered mountain home along the slopes of the Allegheny Mountains from northern West Virginia nearly to the Georgia line where it has been found to an altitude of nearly 3,000 feet.

Winter range.—The winter home of the Swainson’s warbler is very imperfectly known from a dozen or more specimens, most of which are from Jamaica where it has been listed as a rare winter resident. There are records also from the Swan Islands (March 1); Santa Lucia, Quintana Roo; Pacaytain, Campeche; and the city of Veracruz. Two specimens have been taken near Habana, Cuba; one on September 25, the other in April; and one near Guantánamo on January 18, 1914.

Migration.—Dates of spring departure are: Jamaica, April 8. Cuba—Habana, April 14.

Early dates of spring arrival are: Florida—St. Petersburg, March 25. Alabama—Autaugaville, April 3. Georgia—Savannah, March 25. South Carolina, April 1. Louisiana—New Orleans, March 30. Mississippi—Biloxi, March 31. Tennessee—Memphis, April 20. Texas—Point Bolivar, April 17.

Late dates of fall departure are: Texas—Kemah, September 27. Tennessee—Sulphur Springs, September 9. Mississippi—Gulfport, October 6. South Carolina—Charleston, October 10. Georgia—Savannah, October 18. Alabama—Greensboro, September 6. Florida—Pensacola, October 2; Sombrero Key (4 struck lighthouse November 10).

Dates of fall arrival are: Tamaulipas—Matamoros, August 29. Jamaica, October 1.

Casual records.—A specimen was recorded near Corsicana, Tex., on August 24, 1880; another was collected at Kearney, Nebr., on April 9, 1905; and one near Holly, Prowers County, Colo., on May 12, 1913.

Egg dates.—Florida: 3 records, May 7. Georgia: 35 records, May 4 to July 13; 19 records, May 29 to June 17, indicating the height of the season. South Carolina: 28 records, May 2 to June 30; 14 records. May 12 to June 12 (Harris).

HELMITHEROS VERMIVOROS (Gmelin)

WORM-EATING WARBLER

Plate [10]

HABITS

The breeding range of the worm-eating warbler covers much of the central portion of the United States east of the prairie regions. Its center of abundance seems to be in the vicinity of Pennsylvania, but it breeds less abundantly northward to southern Iowa, New York, and New England and southward to Missouri and to northern Alabama and Georgia, as well as in much of the intervening wooded region, where it is essentially a woodland bird.

The distribution, migration, and habits of this warbler were but poorly understood by the early writers on American birds, and neither Wilson nor Audubon ever saw its nest; the latter’s description of the nest, probably from hearsay, is entirely wrong. Frank L. Burns writes to me: “Bartram neglected to list this species, although he had furnished the type to Edwards 35 years earlier, and from the information furnished by the youthful Bartram it doubtless received its name, which is a misnomer perpetuated by Gmelin in his Motacilla vermivora.” Mr. Burns says further on in his notes: “I searched for 10 seasons before I found my first nest, and oddly enough it was through the parent bird carrying a ‘worm’ to its young; nevertheless I have since thought that a more fitting name for the species would have been hillside or laurel warbler.”

Hillside warbler would not be a bad name for this bird, which shows a decided preference for wooded hillsides covered with medium-sized deciduous trees and an undergrowth of saplings and small shrubbery. Often a running stream with numerous swampy places, overgrown with brier tangles and alders, bounds the base of the hill as an additional attraction. It is seldom seen outside of its favorite woods and returns year after year to the same chosen haunts.

W. E. Clyde Todd (1940) says that in western Pennsylvania “wooded slopes are its chosen abodes, the shadier and cooler the better. * * * Deep ravines, down which trickle little streams, and the slopes of which support good stands of deciduous trees, with plenty of shrubbery and bushes for cover, are favorite resorts.” In Ritchie County, W. Va., William Brewster (1875) found it “most partial to the retired thickets in the woods along water courses, and seldom or never found in the high open groves.”

Spring.—The northward movement of the worm-eating warbler evidently begins in March, as the earliest arrivals from the Bahamas, the West Indies, and Cuba reach southern Florida during the first week in April. From its main winter resorts in Central America the flight seems to be partially across the Gulf of Mexico. Professor Cooke (1904) says in part: “The time of arrival on the coasts of Louisiana and Texas is about the same as in southern Florida. * * * Houston is the southernmost point in Texas from which it has been recorded to date, and Alta Mira is the northernmost point of record in Mexico. Since the species is apparently not common west of Louisiana or north of Vera Cruz, it is probable that the principal line of migration is from Yucatan and the coast immediately west of Yucatan directly north to the northern coast of the Gulf of Mexico.” According to Williams (1945) the species is common on the coast of Texas in spring, and it probably migrates along the coast. Thence the migration proceeds northward through the Mississippi Valley and through the Atlantic Coast States east of the Alleghenies, the warblers reaching the more northern breeding grounds by the middle of May, where nesting activities begin as soon as mates have been selected.

Nesting.—Evidently Thomas H. Jackson, of West Chester, Pa., was the first to report the discovery of the nest of the worm-eating warbler; he published an account of it in the American Naturalist for December 1869, from which Baird, Brewer, and Ridgway (1874) quote as follows: “On the 6th of June, 1869, I found a nest of this species containing five eggs. It was placed in a hollow on the ground, much like the nests of the Oven-Bird (Seiurus aurocapillus), and was well hidden from sight by the dry leaves that lay thickly around. The nest was composed externally of dead leaves, mostly those of the beech, while the interior was prettily lined with the fine, thread-like stalks of the hair-moss (Polytrichium). * * * So close did the female sit that I captured her without difficulty by placing my hat over the nest.”

This nest was quite characteristic of the species. Mr. Burns writes to me: “The nest, well hidden under a drift of dead forest leaves, never varied in composition in over a hundred examples examined by me, in partly skeletonized leaves and the characteristic reddish-brown lining of the flower stem of the hair moss.” Every one of 50 nests found by Mr. Jackson was lined with these flower stems, and out of 34 nests reported by Dr. Samuel S. Dickey (1934) only one failed to contain this material, being lined with “black and gray horsehair.” Samuel B. Ladd (1887) says that “sometimes fine grass and horse-hair are used as part of the lining.” Dr. Chapman (1907) writes: “Nests taken by J. N. Clark at Saybrook, Connecticut (C. W. C.) are composed of decayed leaves and lined with stems of maple seeds.” And there are probably a few other exceptions to the rule.

Most observers agree that the worm-eating warbler prefers to nest on hillsides, either sloping or steep, but a number of nests have been found on the sides of deep, shady ravines, or on steep banks. Mr. Ladd (1887), however, states: “I have observed that these birds are not confined necessarily to hill-sides, as was heretofore supposed, as I have taken three sets on level ground and in rather open places, with little shade. The experience of Mr. Thomas H. Jackson of this place, who has taken ten nests this year, corroborates this fact.”

The nests are generally well concealed under a canopy of dead leaves, drifted by the wind and lodged against a maple, beech, dogwood, or ash sapling, or under hydrangea, laurel, or rhododendron bushes, or under some bunch of weeds or other obstruction. They are sometimes concealed under the roots of a tree or in a cavity in a bank where they are protected somewhat by fallen leaves.

Eggs.—The number of eggs laid by the worm-eating warbler varies from 3 to 6, but the set usually consists of 4 or 5. The eggs are ovate or short ovate, sometimes rather pointed, and only slightly glossy. The white ground color is speckled and spotted with shades of “russet,” “vinaceous russet,” and “auburn,” intermingled with “light brownish drab” and “light vinaceous-drab.” The markings, usually more thickly grouped at the large end, vary considerably, some eggs being boldly marked, while others are almost immaculate, or have just a few pale freckles of “light brownish drab” and “fawn.” The measurements of 50 eggs average 17.4 by 13.6 millimeters; the eggs showing the four extremes measure 20.8 by 14.5, and 15.5 by 12.7 millimeters (Harris).

Incubation.—Frank L. Burns (1905) writes:

Incubation does not always commence immediately after completion of set, particularly if the season be young. It is probable that the second night witnesses the beginning of that period and, as far as my experience goes, I believe it is performed by the female alone. The male feeds her when covering newly hatched young.

The home-coming of a brooding bird, after a brief airing and feeding, is heralded several hundred yards distant by frequent chips and short flights from branch to branch near the ground, in leisurely fashion and circuitous route, until at length, arriving above the nest, she runs down a sapling and is silent. The bird is a close sitter and if approached from the open front will often allow a few minutes’ silent inspection, eye to eye, at arm’s length, sometimes not vacating until touched, then she runs off in a sinuous trail, not always feigning lameness before the young are out. When disturbed with young in the nest she will flutter off with open wings and tail, and, failing to lead one off, will return with her mate, who is seldom far off at this period, circling about the nest or intruder, and, if the young are well feathered, she will dash at them, forcing them from the nest and to shelter. Once this brave little bird dashed at me and ran up to my knee, scratching with her sharp little claws at every step. On the return the birds always make the vicinity ring with their protests—a quickly repeated chip. The period of incubation in one instance was thirteen days.

Young.—Mr. Burns continues:

Young fear man soon after their eyes are open, and a menacing finger will cause them to scamper out and away, repeated replacing in the nest proving of no avail after they became panic-stricken. At three days of age they made no outcry but opened their mouths for food, which consisted of a species of white moth, or “miller,” and soft white grubs, supplied by either of the parent birds. At that period they were naked except a fluff on head and wing quills, just showing feathers at tips. In the presence of an intruder and absence of the parents, they will sit motionless if not threatened, and, but for the blinking, beady eyes, one might mistake them when well fledged, at very close range, for dead leaves. The head stripes became visible under the nestling down on the seventh day, and they left the nest ten days after leaving the shell, in the one case I have kept record of. The parents keep the young together for several days at least, just how long is impossible to say. One brood is all that is reared in a season, I think.

Plumages.—Dr. Dwight (1900) calls the natal down “brownish mouse-gray,” and describes the juvenal plumage as follows: “Whole body plumage and the wing coverts cinnamon, palest on the abdomen. Wings and tail olive-brown edged with olive-green. Two indistinct lateral crown stripes brownish mouse-gray. A transocular streak dusky.” Ridgway’s (1902) description is somewhat different: “Head, neck, and under parts buff, the pileum with two broad, but strongly contrasted, lateral stripes of wood brown or isabella color; a postocular streak of the same color; back, scapulars, rump, and upper tail-coverts wood brown or isabella color; wing-coverts light buffy olive, the middle and greater broadly but not sharply tipped with cinnamon-buff; remiges and rectrices grayish olive-green, as in adults.” Young birds seem to vary considerably in the color of the upper parts.

A partial postjuvenal molt occurring in late June or early July involves all the contour plumage and the wing coverts but not the rest of the wings or the tail. The young bird in its first winter plumage is practically indistinguishable from the adult at that season, except for the juvenal wings, in which the tertials are lightly tipped with rusty brown.

There is apparently no spring molt, but a complete postnuptial molt occurs in July. Spring birds are slightly paler, grayer and less buffy than in the fall. The sexes are practically alike in all plumages.

Food.—As I have said, the name worm-eating warbler seems to be somewhat of a misnomer for this bird. Edward H. Forbush (1929) writes: “I find no records of any consumption of earthworms by this species, which although a typical ground warbler spends some of its time hunting among the branches of trees, where it finds span-worms. It also hunts on the ground in damp places frequented by army-worms. Nevertheless these are not worms but caterpillars. Probably, however, in its perambulations and peregrinations upon the surface of the earth the bird now and then does pick up a small earthworm, for earthworms form a staple food for many birds when the ground is moist.”

Arthur H. Howell (1924) says: “Little is known of the food of this species, but it seems doubtful whether it lives up to its name of worm-eater.' Two stomachs of this bird from Alabama contained remains of weevils, beetles, bugs, caterpillars, and Hymenoptera.” Howell (1932) further reports: “The stomachs of three individuals taken in Florida in April contained small grasshoppers, caterpillars, sawfly larvae, beetles, and spiders. One dragon-fly, one bumblebee, and one ‘walking stick’ were also included in the contents.” Professor Aughey (1878) included the worm-eating warbler among the birds seen catching locusts in Nebraska.

Behavior.—Brewster (1875) gives the best account of the activities of the worm-eating warbler as follows:

They keep much on the ground, where they walk about rather slowly, searching for their food among the dried leaves. In general appearance they are quite unique, and I rarely failed to identify one with an instant’s glance, so very peculiar are all their attitudes and motions. The tail is habitually carried at an elevation considerably above the line of the back, which gives them a smart, jaunty air, and if the dorsal aspect be exposed, in a clear light, the peculiar marking of the crown is quite conspicuous. Seen as they usually are, however, dimly flitting ahead through the gloom and shadow of the thickets, the impression received is that of a dark little bird which vanishes unaccountably before your very eyes, leaving you quite uncertain where to look for it next; indeed, I hardly know a more difficult bird to procure, for the slightest noise sends it darting off through the woods at once. Occasionally you will come upon one winding around the trunk of some small tree exactly in the manner of Mniotilta varia, moving out along the branches with nimble motion, peering alternately under the bark on either side, and anon returning to the main stem, perhaps in the next instant to hop back to the ground again. On such occasions they rarely ascend to the height of more than eight or ten feet. The males are very quarrelsome, chasing one another through the woods with loud, sharp chirpings, careering with almost inconceivable velocity up among the tops of the highest oaks, or darting among the thickets with interminable doublings until the pursuer, growing tired of the chase, alights on some low twig or old mossy log, and in token of his victory, utters a warble so feeble that you must be very near to catch it at all, a sound like that produced by striking two pebbles very quickly and gently together, or the song of Spizella socialis heard at a distance, and altogether a very indifferent performance.

Voice.—Aretas A. Saunders has contributed the following study of the song of this warbler:

The song of the worm-eating warbler is a simple trill, varying from 1²⁄₅ to 2¹⁄₅ seconds in length. It is usually all on the same pitch, but a few songs rise or fall a half tone, and one record I have rises a full tone and then drops a half tone at the end. The quality is not musical, but rather closely resembles some forms of the chipping sparrow’s song. The pitch varies from G sharp‴ to F sharp‴′, one tone less than an octave.

The majority of songs are a continuous trill, that is, the notes are too fast to be separated and counted by ear. I have three examples that are broken into short, very rapid notes. Two of these were of 18 notes and one was of 28. Most of the songs vary in loudness, becoming loudest in the middle, or beginning loud and fading away toward the end. One record becomes louder toward the end and ends abruptly.

Francis H. Allen describes in his notes a song “remarkably like that of the chipping sparrow, but more rapid than is usual with that species, I think, and perhaps shorter, though not so short as the chippy’s early-morning song. The bill quivers with the song, but does not close between the chips. The bird sang constantly as it flitted about, usually 10 or 20 feet from the ground, seeming to prefer dead branches and twigs.”

Almost everyone emphasizes the resemblance of the song to that of the chipping sparrow. Burns (1905) says: “I can distinguish no difference between the notes of this species and the Chipping Sparrow; the first may be a trifle weaker perhaps.” But, in some notes recently sent to me, he writes: “The song has often been described as easily mistaken for that of either the chipping sparrow or slate-colored junco, but by no means by an expert. The notes of the worm-eater have a buzzing or bubbling quality not easily described, but are quite distinct from the flat notes of the species named above.” And Eugene P. Bicknell (1884) writes: “The songs of no other three birds known to me are more alike than those of the Worm-eating Warbler, the Chipping Sparrow, and the Slate-colored Snowbird.” He is in agreement with Saunders and Burns that this bird sings from the time of its arrival until the last of June or early July, but he also says: “On July 10, 1881, several of these birds were silently inhabiting a small tract of woodland, their first season of song having passed; here, on August 14, and again on the 21st, they were found in fine plumage and in full song.” Evidently there is a cessation of singing during the molting period.

Burns (1905) says of the song: “The series of notes may be uttered while perched, or creeping about the lower branches of the trees, sapling tops, bushes or fallen brush, or while on the ground. With slightly drooping tail and wings, puffing out of body plumage, throwing its head back until the beak is perpendicular, it trills with swelling throat an unvarying Che-e-e-e-e-e-e, which does not sound half so monotonous in the woods as does the Chippy’s lay in the open.”

Dr. Chapman (1907) adds: “Mr. W. DeW. Miller of Plainfield, New Jersey, tells me that he has on two occasions heard a flight song from this species. It is described by him as much more varied and musical than the ordinary song, though lacking in strength. It was given as the bird flew through the woods at an even level, not rising above the tree-tops, as does the Oven-bird and other flight singers.”

Field marks.—When seen walking around on the ground the worm-eating warbler might be mistaken for an ovenbird, but the conspicuous black stripes on the head of the former are quite distinctive, very different from the head markings of the latter. Moreover, the ovenbird is distinctly spotted on the breast, whereas the warbler has a plain, unmarked breast and no conspicuous wing bars. Except for the bold stripes on the head it is just a plain olive and buffy warbler in all plumages.

Enemies.—Says Burns (1905): “This Warbler’s enemies are wood-mice, red squirrels and hunting dogs; the latter will sometimes push up and overturn the nest; an occasional weasel or blacksnake may destroy a few young. The percentage of loss while in the nest cannot be high.”

Friedmann (1929) regards the worm-eating warbler as a “rather uncommonly imposed upon species” by the eastern cowbird. “Twenty-one definite records, and as many more indefinite ones have come to my notice.”

Winter.—Dr. Alexander F. Skutch contributes the following: "Widely distributed as a winter resident in Central America, the worm-eating warbler appears to be everywhere very rare. It occurs from Guatemala to Panamá on both coasts, and upward in the mountains to at least 5,000 feet. On February 26, 1935, I found one in the forest on Barro Colorado Island, Canal Zone, which appears to represent a slight southward extension of the known range. I have recorded this rare visitant from every part of Central America below 6,000 feet in which I have made an extended sojourn during the months of the northern winter, yet only one or two in each locality, except on the Finca Mocá on the Pacific slope of Guatemala at 3,000 feet above sea-level, where in one day—January 21, 1935—I saw three. The worm-eating warbler is found in the Tropics beneath dense thickets or in the undergrowth of the forest, usually near the ground; but at times one will rise to the lower branches of the trees to investigate curled dead leaves caught up among them. It is solitary rather than social in its habits.

“The records of the occurrence of this warbler in Central America are too few to indicate clearly the dates of its arrival and departure. I found one at Tela, Honduras, on August 19, 1930; but the next early record is for October 14, at the same locality. Griscom quotes a record by Dearborn for the occurrence of this warbler at Patulul, Guatemala, on April 2; but except for this, the latest record I have seen is from El General, Costa Rica, March 11, 1939.”

DISTRIBUTION

Range.—Eastern United States to Panamá.

Breeding range.—The worm-eating warbler breeds north to northeastern Kansas (Lawrence); possibly central southern Nebraska (Red Cloud); probably south-central Iowa (Des Moines); probably southern Wisconsin (Wyalusing, Madison, and Milwaukee); northeastern Illinois (Hinsdale); southern Indiana (Terre Haute, Bloomington, and Indianapolis); central Ohio (Columbus, East Liverpool, and possibly Cleveland); southern New York (Penn Yan and Albany), and southern Connecticut (New Haven and Saybrook). It has been found in summer north to London, Ontario; Northampton, Ipswich, and North Eastham, Massachusetts. East to Connecticut (Saybrook); Long Island (Newtown); northern New Jersey (Elizabeth and Morristown); eastern Pennsylvania (Norristown and Philadelphia); northern Delaware (Wilmington); central Maryland (Baltimore; rarely east of Chesapeake Bay); eastern Virginia (Cobham and Dismal Swamp); central North Carolina (Chapel Hill and Statesville); northwestern South Carolina (Caesars Head, Mount Pinnacle, and Sassafras Mountain); and northern Georgia (Brasstown Bald and Atlanta). South to northern Georgia (Atlanta); central Tennessee (Nashville and Wildersville); northern Arkansas (Newport and Winslow); and, occasionally, extreme northern Texas (Bowie County and Gainesville). West to northern Texas (Gainesville); northeastern Oklahoma (Jay); and eastern Kansas (Lawrence). It has been recorded in summer, but with no evidence of breeding, at Red Cloud, Nebr., and at London and Vineland Station, Ontario.

Winter range.—In winter the worm-eating warbler is found north to southern Tamaulipas (Altamira); northern Florida, casually (Blue Springs and Amelia Island), and the Bahamas (Abaco, Nassau, and Great Inago). East to the Bahamas (Great Inago); Jamaica and central Panamá (Río Chepo). South to Panamá (Río Chepo, Barro Colorado, and Chiriquí). West to western Panamá (Chiriquí); Costa Rica (Escasú and Volcán Tonorio); El Salvador (Mount Cacaguatique); Guatemala (Dueñas, Patulul, and Naranjo); southern Chiapas (Huehuetán); western Veracruz (Jalapa); Hidalgo (Pachuca); and southern Tamaulipas (Altamira).

Migration.—Late dates of spring departure are: Panamá—Darién March 16. Costa Rica—El General, March 19. El Salvador—Barra de Santiago, April 8. Guatemala—Patulul, April 2. Yucatán—Mérida, April 9. Cuba—Habana, May 1. Bahamas—Abaco, April 29. Florida—Seven Oaks, May 14. Georgia—Cumberland, May 7. Alabama—Barachias, May 1. Mississippi—Biloxi, April 27. Louisiana—Avery Island, April 23.

Early dates of spring arrival are: Florida—Pensacola, March 26. Georgia—Savannah, April 4. South Carolina—Mount Pleasant, April 7. North Carolina—Bat Cave, April 16. Virginia—Richmond, April 19. West Virginia—Morgantown, April 4. District of Columbia—Washington, April 21. Pennsylvania—Beaver, April 29. New York—Jones Beach, April 20. Louisiana—Grand Isle, April 3. Mississippi—Bay St. Louis, April 5. Tennessee—Chattanooga, April 15. Kentucky—Bowling Green, April 3. Indiana—Brookville, April 17. Ohio—Columbus, April 18. Texas—Brownsville, March 29. Missouri—St. Louis, April 15. Iowa—Keokuk, April 21.

Late dates of fall departure are: Missouri—St. Louis, September 20. Ohio—Austinburg, September 23. Kentucky—Middlesboro, September 27. Tennessee—Athens, October 5. Mississippi—Biloxi, October 11. Louisiana—Monroe, September 30. New York—Balston, September 23. Pennsylvania—Atglen, October 10. District of Columbia—Washington, September 13. West Virginia—Bluefield, September 19. Virginia—Salem, October 24. North Carolina—Andrews, October 11; Raleigh, November 3. South Carolina—Charleston, October 11. Georgia—Atlanta, October 10. Florida—Fernandina, October 3.

Casual records.—A specimen was collected in Bermuda on October 4, 1899. An individual was present at Wood Pond near Jackson, Somerset County, Maine, September 1 to 12, 1935; and one was reported seen at Mayagüez, Puerto Rico, on October 15, 1943, following a small hurricane.

Egg dates.—Connecticut: 7 records, May 27 to June 29.

New Jersey: 4 records, May 21 to 30.

Pennsylvania: 75 records, May 15 to June 30: 45 records, May 24 to June 5, indicating the height of the season (Harris).

VERMIVORA CHRYSOPTERA (Linnaeus)

GOLDEN-WINGED WARBLER

Contributed by Winsor Marrett Tyler

Plates [10], [11]

HABITS

The golden-winged warbler is one of the daintiest among this group of gay-colored little birds. Its plumage is immaculate white below and delicate pearl-gray on the upper parts, the crown and wings sparkle with golden yellow, and on the throat and cheeks is a broad splash of jet black.

It is only within comparatively recent years that we have become well acquainted with the goldenwing: the older ornithologists, Wilson, Audubon, and Nuttall, knew it only as a rather uncommon migrant, drifting through from the south, and they had no idea where it bred. At a much later date J. A. Allen (1870) says of it: “This beautiful warbler has been taken, so far as I can learn, but few times in the western part of the State; it seems to be more common in the eastern, where it breeds.” He cites the first record of the finding of a nest in the State in 1869. There is, however, an earlier record of its nesting. Dr. Brewer (1874) states: “Dr. Samuel Cabot was the first naturalist to meet with the nest and eggs of this bird. This was in May, 1837, in Greenbrier County, Va.”

William Brewster (1906), speaking of the bird in 1874, when he first found it in eastern Massachusetts, says: “If the species inhabited any part of the Cambridge Region before the year just mentioned, it was overlooked by several keen and diligent collectors, among whom may be mentioned Mr. H. W. Henshaw and Mr. Ruthven Deane.” Since that time the bird has increased in numbers here until at present it is common in suitable localities.

Spring.—The goldenwing appears in eastern Massachusetts about the middle of May, or sometimes a little earlier, at the time when many of the resident warblers are arriving on their breeding-grounds. At this season the bright green leaves are beginning to open in the thickets and trees on the borders of woodlands where the goldenwing finds its food; and under the trees in the wooded swamps where the bird will build its nest, fresh new growth—skunkcabbage, ferns, and a host of spring plants—is pushing through the dead leaves, spreading a green carpet on the forest floor. But even thus early in the year, when the trees are nearly bare, it is not easy to see as it feeds high up in the trees, far out near the tips of the branches. Indeed, but for its queer little song, we should rarely suspect that it had come back to its summer home.

Nesting.—The golden-winged warbler builds its nest on the ground, generally raised somewhat by a substratum of dead leaves. The nest is supported by stalks of herbs—often goldenrod or meadow rue—or by fern fronds, or it may be hidden deep in a clump of grass, or it may lean against the base of a small shrub or tree with grass all about it. The leaves above the nest develop as the season advances and soon completely conceal it, and the plants, by their growth, may raise the nest a little above the ground. The cup of the nest is made chiefly of long strands of dry grass and narrow strips of grapevine bark, with a few hairs in the lining. This fine, flexible material is pressed down on the inside by the weight of the incubating bird and the nestlings, becoming smooth and firm like a mat, whereas on the outside wall the long grass blades and fibrous vegetable shreds are left free and, protruding loosely in all directions for some distance from the cup, produce a disorderly, unkempt appearance, like a little loose handful of fine hay.

Edward H. Forbush (1929) quotes an account of the goldenwing by Horace O. Green who has had an extensive experience with the species and who gives the following interesting details of the construction of the nest:

The nest of the Golden-wing usually has a bottom layer of coarse dead leaves on which is placed a ring of large dry leaves, arranged with the points of the leaves downward, so that the leaf stems stick up noticeably around the edges of the nest proper, which is built within and upon this circular mass of leaves, and is made of rather wide strips of coarse grass or rushes, and usually has considerable grape vine bark interwoven in it. The nest lining is coarse and rough, sometimes the eggs being laid on the rough grape vine bark, and in some nests other coarse fibers are used. A very characteristic feature of the nest lining is fine shreds of light reddish-brown vegetable fiber, which at first glance might easily be mistaken for dry needles from the pitch pine—but careful examination shows it to be the inner layers of the bark from the grape vines. The nest is very bulky for the size of the bird and Is rather loosely put together by crossing the materials diagonally, so that it slightly resembles a rather coarse basket-work. I never saw a nest of this species which had a soft lining, such as many other warblers use—the eggs are apparently always deposited on rough material.

The general color of the nest is very dark, especially just after a rain, when the materials of which it is composed look almost black—this being one thing which helps to distinguish these nests from those of the Maryland Yellow-throat, which generally builds a much lighter colored nest, lined with fine grass, and sometimes with horse hair. Another small point of difference which is noticeable on close examination is that the lining in the Yellow-throat’s nest is usually of a much finer and lighter colored material, and appears to be woven in horizontally, or at least to show some traces of such a design, especially around the upper edge—while the Golden-wing closely adheres to the diagonal criss-cross pattern with the loose ends of the nesting materials sticking up at an angle above the rim of the nest cavity.

Mr. Green describes the surroundings of the nest thus:

For their summer home these birds prefer the border of deciduous woods, where tall trees give plenty of shade, to an adjacent clearing with a growth of briers, bushes and grass, and the nest is usually placed just outside the line of the forest proper, but within the shade of the trees. A meadow wholly surrounded by woods is frequently selected. The ideal place to search for a nest of the species is in one of those woodland meadows, which has a clear brook flowing through it, with briers, tussocks of grass and a fresh growth of goldenrod scattered around in profusion, with birch trees and wild grape vines growing near the edges where the meadow meets higher ground—and all this bordered by tall oak, chestnut and maple trees which furnish an abundance of shade to the vegetation of the meadow itself.

J. Warren Jacobs (1904) describes the nest much as above and adds: “The opening is not straight down, but slightly tilted, the jaggy leaf-stems and bark sometimes reaching two or three inches above the rim of the nest proper. As incubation advances, the rough rim on the lower edge of the nest becomes broken down, and by the time the young birds are ready to leave, this part of their home is worn smooth by the attendant parents.”

He gives the measurements of 17 nests as follows: “Outside 3.6 to 5.0 inches in diameter, and 3.0 to 5.0 inches in depth; and on the inside, from 1.7 to 2.5 inches in diameter by 1.3 to 2.5 inches deep.” These measurements agree very closely with the records of several other observers. Jacobs continues: “Seemingly before the birds have had time to complete their nest, the female begins the deposition of the eggs. Generally, where I had opportunity to watch the nests daily, or at intervals between the beginning and completion of the set, the eggs were laid on consecutive days, but in two or three instances it was noticed that the laying missed a day.”

Eggs.—The set for the golden-winged warbler may consist of anywhere from 4 to 7 eggs; 5 is perhaps the commonest number, but 4 is a common number, and the larger numbers are increasingly rare. The eggs are ovate or short ovate, and have only a slight luster. They are white or creamy white, with a wide variety of markings in “auburn,” “argus brown,” “Mars brown,” “hazel,” “Hay’s brown,” “liver brown,” and “burnt umber,” with underlying speckles or spots of “light brownish drab” and “light vinaceous drab.” There is, also, much variation in the amount of markings, some being very sparingly speckled and others are quite heavily marked, with some of the spots assuming the proportions of blotches. Occasionally small hairline scrawls, or scattered spots, of brown so dark as to appear almost black, are found. The markings are usually denser toward the large end. The measurements of 50 eggs average 16.7 by 13.0 millimeters; the eggs showing the four extremes measure 18.6 by 13.0, 16.8 by 13.7, 15.5 by 12.5, and 15.9 by 12.3 millimeters (Harris).

Young.—Jacobs (1904) states that the incubation period is 10 days and that the young birds are able to leave the nest 10 days after hatching. In a nest which Maunsell S. Crosby (1912) watched closely, the eggs hatched on June 1 and the young flew on June 10.

The fledglings are delicate little birds, brownish olive on the back, washed with yellow below, and have two widely separated yellow wing bars. They have astonishingly long legs and soon become very active, fluttering about in the shrubbery and clinging to the branches. Walter Faxon (1911) in speaking of them gives this lively picture which could well be applied to them soon after leaving the nest: “In appearance and habit they were grotesque little fellows, clinging with their disproportionately long legs to the low herbage, like peeping Hylas in the springtime clinging to the grasses and weeds above the surface of the water. The little thread-like natal plumes still waving from the tips of their crown feathers enhanced the oddity of their appearance.” Mr. Faxon, to be exact, is speaking here of some young birds of mixed parentage, but his words apply equally well to the behavior and appearance of the young of chrysoptera which he and I watched year after year together. Both parents are very attentive to their young brood, bringing to them food which they find both on low plant growth and high in the overshadowing branches.

The fledglings call to their parents with a very characteristic note, a little quavering, high, fine chirp which I find written in my journal crrr and tzzz. It suggests somewhat a note of young chipping sparrows, but is less sharp and crisp. In form it also resembles the call of the young cowbird, but again it is gentler and weaker in tone. Mr. Faxon (1911) refers to it as the “cricket note.” The young birds acquire their first winter plumage about a month after they leave the nest, and hence to the eye are indistinguishable from their parents, but as they still continue to use the call of their babyhood, they may be recognized as immature birds even when they are feeding high up in the trees.

Plumages.—[Author’s Note: I can find no description of the natal down. Dr. Dwight (1900) describes the juvenal plumage, in which the sexes are practically alike, as "above, grayish or brownish olive-green. Wings and tail slate-black edged chiefly with bluish plumbeous gray, the coverts and tertiaries with olive-green. Below, pale olive-yellow, the throat dusky. Transocular streak dusky. * * *

“First winter plumage acquired by a partial postjuvenal moult, beginning early in July, which involves the body plumage and wing coverts, but not the rest of the wings nor the tail, young and old becoming practically indistinguishable.” He describes the young male in this plumage as—

above, plumbeous gray veiled with olive-green edgings; the crown bright lemon-yellow veiled posteriorly only. Below, grayish white, with yellow edgings here and there, the chin, jugulum, lores and auriculars jet-black veiled slightly with pale buff. Broad submalar stripes joining at angle of the chin, and superciliary lines white. Outer half of median and greater coverts bright lemon yellow forming an almost continuous wing patch, lesser coverts plumbeous gray, edged with olive-green.

First nuptial plumage acquired by wear, through which the buff edgings of the black areas, the olive edgings of the back and the yellow edgings below are almost completely lost, the plumage becoming clear gray, white, yellow and black.

Of the female, he says: “In first winter and other plumages olive-gray, dusky on the lores and auriculars, replaces the black areas of the male, and olive-yellow marks the crown. Above, the plumage is greenish; the submalar stripes are grayish.” Subsequent plumages are acquired by a complete postnuptial molt in late June and July and by wear in early spring.]

Food.—Little exact information has been gathered regarding the food of the goldenwing. The insects it feeds on are mainly so small that it is generally impossible to identify them. Jacobs (1904) states: “Once I saw a female carry a small brownish butterfly to her young; and several times I have discovered the birds taking small smooth green worms—such as strip the leaves of their green coat, leaving the ribbed skeleton—to their nestlings. The legs of a spider protruded from a bird’s bill as she approached her nest.”

The little pale green larva which Jacobs mentions impresses us as the chief article of food, as we watch the birds. It is ¹⁄₂ to ³⁄₄ inch long and appears to have a smooth, hairless skin. These larvae are obtained, I believe, chiefly in the large trees.

In the following note A. L. Nelson (1933) furnishes an interesting detail of the bird’s diet:

The following observation on the food habits of a Golden-winged Warbler (Vermivora chrysoptera), made in the vicinity of Port Tobacco (Charles Co.), Maryland on May 6, 1933, seems worthy of mention, inasmuch as little specific information on the dietary habits of this species has been recorded. About 1:30 we observed a single individual of this species actively feeding in a low shrubbery growth of pawpaw (Asimina triloba), which was in full bloom at this date. Closer observation revealed that the bird was probing about inside the flowers, and apparently was getting some kind of larvae. Examination of the flowers revealed that they were infested with a small, brown-headed lepidopterous larva. Dissection of a large number of flowers indicated that the infestation was high, the majority of flowers having one larva, although in many cases two were present. Several infested flowers were collected for the purpose of rearing the insects to the adult stage under laboratory conditions. The cycle was completed without difficulty, the adults emerging within twelve days. These were examined by Dr. Carl Heinrich of the U. S. National Museum and found to be Talponia plummeriana Busck, a small brightly colored Tortricid, the only known food plant of which is the pawpaw.

Behavior.—A favorite locality for the golden-winged warbler to spend the summer in eastern Massachusetts may be the border of a wooded swamp where tall elm and maple trees shade a dense undergrowth of ferns and other moisture-loving plants, a swamp which runs out toward drier ground where abounds a growth of gray birches or a tangle of raspberry canes, wild grapevines, and goldenrod. Such a spot furnishes countless situations for hiding the nest in the thick vegetation growing in the half-wet half-dry ground, and also a source of food near at hand in the high branches of the trees. Much the same conditions exist along the course of a brook winding through second growth, or near orchards or old neglected weedy pastures.

Sometimes, as William Brewster (1906) points out, the bird may frequent “dry hillsides covered with a young sprout growth of oak, hickory or maple.”

In a more southern latitude the habitat may be quite different. Maurice Brooks (1940), speaking of the bird in the central Allegheny Mountain region, says: “Shunning the swamps which it frequents in other portions of its range, it is highly characteristic of the ‘chestnut sprout’ association, where the males choose dead chestnuts for perches from which to sing. It is also fairly common in the pitch and scrub pine regions on the hills just back of the Ohio river, but becomes less common toward the eastern portion of the territory with which this paper deals. It ascends to at least 4,000 feet in Giles Co., Va.”

We can watch the little golden-winged warblers best, and often at very short range, when they are feeding their fledglings recently from the nest. The little birds sit quietly in the shrubbery near the ground, waiting for their parents. We can find them easily, for they frequently utter their characteristic “cricket note,” and we can approach them closely, for they scarcely heed us. The parents, too, when they are feeding the young birds, pay little attention to us and come fearlessly to them even when we stand near. At such times they work in a seeming panic of hurry, flying about in the low growth searching for food, or visiting the smallest branches high up in the trees, where they cling to the terminal twigs, hanging like chickadees as they probe among the curled up leaves (insect nests) for food hidden there, then back to the waiting young, seemingly in continuous motion and without the slightest pause in their nervous activity. At this season when the parents are busy with the young birds, about the third week in June in eastern Massachusetts, they are so occupied in searching for food that the male rarely sings.

In two particulars—their tameness, or indifference to our presence, and the almost complete cessation of singing thus early in the season—the goldenwing differs from the other common birds which breed in much the same regions, the chestnut-sided warbler, redstart, northern yellow-throat, ovenbird, and veery.

Jacobs (1904) speaks of the anxiety of the parent birds if the nest is disturbed when the nestlings are nearly ready to fly. He says: “If the hand is placed near the nest at this period of their growth, they will scramble out and flutter away, all giving vent to their chipping note, which brings down upon the intruder the wrath of both old birds, who fly close to his face, snapping their beaks and chipping loudly; then down upon the ground they fall and feign the broken wing act as long as one of the young continues to chirp.”

Voice.—The song of the golden-winged warbler is an inconspicuous little buzzing sound which one might pass by unnoticed, or hearing it for the first time, might ascribe it to a mechanical sound made by some insect, not suspecting it to be the song of a bird. Only after we have become thoroughly familiar with the song do we grasp its definite character, so that we can pick it out even when we hear it in the distance among a medley of other voices. In this particular it resembles the songs of Henslow’s and the grasshopper sparrows, which are scarcely audible, and pass unregarded until well known.

The male goldenwing sings generally from a high perch, often from a branch bare of leaves; hence, once we find him, we can see him plainly. When he sings he throws his head back so far that his bill points almost to the zenith, and sings with it widely open, as if he were pouring out a great volume of sound. The bird sings freely from his arrival in spring until mid-June, about a month, often devoting himself to long periods of singing from the same perch. Later in the season, after the young have hatched, he sings only fitfully.

The song most often heard is composed of four notes, the first prolonged, and followed, after an almost imperceptible pause, by three shorter notes on a lower pitch. All four notes are delivered in a leisurely manner, drawling in tempo, and might be written zeee, zer-zer-zer. The first note takes up about half the time of the song. The quality of the voice is buzzing, and when heard near at hand, slightly rasping, with a lisping suggestion throughout. The song carries well; curiously it seems little louder when heard at close range, but from a distance it sounds smoother and, losing much of the buzzing quality, suggests a long drawn out thth, th-th-th, like a whispering wind. Occasionally there may be four short notes, and sometimes only two following the long initial note.

Like some of the other warblers, notably the black-and-white, chestnut-sided, and black-throated green, the goldenwing sings two distinct songs. In the second form the buzzing tone is nearly or wholly absent. It begins with about half a dozen short notes given in a quick series on the same pitch, and ends with one long note on a higher key, th-th-th-th-th-th-theee.

I have heard two males singing antiphonally, the responses repeated with perfect regularity for several minutes.

Of the minor notes the commonest is a short, slightly roughened dz. When much excited both adults use a chattering tchu-tchu-tchu, suggesting in manner of delivery the song of the short-billed marsh wren, although it is higher pitched and not so loud.

Francis H. Allen (MS.) mentions two other songs, only slightly different from the above. One goes something like “tick tick chick chick chick chick shree. The shree is a beady note resembling one of the cedar waxwing’s familiar notes.” Another song he writes as “see-see-see-see-see-see-see-see-see-dz'-dsee.”

Field marks.—The golden-winged warbler is easy to recognize; it is the only warbler that combines a blue-gray back and yellow in the wing. In the two other common warblers with a black throat, the black-throated blue and the black-throated green, the black runs down the sides a little way so that the white of the breast comes up in a peak in the middle of the breast, whereas in the goldenwing the line of division between the black and white runs straight across. From directly below, the goldenwing appears wholly black and white, and from this angle is marked like a chickadee, but a glance at its long, needle-sharp bill proclaims it a warbler of the genus Vermivora.

Enemies.—Prowling mammals, the enemies of ground-nesting birds, and predatory hawks are a danger to the bird. In its relation to the cowbird, Friedmann (1929) reports the bird as “a very uncommon victim.” He says: “I have only six definite records, but the species is listed as a molothrine victim by Bendire and by Short. As many as four eggs of the Cowbird have been found in a single nest of this Warbler.”

Fall and winter.—We lose sight of the goldenwing early in the season. Silent amid the dense foliage of July and August, the bird is rarely seen. During the years between 1907 and 1920, when I kept a daily record of birds seen, I met it only four times in August and only twice in September, the latest September 12.

Dr. Alexander F. Skutch sends to A. C. Bent the following account of the bird in its winter quarters: “I am familiar with the golden-winged warbler in its winter home only in Costa Rica. In this country it winters on the Caribbean slope from the lowlands up to about 6,000 feet above sea-level, and on the Pacific slope at least in the region between 2,000 and 4,000 feet. While it appears to be nowhere abundant, I found it most numerous at Vara Blanca, on the northern slope of the Cordillera Central at an elevation of about 5,500 feet. Here on one day—November 2, 1937—I saw three individuals, the greatest number I have ever recorded. This is a region of dense vegetation, subject to much cloudiness and long-continued, often violent rainstorms—one of the wettest districts of all Central America. Most of the published records are from this generally wet side of the country. Yet the bird winters sparingly in the Basin of El General on the Pacific slope, which during the first 3 months of the year may be nearly rainless. While in the Tropics, it appears never to associate with others of its own kind, but at times may roam about with mixed flocks of other small birds. It may forage among low, fairly dense, second-growth thickets, or among the tangled vegetation at the forest’s edge, or at times in the forest itself, or in groves of tall trees, high above the ground. It investigates the curled dead leaves caught up among the branches, and devours such small creatures as it finds lurking in their folds. I have not heard it sing while in its winter home.

“In Costa Rica, it appears to arrive late and to depart early, not having been recorded before September 15, nor later than April 9. Early dates of fall arrival are: Costa Rica—San José (Cherrie), September 15 and October 2; La Hondura (Carriker), September 21; Basin of El General, October 18, 1936; Vara Blanca, October 5, 1937.

“Late dates of spring departure are: Costa Rica—Basin of El General, April 8, 1936, April 7, 1937, March 30, 1939, and April 9, 1943; Vara Blanca, April 9, 1938; Guápiles (Carriker), March 30.”

DISTRIBUTION

Range.—Eastern United States to northwestern South America.

Breeding range.—The golden-winged warbler breeds north to central Minnesota (Detroit Lakes, Onamia, and Cambridge); central Wisconsin (St. Croix Falls, New London, and Shiocton); northern peninsula or Michigan (McMillan and Mackinac Island); southern Michigan (Kalamazoo, Locke, and Detroit); southern Ontario (London and Port Rowan, has occurred north to Collingwood and Bowmanville); central New York (Medina, Rochester, and Waterford); central Vermont (Rutland), and northern Massachusetts (Winchendon, Newton, and Lynn). It has been found in summer and may possibly breed in southern New Hampshire (Concord and Durham); and southwestern Maine (Emery Mills and Sandford). East to eastern Massachusetts (Lynn, Boston, and Rehoboth); southern Connecticut (New Haven and Bridgeport); northern New Jersey (Morristown); central Pennsylvania (near State College); and south through the mountains to western North Carolina (Weaverville, Waynesville, and Highlands); northwestern South Carolina (Caesars Head and Highlow Gap); and northern Georgia (Young Harris, Margret, and Oglethorpe Mountain). South to northern Georgia (Oglethorpe Mountain and Rising Faun); central Tennessee (Maryland); northern Ohio (Steuben, Port Clinton, and Wauseon); northern Indiana (Waterloo); and northern Illinois (Riverside). West to northern Illinois (Riverside); central and western Wisconsin (Baraboo Bluffs and Durand); and central Minnesota (Minneapolis, Elk River, and Detroit Lakes). It has been noted in summer, or in migration, west to St. Louis, Mo.; Lake Quivira and Lawrence, Kans.; and Omaha, Nebr.

Winter range.—In winter the golden-winged warbler is found north to central Guatemala (Cobán); and northern Honduras (Lancetilla); casually or in migration to the Yucatán Peninsula (Campeche and Mérida). East to Honduras (Lancetilla); eastern Nicaragua (Escondido River); Costa Rica (Guápiles and Guayabo); central Panamá (Lion Hill, Canal Zone); and central Colombia (Santa Marta region, Bogotá, and Villavicencio); rare or accidental in western Venezuela (Mérida). South to central Colombia (Villavicencio and El Eden). West to northwestern Colombia (El Eden, Medellín, and Antioquia); western Panamá (Chiriquí); Costa Rica (El General and Nicoya); and central Guatemala (Cobán).

Migration.—Late dates of spring departure are: Colombia—Fusagasugá, March 24. Panamá—Volcán de Chiriquí, April 16. Costa Rica—Vara Blanca, April 9. Florida—Pensacola, April 22. Alabama—Hollins, May 7. Georgia—Athens, May 13. South Carolina—Clemson College, May 3. North Carolina—Raleigh, May 7. District of Columbia—Washington, May 20. Mississippi—Gulfport, April 18. Missouri—St. Louis, May 25.

Early dates of spring arrival are: Florida—Pensacola, April 5. Alabama—Barachias, April 22. Georgia—Milledgeville, April 12. South Carolina—Clemson College, April 21. North Carolina—Asheville, April 23. Virginia—Lynchburg, April 19. West Virginia—Bluefield, April 19. District of Columbia—Washington, April 24. Pennsylvania—Beaver, April 24. New York—Rochester, April 29. Massachusetts—Belmont, April 28. Louisiana—Grand Isle, April 6. Mississippi—Gulfport, April 10. Tennessee—Memphis, April 12. Illinois—Olney, April 17. Indiana—Sedan, April 27. Michigan—Plymouth, April 30. Ohio—Youngstown, April 27. Ontario—London, April 30. Missouri—St. Louis, April 18. Iowa—Keokuk, April 27. Wisconsin—Sheboygan, April 30. Minnesota—Minneapolis, April 30. The golden-winged warbler ranges west to central Iowa in migration, and in the lower Mississippi Valley is much less abundant in spring than in fall.

Late dates of fall departure are: Minnesota—Minneapolis, September 30. Wisconsin—Madison, October 11. Ontario—Point Pelee, September 2. Ohio—Ellsworth Station, September 23. Michigan—Ann Arbor, October 6. Indiana—Lyons, September 27. Illinois—Chicago, October 7. Missouri—La Grange, September 30. Kentucky—Versailles, September 25. Tennessee—Athens, September 29. Louisiana—New Orleans, September 25. Mississippi—Gulfport, October 8. Massachusetts—Danvers, September 7. New York—Brooklyn, October 2. Pennsylvania—Jeffersonville, October 2. District of Columbia—Washington, September 14. West Virginia—French Creek, September 15. North Carolina—Piney Creek, October 3. South Carolina—Chester, September 22. Georgia—Atlanta, October 9. Alabama—Greensboro, October 4.

Early dates of fall arrival are: Mississippi—Bay St. Louis, July 23. District of Columbia—Washington, August 8. Virginia—Naruna, August 23. North Carolina—Highlands, August 15. South Carolina—Charleston, August 20. Georgia—Athens, August 14. Alabama—Greensboro, August 11. Florida—Pensacola, August 14. Costa Rica—San José, September 15. Colombia—Bonda, September 6.

Casual record.—One reported seen at Fort Thorn, N. Mex., in April 1854 by Dr. Joseph Henry. Since no specimen was taken this remains on the hypothetical list for the State.

Egg dates.—Massachusetts: 14 records, May 27 to June 24; 9 records, May 30 to June 7, indicating the height of the season.

Michigan: 33 records, May 13 to June 10; 18 records, May 17 to 30.

New York: 6 records, June 3 to 24.

New Jersey: 7 records, May 25 to June 5 (Harris).

VERMIVORA PINUS (Linnaeus)

BLUE-WINGED WARBLER

Plates [12], [13]

HABITS

Bagg and Eliot (1937) write: “According to Wilson, this species was discovered by William Bartram, who gave it the descriptive name Parus aureus alis caeruleis (Blue-winged Golden Tit), and sent a specimen to ‘Mr. Edwards’ by whom it was drawn and etched. Edwards suspected its identity with the Pine Creeper of Catesby: hence its present inappropriate name, pinus.” As there are other warblers whose wings are more distinctly blue, those of this warbler being only bluish gray, the old familiar name, blue-winged yellow warbler, which stood for many years, seems more appropriate and more truly descriptive.

The blue-winged warbler is a bird of the so-called Carolinian Life Zone, with a rather restricted breeding range in the Central States and not quite reaching our northern borders. Its center of abundance in the breeding season seems to be in southern Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, northern Kentucky, northern Missouri, and southern Iowa. Its range extends northeastward to New Jersey, southeastern New York, and southern Connecticut. It is fairly common in the latter State, and I know of one small colony in eastern Rhode Island within a mile or two of the Massachusetts line. North of these points in New England it occurs only as a straggler or casual breeder. In southern New England I have found it in rather open situations, in neglected pastures where there is low shrubbery, brier patches, and bushy thickets around the edges; or in similar growth along the borders of woods, usually on dry uplands; and sometimes in the rank growth of tall grasses and weeds near the borders of swamps or streams.

Frank L. Burns wrote to Dr. Chapman (1907) of its haunts in Pennsylvania: “This species is here an inhabitant of the rather open swampy thickets, upland clearings, neglected pastures and fence rows, where the grass and weeds have not been choked out by a too thick growth of briers, bushes, saplings and vines.” Dr. Lawrence H. Wilkinshaw tells me that, in southern Michigan, “this species loves deep swampy woods, where the golden-winged warbler and cerulean warbler are found.” This is quite different from the haunts in which we find it in the east, though Dr. Chapman (1907) says: “It is not, as a rule, a deep woods warbler, though I have found it nesting in heavy forest, but prefers rather, bordering second growths, with weedy openings, from which it may follow lines or patches of trees to haunts some distance from the woods.”

Spring.—From its winter home in Central America the blue-winged warbler seems to migrate from Yucatán straight across the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf States and along the eastern coast of Texas to Louisiana. It is apparently very rare anywhere in Florida or the Keys, and along the Atlantic coast, where it is comparatively rare, it is found at low elevations. It migrates northward mainly west of the Alleghenies, seeming to avoid the mountains; the main body of the species seems to travel through the Mississippi Valley to the centers of abundance in the central States. Perhaps the birds that settle in southern New York and New England travel up the Ohio River, drifting through Pennsylvania and New Jersey to their destination. According to Milton B. Trautman (1940) this warbler seems to be a rare or uncommon spring migrant in central Ohio, and “in some migrations only 2 individuals were noted” at Buckeye Lake; this adds support to the theory that the birds follow the river along the southern border of the State.

Nesting.—Although Wilson (1831) gave a very good description of the nest of the blue-winged yellow warbler, very little was known of its nesting in southern New England prior to about 1880, when nests were found in southern Connecticut, where it is now known to be a fairly common breeder. I found two nests near West Haven, Conn., on June 8, 1910; both were close to the ground but not quite on it; one was in a clump of blackberry vines, weeds, and grasses, in a swampy corner of a scrubby lot; the other was in a bunch of grass and rank weeds on some sprout land among some mixed bushes. Again, on June 1, 1934, I photographed (pl. 12) a nest near Hadlyme, Conn., on the edge of an open, neglected field and close to the border of some young woods. It was built among and attached to the upright stems of a clump of tall goldenrod. These were all typical of the nests described below.

Massachusetts nests are very rare; Forbush (1929) gives but two nesting records for this State, and only one for Rhode Island, though I am confident that its breeds regularly in the latter State. Horace W. Wright (1909b) gives a very full account of a nest found near Sudbury, Mass., in some mixed woods, placed between the exposed roots of a decayed stump and partially concealed by a growth of ferns.

T. E. McMullen has sent me the data for several Pennsylvania nests, three in old fields, one under a cherry sprout, one under a small bush, and one 6 inches up in a tussock of goldenrod; another was under a birch sprout along the edge of an old woods road.

The nest of the blue-winged warbler is unique and quite distinctive, often shaped like an inverted cone, usually very narrow and very deep and supported by a firm cup of strong, dead leaves. I cannot improve on the excellent description given to Dr. Chapman (1907) by Frank L. Burns as follows:

Outwardly composed of the broad blades of a coarse grass, the dead leaves of the maple, beech, chestnut, cherry and oak trees; the leaf points curving upward and inward forming a deep cuplike nest in which the bird’s head and tail seem almost to meet over her back. Occasionally grass stems, coarse strips or wild grapevine bark, shreds of corn fodder, and fragments of beech and wild cherry bark appear in the make-up. Lined most frequently with wild grapevine bark laid across, instead of bent around in a circle, shredded finest on top, to which is added an occasional long black horse-hair or split grass stem, with now and then a final lining of split grass stems in place of fine bark. The shape varies in accordance to situation, outwardly a short cornucopia, a round basket, and once a wall-pocket affair, would best describe the shapes I have noticed.

Eggs.—From 4 to 7 eggs may be found in the nest of the blue-winged warbler; 5 seems to be the commonest number, and sets of 6 are not very rare. The eggs are ovate, with a tendency to short ovate, and they have only a slight gloss. The white ground color is finely speckled or sparingly spotted with “chestnut brown,” “mummy brown,” and “sayal brown,” with under markings in shades of “drab-gray.” Some sets have three or four eggs that are almost immaculate, with one egg sparingly spotted; other sets occasionally are prominently spotted with “drab-gray,” “light Quaker drab,” and “dark vinaceous-drab,” or, less often, with spots of dark “mummy brown.” Usually the majority of the markings are confined to the large end. The measurements of 50 eggs average 15.7 by 12.5 millimeters; the eggs showing the four extremes measure 16.8 by 13.0 and 14.2 by 11.6 millimeters (Harris).

Young.—An egg is laid each day until the set is complete, and incubation generally begins when the last egg is laid. The period of incubation is 10 or 11 days, and the young remain in the nest from 8 to 10 days. Mr. Burns gave Dr. Chapman (1907) the following full account of the nest life:

The task of incubation falls on the female alone. It appears that an airing is taken in the early morning or a little before midday, and again in the early evening, though perhaps not regularly every day. I have not seen the male about the nest with food at this period. The female will allow a close approach, looking into one’s eyes with that hunted look so common in wild animals, and often flushing without a protesting note. The period of incubation in the one instance was exactly ten days.

On June 13, at 6.30 p. m., five young just hatched were blind, naked and prostrate from chin to sternum. The shells were disposed of immediately, in what manner I am unable to state; the female was reluctant to vacate.

On June 15, at 2.45 p. m., the young were able to raise their heads slightly and a fluffy bit of down had appeared about the head, also a dark stripe along the back bone. The female appeared, accompanied by the male, and fed the young with small green larvae—such as may be found on the under-side of oak and chestnut leaves—and then shielded the callow young from the hot rays of the sun.

On June 16, at 6.30 p. m., when the young were three days old, a downy puff appeared between the shoulders, wing quills being dark. The strongest bird had the eyes partly open and the mouth wide open for food.

On June 18, at 7 p. m., the heads and bodies were no longer flesh-colored but were well enough covered to appear dark. The eyes were open. At a cluck from me their mouths flew open. Both parents fed them with green-colored larvae. When the male rested a moment on a brier above the nest, the female flew down and drove him away, fed the young, re-appearing with excrement in her beak, which was carried in an opposite direction from the regular approach via maple bough and poplar sapling. The male fed the young from a mouthful of very minute larvae or eggs, which were gathered from the silken nests in the unfolding leaves of a nearby poplar; after this (7.30 p. m.) the female covered the young for the night.

On June 20, at from 6.50 to 7.35 p. m., the young had been seven days in the nest. They were well feathered and of a yellowish-green cast, the short tails being tipped with yellow. The parents were more suspicious. The female came to the maple bough with something in her beak and flew down to the briers and back again several times before she dropped to the edge of the nest and fed her young. The male appeared immediately but swallowed a green grub himself upon discovery of me twenty-five feet away. The female came again in five minutes with a brownish object in her bill, but appeared more timid and refused to drop to the nest until the male set her an example of courage.

On June 21, at 6.12 p. m., the young were fully fledged in green plumage above and dirty yellow beneath. They showed fear of me for the first time, eyeing me in the same manner as the parent bird when on the nest. They were evidently ready to vacate at a moment’s notice or hasty movement on my part. The parents appeared, scolding rapidly. The female fed the young as soon as I retired to my old stand under a bush, with a rather large green grub (6.20 p. m.) and flew out to the top of a blackberry bush, followed immediately by the topmost fledgling. It could do little more than run. The adults flew to within a yard of my head, making a great outcry, and in the midst of the excitement the remainder of the young vacated the nest with feeble chips. The male gave his attention to them, while the female followed me as I beat a hasty retreat to enable them to collect their little family before dark. Eight days had elapsed since incubation was completed, and it is not at all unusual for the young of this species to leave the nest while so tiny and ragged.

Plumages.—Dr. Dwight (1900) calls the natal down “mouse-gray,” and describes the juvenal plumage, in which the sexes are alike, as, “entire body plumage olive-yellow darkest on the back and throat. Wings and tail slate-gray largely edged with plumbeous gray, the tertiaries and coverts with olive-yellow; the greater and median coverts tipped with white, yellow tinged. Rectrices largely white. Lores dusky.”

A partial postjuvenal molt begins early in July, involving the contour plumage and the wing coverts, but not the rest of the wings or the tail. This molt produces the first winter plumage in which the sexes are very much alike, the female being duller in color, especially the streak through the eye, and having less yellow on the crown. Dr. Dwight (1900) describes the first winter male as “above, bright olive-green, lemon-yellow on the crown veiled by greenish tips. Below, bright lemon-yellow, the crissum white or merely tinged with yellow. Transocular streak black. Wing coverts plumbeous gray, edged with olive-green, the greater and median tipped with white, yellow tinged, forming two broad wing-bands.”

The birds are now practically adult in plumage. The first and subsequent nuptial plumages are acquired by wear, which produces little change beyond removal of the greenish tips. Subsequent winter plumages are acquired by a complete postnuptial molt each July.

The interesting hybrids between this and the golden-winged warbler are discussed on pages 3 and 4. Kumlien and Hollister (1903) mention a probable mating of this with the Nashville warbler.

Food.—Nothing seems to have been published on the food of the blue-winged warbler beyond that mentioned above as food given to the young, which is doubtless eaten by the adults as well. It is apparently wholly insectivorous, seeking its food near the ground in the weed patches and underbrush where it lives and among the lower branches of the trees in its haunts. Probably any small insects that it can find in such places, as well as their larvae and eggs, including many small caterpillars, are eaten. Small grasshoppers and spiders are probably included. Prof. Aughey (1878) observed it catching small locusts in Nebraska. It is evidently a harmless and a very useful bird in destroying insects that are injurious to foliage.

Behavior.—Dr. Chapman (1907) writes: “It is rather deliberate in movements for a Warbler, and is less of a flutterer than the average member of the genus Dendroica. Some of its motions suggest those of the tree-inhabiting Vireos, while at times, as the bird hangs downward from some cocoon it is investigating, one is reminded of a Chickadee.” And he quotes Burns as follows:

Perched inconspicuously near the top and well out on the branchlets of a tree or sapling, preferably facing an opening, if in a thicket; it is in itself so minute an object as to be passed unseen by many, more especially as it is much less active than most of our Warblers. With body feathers puffed out to a delightful plumpness, except for the backward sweep of the head while in the act of singing, it remains motionless for quite a while. When it moves it is with a combination of nervous haste and deliberation, and its song may be heard from quite another part of the landscape with no apparent reason for the change. While it has its favorite song perches, it is quite a wanderer and not infrequently sings beyond possible hearing of its brooding mate, but oftener within fifty to two hundred feet of the nest.

Voice.—Aretas A. Saunders contributes the following study of the songs of this warbler: “The territory song of the blue-winged warbler consists of two long, buzz-like notes, the second usually lower in pitch than the first and rougher in sound, bzzzzzzz-brrrrrrrr. The pitch interval between the two notes varies from one tone to four and a half tones, but the smaller intervals, one tone and one and a half tones, are much commoner. The second note is lower in pitch than the first in about 75 percent of my records, and higher in most of the others. In a few songs the second buzz is a double note, and one may hear both lower and higher notes from a medium distance, only the lower from a greater distance, and only the higher when very near the bird.

“The pitch is not high as compared to other warblers, ranging from C ‴ to D ‴′, one tone more than an octave. The territory song commonly begins on some note from A ‴ to C ‴′. It varies in time from 1¹⁄₅ to 1⁴⁄₅ seconds, the first note being either equal to or shorter than the second. The second note is often twice as long as the first. In some songs the second note is broken into two notes, and in one record it is in four short notes, so that the song is essentially like that of the golden-winged warbler.

“After the birds have been on the breeding grounds for a week or two, singing of the nesting song begins. This song has the same buzz-like quality as the other, but it is exceedingly variable, considerably longer, and hardly ever twice alike. The song often begins with a series of short notes, like tsit tsit tsit, or contains such notes somewhere in the middle. There are usually long buzzes that change pitch by slurring upward or downward. On one occasion, I found a bird that sang a territory song and four different nesting songs. Often the nesting song is sung in flight. By June this song is heard about as frequently as the territory song, and in late summer, after the molt, it is the one most commonly heard.

“The song of this bird is heard from its arrival in spring until early July, when it ceases for a time. It is usually revived in late July or early August, and from then on may be heard fairly frequently until the birds depart about the last of August.”

In his notes sent to Dr. Chapman, Burns describes the song as, “a drowsy, locust-like, swe-e-e-e-e ze-e-e-e-e, the first apparently inhaled and the last exhaled. * * * Another song heard on the first day of arrival, on one occasion, uttered by several males in company, possibly transients here, and may be the mating song, suggests the Chickadee’s che-de-de-e, che-dee-e, and che-de-de-dee, uttered repeatedly in one form or other in excitement, and while running out on the branchlets. The call and alarm note is a rather weak chip.” Dr. Chapman (1912) records a longer song, heard later in the season as “wēē-chĭ-chĭ-chĭ-chĭ, chūr, chēē-chūr.”

Francis H. Allen tells me that the final note, ze-e-e-e-e, as rendered by Burns, “is really a very rapid series of pips, as if the bird had lips like ours and vibrated them by forcing the air through them—in other words, giving a sort of avian Bronx cheer, but high in pitch. The individual pip notes are clear, but the effect of the rapid succession is somewhat buzzy.”

The songs of the hybrid forms may be like the song of either parent form, more often like that of the goldenwing, or a mixture of the two.

The flight song, as heard by Frank A. Pitelka, is recorded as follows:

tsee-
zweé- zweé
tzip- tzip-
zee-zee-zee-zee-zee-zee- zee-zee-zee-zee-zee-zee-

The song of the blue-winged warbler is one of the high-frequency songs; Albert E. Brand (1938) gives the approximate mean as 7,675, the highest note about 8,050 and the lowest note about 7,125 vibrations per second; this compares with an approximate mean for the black-poll warbler of 8,900 vibrations per second, the highest frequency of any of the wood warblers, and an average for all passerine birds of about 4,000 vibrations per second.

Field marks.—A small warbler with a greenish olive back, yellow forehead and under parts, with a black line through the eye and two white wing bars, is a blue-winged warbler. The female is merely more dull in coloration than the male, and the young even duller. The hybrids between this and the golden-winged warbler are more puzzling, but in a general way they can be recognized; a nearly typical blue-winged warbler with a black throat is probably a Lawrence’s warbler; and a golden-winged warbler without a black throat or cheek and with a variable amount of white and yellow on the under parts and in the wing-bars, is probably a Brewster’s warbler. But there is an immense amount of individual variation between the two species, due to frequent crossing.

Fall.—Most of the blue-winged warblers move southward during August and September, though a few may linger in the southern part of the breeding range into October. Professor Cooke (1904) says: “Most of the individuals of the species migrate across the Gulf of Mexico, apparently avoiding Florida on the east and Texas and Vera Cruz on the west, as there is no record of the occurrence of this warbler in fall in Texas, and but one in Florida—that of a bird taken at Key West August 30, 1887.” But this remains to be proved.

Alexander F. Skutch writes to me: “This is another very rare migrant in Central America. It has been recorded only a few times in Guatemala and apparently not at all in Costa Rica. I have seen it only once, on the Finca Mocá, Guatemala, on October 30, 1934.”

Very little seems to be known about its winter distribution and still less about its winter habits.

DISTRIBUTION

Range.—Eastern United States to Panamá.

Breeding range.—The blue-winged warbler breeds north to southeastern Minnesota (Lanesboro); southern Wisconsin (Mazomanie, Prairie du Sac, and Glarus); northeastern Illinois (Rockford, Deerfield, and La Grange); southern Michigan (possibly Hastings, and Ann Arbor); northern Ohio (Toledo, Lakeside, Cleveland, and Austinburg); southern Pennsylvania (Carlisle); southern New York (Ossining and Whaley Lake); and Massachusetts (Springfield and Sudbury). East to eastern Massachusetts (Sudbury and Lexington); Connecticut (Westfield and Saybrook); Long Island (Mastic and Oyster Bay); New Jersey (Demarest, Morristown, and Elizabeth); southeastern Pennsylvania (Tinicum and Berwyn); probably occasionally in northern Maryland (Cecil County and Sabillasville); eastern and central Ohio (Canfield and Columbus); east-central Kentucky (Berea); central Tennessee (Nashville and Fall Creek); and central northern Georgia (Young Harris). South to northern Georgia (Young Harris, Margret, and Atlanta); northeastern Alabama (Long Island); central Tennessee (Wildersville); and northwestern Arkansas (Pettigrew and Winslow). West to northwestern Arkansas (Winslow and Fayetteville); west-central Iowa (Warrensburg); eastern Iowa (Lacey, Grinnell, Winthrop, and McGregor); and southeastern Minnesota (Lanesboro). The blue-winged warbler has occurred in summer west to eastern Kansas (Emporia and Leavenworth); central-southern and eastern Nebraska (Red Cloud, Plattsmouth, and Omaha); western Iowa (Sioux City); and north to Minnesota (Minneapolis); southern Ontario (Point Pelee, Strathroy, and West Lake); central New York (Penn Yan and Auburn); and southern New Hampshire (Manchester).

Winter range.—The principal winter home of the blue-winged warbler seems to be in Guatemala, though it has been recorded in winter from the Valley of Mexico; Puebla (Metlatoyuca); Veracruz (Tres Zapotes); to eastern Nicaragua (Río Escondido and Greytown). There is one winter record each from Costa Rica (Bonilla), Panamá (Port Antonio), and Colombia (Santa Marta Region).

On January 6, 1900, a dead blue-winged warbler (apparently dead from starvation) was picked up in Bronx Park, New York. It had only recently died and in all probability was the bird seen on December 10, in the same region.

Migration.—Late dates of spring departure are: Colombia—Santa Marta Region, March 21. Veracruz—Jalapa, April 7. Florida—Pensacola, April 25. Alabama—Guntersville, May 2. District of Columbia—Washington, May 30. Louisiana—Monroe, April 27. Texas—San Antonio, May 12.

Early dates of spring arrival are: Florida—Pensacola, April 4. Alabama—Shelby, April 4. Georgia—Atlanta, March 26. North Carolina—Arden, April 18. District of Columbia—Washington, April 23. West Virginia—Wheeling, April 23. Pennsylvania—Germantown, April 25. New York—Yonkers, April 26. Massachusetts—Lexington, May 6. Mississippi—Bay St. Louis, March 13. Louisiana—New Orleans, March 23. Arkansas—Winslow, April 2. Tennessee—Nashville, April 7. Kentucky—Eubank, April 10. Illinois—Springfield, April 29. Ohio—Columbus, April 22. Michigan—Ann Arbor, May 1. Missouri—St. Louis, April 17. Iowa—Grinnell, April 28. Wisconsin—Reedsburg, April 30. Minnesota—Lanesboro, May 7. Texas—Cove, March 27. Kansas—Onaga, April 26.

Late dates of fall departure are: Minnesota—Lanesboro, September 1. Wisconsin—Elkhorn, September 19. Iowa—Giard, September 20. Missouri—Monteer, September 17. Arkansas—Winslow, September 18. Louisiana—Monroe, October 7. Michigan—Jackson, September 13. Ohio—Oberlin, September 27. Indiana—-Bloomington, September 28. Illinois—Chicago, September 29. Kentucky—Bowling Green, October 5. Tennessee—Memphis, September 11. Mississippi—Deer Island, October 13. Massachusetts—Belmont, September 6. New York—New York City, September 25. Pennsylvania—-Jeffersonville, September 19. District of Columbia, Washington, September 14. West Virginia—French Creek, September 28. North Carolina—Reidsville, September 26. South Carolina—Huger, September 10. Georgia—Tifton, September 27. Florida—St. Marks, October 9.

Early dates of fall arrival are: District of Columbia—Washington, August 13. Georgia—Columbus, July 28. Alabama—Leighton, August 8. Florida—Key West, August 30. Mississippi—Gulfport, August 23. Texas—Cove, July 29. Tamaulipas—Matamoros, August 25. Costa Rica—Bonilla, September 8.

Banding.—Few blue-winged warblers have been banded and recovered. A bird banded at Elmhurst, Long Island, on August 17, 1935, flew into a screened porch at Westbury, Long Island, on May 7, 1937. The two places are about 15 miles apart.

Egg dates.—Connecticut: 30 records, May 25 to June 24; 20 records, May 29 to June 6, indicating the height of the season.

New Jersey: 40 records, May 16 to June 19; 29 records, May 22 to 30.

Pennsylvania: 27 records, May 28 to July 7; 14 records, May 28 to June 3 (Harris).

VERMIVORA BACHMANII (Audubon)

BACHMAN’S WARBLER

Contributed by Edward von Siebold Dingle

HABITS

Bachman’s warbler was discovered by Dr. John Bachman a few miles from Charleston, S. C., in July, 1833. According to Audubon (1841), who described and named in honor of his “amiable friend” the only two specimens taken, several other birds were seen soon after in the same locality.

More than half a century passed before the bird again appeared in America, this time in Louisiana. Charles S. Galbraith (1888), while securing specimens of warblers at Lake Pontchartrain for the millinery trade in the spring of 1886, took a single bird; in the two succeeding years he collected a number of additional specimens, 6 in 1887 and 31 in 1888. These birds were evidently migrating, for the 31 were all taken between March 2 and 20, and none could be found after the end of March. Chapman (1907) comments on Galbraith’s first specimen: “This specimen, now in the American Museum of Natural History, is prepared for a hat-piece. The feet are missing, the wings are stiffly distended, the head bent backward in typical bonnet pose, and, had it not been for an interest in ornithology which led Galbraith to take his unknown birds to Mr. Lawrence for identification, this rara avis might have become an unappreciated victim on Fashion’s altar.”

Since then the records have multiplied; but bachmanii has always been an extremely local species, even in migrations, and breeds in primeval swamps in small colonies, which are few and far between. At the present writing, the bird is one of the very rarest of North American warblers. It has been an unattained ideal to the writer; yet, having heard much about its habits from the late Arthur T. Wayne and having visited with him the former breeding grounds, he has some consolation for not having met it in life.

Wayne (1901) took a specimen of this species on May 15, 1901, near Mount Pleasant, which was the first record for South Carolina since Dr. Bachman collected the type, and says: “I am positive that I have heard this song nearly every summer in the same localities where the male was found, but I always keep out of such places after April 10 on account of the myriads of ticks and red bugs which infest them. Then, too, such places are simply impenetrable on account of the dense blackberry vines, matted with grape vines, fallen logs piled one upon another, and a dense growth of low bushes.”

Spring.—From its winter home in Cuba Bachman’s warbler enters the United States through Florida, and according to Howell (1932) the earliest date of arrival in that state is February 27. It has also been recorded from Louisiana on the same date (Chapman, 1907). The majority of individuals, however, cross to the United States mainland early in March; apparently the birds that summer in Alabama, Missouri, Arkansas, and Kentucky reach their breeding grounds by skirting the Gulf coast and continuing up the Mississippi Valley. They reach the vicinity of Charleston, S. C., in March and nesting begins at once, for Wayne (1907) found a nest on March 27 containing one egg and another on April 3 with five well-incubated eggs. He calls attention to the fact that Bachman’s warbler therefore breeds earlier than the resident pine and yellow-throated warblers.

Nesting.—Dr. Bachman did not discover the breeding grounds of this warbler, and it was more than 60 years before the first nests and eggs became known to science; Widmann (1897) found the bird breeding in the St. Francis River country of Missouri and Arkansas on May 13, 1897. The nesting area extended “over two acres of blackberry brambles among a medley of half-decayed and lately-felled tree-tops, lying in pools of water, everything dripping wet with dew in the forenoon, and steaming under a broiling sun in the afternoon.” The first nest, which he describes as being 2 feet from the ground, “was made of leaves and grass blades, lined with a peculiar black rootlet; it was tied very slightly to a vertical blackberry vine of fresh growth and rested lightly on another, which crossed the former at a nearly right angle. From above it was entirely hidden by branchlets of latest growth, and the hand could not have been inserted without at first cutting several vines, overlying it in different directions.”

Ridgway (1897) describes this nest as, “a somewhat compressed compact mass composed externally of dried weed- and grass-stalks and dead leaves, many of the latter partially skeletonized; internally composed of rather fine weed- and grass-stalks, lined with black fibres, apparently dead threads of the black pendant lichens (Ramalina, species?) which hang in beard-like tufts from button-bushes (Cephalanthus) and other shrubs growing in wetter portions of the western bottom-lands. The height of the nest is about 3¹⁄₂ inches; its greatest breadth is about 4 inches, its width in the opposite direction being about 3 inches. The cavity is about 1¹⁄₂ inches deep and 1¹⁄₂ × 2 inches wide.”

In 1906, Wayne (1907) found six nests of Bachman’s warbler near Charleston, S. C., from two of which the young had flown. "The swamp in which this warbler breeds is heavily timbered and subjected to overflow from rains and reservoirs. The trees are chiefly of a deciduous character, such as the cypress, black gum, sweet gum, tupelo, hickory, dogwood, and red oak. In the higher parts of the swamp short-leaf pines, water oaks, live oaks, and magnolias abound. The undergrowth is chiefly cane, aquatic bushes, and swamp palmetto, while patches of blackberry brambles and thorny vines are met with at almost every step.” The first two nests, found on April 17, are described as follows:

The first nest was placed upon a dead palmetto leaf, being supported by a small aquatic bush, and was completely hidden by a living palmetto leaf which overhung the nest, like an umbrella. It was in a dense swamp, two feet above the ground, and contained four pure white eggs, almost ready to be hatched.

The second nest, which was within one hundred yards of the first one, was built in a bunch of canes (Arundinaria tecta), and supported by a palmetto leaf. This nest was three feet above the ground, in a comparatively dry situation, and contained four pure white eggs in an advanced stage of incubation. * * *

The two nests are similar, being constructed of fine grass, cane leaves, and other leaves, the latter skeletonized. The second nest, taken April 17, is 6¹⁄₂ inches high, 6 inches wide, 2 inches wide at rim, and 2 inches deep. It is composed almost entirely of dead cane leaves, a little Spanish moss (Tillandsia usneoides), and a few skeletonized leaves. * * *

The female is a very close sitter; indeed so close that I found it necessary to touch her before she would leave the nest. This habit was the same in both females.

The other nests were in low bushes, vines, or canes.

During that same year Embody (1907) discovered Bachman’s warbler breeding in Logan County, Ky., and later Holt (1920) found it nesting in Autauga County, Ala. The localities in which these birds were breeding and the locations of the nests were not very different from those described above by Wayne.

Eggs.—The egg of Bachman’s warbler is ovate and pure white, and usually glossy. The only spotted egg on record is one of a set described by Holt (1920) as follows: “The nest contained four eggs, three of them pure, glossy white, the other with a dozen minute dots of light brown, mostly about the large end; all were tinted faint salmon pink by the yolks.” Three to five eggs constitute a set; three seem the usual number, with four a close second, while five are unusual.

[Author’s Note: The measurements of 42 eggs average 15.8 by 12.4 millimeters; the eggs showing the four extremes measure 16.6 by 12.9, 16.5 by 13.0, 14.9 by 12.2, and 15.8 by 11.6 millimeters.]

Plumages.—[Author’s Note: Two young birds, just able to fly from the nest and taken by Wayne on May 13, are thus described by Brewster (1905):

The male which is now before me may be described as follows:—Top and sides of head and fore part of back faded hair brown with a trace of ashy on the middle of crown; remainder of upper parts dull olive green; wings and tail (which are fully grown) as in the first winter plumage excepting that the greater and middle wing-coverts are rather more broadly tipped with light brown, forming two well-marked wing-bars; chin and throat brownish white tinged with yellow; sides of jugulum smoke gray, its center yellowish; sides of breast gamboge yellow shading into olive on the flanks; middle of breast, with most of abdomen, yellowish white; under tail-coverts ashy white. All the feathers on the under parts which are strongly yellow or olive, and those on the upper parts which are decidedly ashy or greenish, appear to belong to the autumnal plumage or, as it is now called, the first winter plumage, but all the other feathers on the head and body are evidently those of the first plumage. * * *

I have not seen the young female Bachman’s Warbler above referred to, but Mr. Wayne writes me that “It differs from the male only in these respects: The yellow on the sides of the breast is very much paler and more restricted and the back is not greenish, but brownish. The white on the tail-feathers is merely indicated on the margins of the inner webs of the tail-feathers.”

It would appear from the above that there is a sexual difference even in the juvenal plumage, and that the postjuvenal molt begins before the middle of May. This molt evidently involves all the contour plumage and the wing coverts but not the rest of the wings or the tail. The young male in first winter plumage is similar to the adult male at that season, but the crown is entirely gray, or with very little black; the feathers of the black patch on the throat, which is more restricted, are tipped with yellowish or buffy. There are no specimens available that indicate a prenuptial molt, which is probably very limited. Young males in the first nuptial plumage may be recognized by the worn and faded wings and tail.

The complete postnuptial molt of adults apparently occurs in July or earlier; I have seen no molting birds, but a large series of August birds are all in completely fresh winter plumage. In this plumage the male resembles the spring male, but the black of the crown is widely tipped with gray and the black of the breast is narrowly tipped with yellowish; these tips largely wear away before spring, although Wayne (1910) says that his “breeding males all show the olive yellow edging on the black feathers.” Similar molts and changes take place in the female, but she has no black in the crown and much less or none at all on the breast; her colors are duller and she has less white in the tail, as well as olive-green, instead of yellow, lesser wing coverts.

For a full description of individual variations in plumage, the reader is referred to Mr. Brewster’s (1891) excellent paper.]

Food.—Very little information is to be found concerning the food of this warbler, but insects undoubtedly constitute its diet. Howell (1924) says: “Five stomachs of this species from Alabama contained remains of caterpillars and a few fragments of Hymenoptera, probably ants.”

Behavior.—Wayne (1907), in writing of this bird on its breeding grounds, says: “Bachman’s Warbler is a high-ranging bird, like the Yellow-throated Warbler, and generally sings from the top of a sweet gum or cypress. It appears to have regular singing stations during the breeding season, and upon leaving a tree it flies a long distance before alighting. On this account it is impossible to follow the bird through the dark forest, and it can only be detected by its song. I have occasionally seen the males in low gall-berry bushes within six or eight inches of the ground, but their usual resorts are among the topmost branches of the tallest forest trees.”

Brewster (1891) had similar experience with migrating birds in Florida:

Nearly or quite all that has been hitherto written about this Warbler would lead one to infer that its favorite haunts are dense thickets, undergrowth, or low trees, and that it seldom ventures to any considerable height above the ground. Our experience, however, was directly contrary to this. * * * The bird, moreover, not only frequented the tops of the tallest trees, but at all times of the day and under every condition of weather kept at a greater average height than any other Warbler excepting Dendroica dominica. In its marked preference for cypresses it also resembled the species just named, but unlike it was never seen in pines. * * *

At the time of our visit the Suwanee bottoms were alive with small birds many of which were doubtless migrants. They banded together in mixed flocks often of large size and motley composition. * * * Such a gathering was nearly certain to contain from one or two to five or six Bachman’s Warblers.

These with the Parulas were most likely to be feeding in the upper branches of some gigantic cypress, at least one hundred feet above the earth, where they looked scarcely larger than bumble bees. * * *

The habits and movements of Bachman’s Warbler are in some respects peculiar and characteristic. It does not flit from twig to twig nor launch out after flying insects in the manner of most Warblers, and many of its motions are quite as deliberate as those of a Vireo. Alighting near the end of a branch it creeps or sidles outward along a twig, and bending forward until the head points nearly straight down, inserts the bill among the terminal leaflets with a peculiar, slow, listless motion, keeping it there a second or two, and repeating the leisurely thrust many times in succession without changing its foothold. The action is like that of several other members of the genus—notably H. pinus and H. chrysoptera—under similar conditions, and suggests the sucking in of liquid food, perhaps honey or dew. Not infrequently a bird would hang back downwards beneath a twig and feed from the under sides of the leaves in the manner of a Titmouse. * * *

Many of the hackberry trees along the banks of this stream contained compact bunches—nearly as large as a child’s head—of dead leaves blackened by exposure to wind and weather. These bunches probably sheltered insects or their larvae, for they attracted several species of birds, especially the Bachman’s Warblers which would work at them minutes at a time with loud rustling, sometimes burrowing in nearly out of sight and sending the loosened leaves floating down to the ground. Upon exhausting the supply of food or becoming tired of the spot—whether one of the leaf bunches or the extremity of a cypress branch—the bird almost invariably started on a long flight, often going hundreds of yards through the woods or crossing the river, instead of merely passing to the next branch or tree as almost any other Warbler would have done under similar circumstances. This habit seemed to us characteristic of the species.

Atkins wrote from Key West (Scott, 1890):

Bachman’s Warbler in its habits is very much like the Parula Warbler (Compsothlypis americana). The resemblance is more noticeable when feeding and in search of food. The birds will then penetrate a thick bunch of leaves and go through, over and all around in the most thorough manner in their exploration after insects that appeal to their taste. They are very active, and constantly in motion. They are also quarrelsome, and resent the intrusion of other species. Frequently I have noticed them fighting away the White-eyed Vireo, and where two or more Bachman’s Warblers are observed together, one is pretty sure to see them chasing and fighting among themselves. When disturbed or alarmed they are at once alert; a sharp alarm note, something like that of a Yellow-throated Warbler (D. dominica) is uttered, but more forcible and clear cut in its delivery. This is accompanied with a few jerks of the tail, and the bird is off to a neighboring tree. They are found alike in the trees, low bushes, and shrubbery, sometimes on or quite near the ground, and seem to prefer the heavy and more thickly grown woods to trees or bushes more in the open. Young birds are quite tame, but the adults as a rule were very shy and difficult to approach after having been once disturbed.

Voice.—The song of Bachman’s warbler is of a wiry or insect-like character, and has been widely compared by many observers to the music of the worm-eating and parula warblers and the chipping sparrow. It also resembles, according to Aretas A. Saunders (MS.), one of the songs of the blue-winged warbler. Brewster (1891) says:

The song is unlike that of any other species of Helminthophila with which I am acquainted and most resembles the song of the Parula Warbler. It is of the same length and of nearly the same quality or tone, but less guttural and without the upward run at the end, all of its six or eight notes being given in the same key and with equal emphasis. Despite these differences it would be possible to mistake the performance, especially at a distance, for that of a Parula singing listlessly. The voice, although neither loud nor musical, is penetrating and seems to carry as far as most Warblers'. Besides the song the only note which we certainly identified was a low hissing zee-e-eep, very like that of the Black-and-white Creeper.

Widmann (1897), observing a singing male for 8 hours, says that “the bird kept singing nearly all the time at the rate of ten times a minute with the regularity of clockwork, and its sharp, rattling notes reminded me strongly of an alarm-clock. In this regard it recalls one of the performances of Parula, whose rattle is of the same length and quality, except that it has a certain rise at the end, by which it is easily distinguished.”

Wayne (1910) heard one singing exactly like a prothonotary warbler, this song lasting for more than 20 minutes. And Howell (1924) mentions two Bachman’s warblers, observed in Alabama, that “had the habit of singing on the wing, the song being delivered just before the bird alighted on a perch after a short flight.”

Field marks.—[Author’s Note: Under certain circumstances Bachman’s warbler might be mistaken for a black-throated green warbler, but, fortunately, the two species do not frequent similar habitats at the same seasons. Mr. Brewster (1891) calls attention to the difficulty of distinguishing it from the parula warbler, when the two are seen against the sky in a lofty tree-top; at such times—

the chestnut throat-markings of the Parula showed quite as dark and distinct as the black cravat of the Bachman’s Warbler.

The latter bird, however, was the larger or rather plumper-looking of the two, and if the upper side of the wings could be seen the absence of the white bars which are so conspicuous on the wings of the Parula Warbler was quickly noticed. * * * Of course it is only the male Bachman’s Warbler which can be confounded with the Parula, for the female—setting aside occasional individuals which have black on the throat—is most like the Orange-crowned Warbler. * * * Both sexes of Bachman’s Warbler habitually carry the feathers of the crown a little raised, giving the head a fluffy appearance.]

Fall.—[Author’s Note: Wayne (1925) says: “The Bachman’s Warbler has left South Carolina before the advent of August; the latest date I have is a young male taken by me on July 16, 1919.” But he records a specimen which struck the lighthouse on Tybee Island, Ga., on September 23, 1924; he thought that this bird might have come from somewhere in the Mississippi Valley region, where the species breeds much later than in South Carolina. Atkins sent the following notes to W. E. D. Scott (1890):

Key West, Florida, 1889. First arrival from north, July 17, one adult male and one young female. Next observed July 23, three birds. Not seen again until July 31, though I was watching for them almost continually; three birds again on this date. August 4, found them more common perhaps a dozen birds in all were seen. From this time till August 25 inclusive, I found them regularly in small numbers. On August 8, 11, and 25 they were most abundant, particularly so on the first-named date, when as many as twenty-five or thirty birds were seen. After the 11th there was a decline in the numbers until the 25th, when they were again almost as numerous as on the 8th, but none were observed after the 25th.

Bachman’s warbler is said to spend the winter in western Cuba and the Isle of Pines, migrating through Florida and the Keys.]

DISTRIBUTION

Range.—Southeastern United States and Cuba.

Breeding range.—Although Bachman’s warbler was described more than a hundred years ago its range is still very imperfectly known. After its discovery near Charleston, S. C., in 1833, the bird remained unknown until rediscovered in 1886 near Lake Pontchartrain, La. The first nest was found in 1897 in southeastern Missouri, nearly the northwestern border of the range as now known. It was not until 1901 that the species was again found near Charleston and in 1905 the first young birds were collected in the same swamp where the type specimen was collected.

Bachman’s warbler breeds, locally north to northwestern Arkansas (possibly Winslow, Big Creek, and Bertig); southeastern Missouri (Grandin, Senath, and has occurred in Shannon County); central Kentucky (Russellville and Mammoth Cave); possibly occasionally in southern Indiana, since a pair was seen throughout the breeding season at Indianapolis; north-central Alabama (Irondale); and southern South Carolina (Charleston). East to the coastal swamps of South Carolina (Charleston), and Georgia (Savannah). South to Georgia (Savannah and possibly the Okefenokee Swamp); southern Alabama (Tensas River); and southern Louisiana (West Baton Rouge Parish). West to southeastern Louisiana (West Baton Rouge Parish) and northwestern Arkansas (Winslow, possibly). In addition, specimens have been recorded at Fayetteville, Ark.; Versailles, Ky.; Aylett, Va.; and Raleigh, N. C.

Winter range.—The only known wintering place for the Bachman’s warbler is the island of Cuba. It has occurred in the Bahamas in fall migration. Color is given to the theory that this species may occasionally spend the winter in the deep swamps of Georgia and Florida, by the collection of a specimen in Okefenokee Swamp on December 30, 1928, and the occurrence of several in December of 1932. A specimen was collected at Melbourne, Fla., on January 27, 1898.

Migration.—That Bachman’s warbler migrates through the Florida Keys is indicated by the large number seen at Key West in fall migration and by the many that have struck the light at Sombrero Key. On March 3, 1889, 21 birds of this species struck the light and five more were killed on April 3.

Early dates of spring arrival are: Florida—Lukens, February 27. Georgia—Atlanta, April 18. Alabama—Woodbine, March 20. Mississippi—Deer Island, March 21. Louisiana—Mandeville, February 27.

In spring the latest date at Dry Tortugas Island, Fla., is April 9 and the earliest fall arrival at Key West, Fla., July 17.

Fall departure dates are: Georgia—Savannah, September 24. Florida—Key West, September 5.

Egg dates.—Missouri: 4 records, May 13 to 17.

South Carolina: 19 records, March 27 to June 17; 10 records, March 27 to April 4.

VERMIVORA PEREGRINA (Wilson)

TENNESSEE WARBLER

Plate [14]

HABITS

Alexander Wilson (1832) discovered this warbler on the banks of the Cumberland River in Tennessee and gave it the common name it has borne ever since, although it seems inappropriate to name a bird for a State so far from its main breeding range in Canada. Only two specimens were ever obtained by him, and he regarded it as a very rare species, possibly a mere wanderer from some other clime, hence the name peregrina. Audubon never saw more than three individuals, migrants in Louisiana and at Key West. And Nuttall, it seems, never saw it at all. Its apparent rarity in those early days was, perhaps, due to the fact that it is inconspicuously colored and might easily be overlooked or mistaken for a small plainly colored vireo or for the more common Nashville warbler; its fluctuation in numbers from year to year in different places may also have suggested its apparent rarity. Here in Massachusetts, we have found it very common in certain years and very scarce in others.

Spring.—Professor Cooke (1904) says: “In spring migration the Tennessee warbler is rarely found east of the Alleghenies, nor is it so common in the Mississippi Valley as during the fall migration.” And he makes the rather surprising statement that “the Biological Survey has received no notes from the South Atlantic States on the spring migration of the Tennessee warbler, nor from Alabama, Mississippi, or Louisiana, though two birds were seen in April in Cuba and some were taken on the island of Grand Cayman, and the species has been noted several times in spring at Pensacola, Fla.” Yet he gives April 26, 1885, as the date of its arrival at Rising Fawn, Ga. And H. H. Kopman (1905) writes:

In a small lot of warblers sent Andrew Allison, In the spring of 1902, from the lighthouse on Chandeleur Island, off the southeast coast of Louisiana, was a Tennessee Warbler that had struck the lighthouse April 13. While I had some dubious records of the occurrence of the Tennessee Warbler at New Orleans in the early part of April, it was not until 1903 that I saw the species, in spring, and then in some numbers, singing, and loitering to a degree that surprised me, for the first of these transients appeared April 26, and the last was noted May 9. They were restricted almost to one spot, a thicket of willows beside a pond in the suburbs of New Orleans. I observed others the latter part of April, 1905.

This warbler seems to be a rare spring migrant through Florida; A. H. Howell (1932) gives seven records, from Key West to Pensacola, in March and April. The few records available seem to indicate that the main migration route is along the eastern coasts of Central America (Dr. Skutch tells me that he sees it both spring and fall in Costa Rica), Mexico, and Texas to the Mississippi Valley, whence it spreads out to reach its wide breeding range. Some birds may reach Florida via Cuba, and we have some evidence that it migrates across the Gulf of Mexico. It is common on the coast of Texas in spring.

Gerald Thayer wrote to Dr. Chapman (1907) that about Monadnock, N. H., the Tennessee warbler is “very rare, and seemingly irregular. It haunts blossoming apple trees, big elms, and roadside copses of mixed deciduous second growth.”

At Buckeye Lake, Ohio, according to Milton B. Trautman (1940), “the daily and seasonal numbers of no warbler species fluctuated as greatly as did those of the Tennessee Warbler. During some spring migrations it was decidedly uncommon, and never more than 5 individuals were recorded in a day nor more than 35 for the spring. During other years as many as 250 individuals (May 16, 1929) were observed in a day, and more than 800 were noted during the migration. * * * The birds in spring chiefly inhabited the upper half of the taller trees of both upland and lowland wooded areas and also the upper parts of rows or groups of tall trees along the lake shore, streams, and about farmhouses.”

It must have been a very common migrant in Minnesota at one time, for Dr. Roberts (1936) writes:

Formerly, when all Warblers were more abundant than now, the little Tennessee flooded the tree-tops for a week or ten days in such numbers as to equal, if not excel, all other species put together, excepting only the Myrtle. Insignificant in size and inconspicuous in garb, it made up for these shortcomings by numbers and incessant vocal effort, indifferent performer though it is. It is still one of the commonest species. It keeps well up among the topmost branches and moves restlessly about in search of food, singing meanwhile with little apparent effort and announcing its passage from one tree-top to another by a succession of sharp little yeap-yeaps that are almost as characteristic to the trained ear as the song itself.

A. D. Henderson, of Belvedere, Alberta, tells me that the Tennessee warbler is probably the most numerous of the warblers which spend the summer in the territory around Belvedere and in the Fort Assiniboine District. It breeds mainly in poplar woods, but I have also found nests in dry muskeg.

Nesting.—Prior to the beginning of the present century very little authentic information on the nesting habits of the Tennessee warbler was available. Professor Cooke (1904) records two sets of eggs taken by one of the parties of the Biological Survey in 1901 at Fort Smith, Mackenzie, of which he says: “These eggs are among the first absolutely authentic specimens known to science.” And Dr. Chapman (1907) remarked: “The Tennessee Warbler awaits a biographer.” Since then, we have learned much about it, mainly through the writings of B. S. Bowdish and P. B. Philipp, who found it breeding abundantly in New Brunswick. In their first paper (1916) they describe the summer haunts and the nesting habits of this warbler as follows:

The region in question is particularly well adapted to the nesting requirements of the Tennessee Warbler, as we noted them during the above period. Extensive lumbering has removed the greater part of the large growth spruce and balsam timber, which forms the great bulk of the forests of this region, leaving areas of small trees, which, in the older clearings, have grown thickly, and to an average height of ten feet. These are interspersed with areas of more or less open, large timber, and others where the second growth has reached little more than the proportions of somewhat scattered shrubbery. The essentially level surface is frequently scored by slight depressions which form the beds of tiny streams, bordered on either side by boggy ground, dotted with grass tussocks, bushes and small trees, and overspread with a luxuriant growth of moss. Such areas are most numerous in cleared tracts, but not infrequent in the edges and the more open portions of the woods. These are the summer home-sites of the Tennessee Warbler. * * *

At the time of our visit to the breeding country, in the middle of June, nest building was completed and full sets of eggs had been laid. Altogether, ten nests were located, all built on the ground in substantially the same general sort of situation, and all but two were found by flushing the bird. The nest is built in the moss, usually in a wet place at the foot of a small bush, and in most cases in woods, somewhat back from the more open part of the clearings. A hollow is dug in the moss, usually beneath an overhanging bunch of grass. The nest is in nearly every case entirely concealed and it is impossible to see it from any view-point without displacing the overhanging grass. Consequently unless the bird is flushed it would be all but impossible to find it. The outer foundation of the nest is of dry grass forming quite a substantial structure. Several nests had wisps of grass stems extending from the front rim, as noted in description of the first nest below. It is lined, usually, with fine dry grass, to which in some instances the quill-like hairs of the porcupine, or white moose hairs, are added, and more rarely still, fine hair-like roots which were not identified. * * *

This species seems to be somewhat gregarious. In 1914, in one small clearing, five males were heard singing at the same time. In 1915, in the same clearing, three males were heard singing at once, and two nests were found. In almost every clearing of suitable size at least two pairs of birds were found, the nests being sometimes located rather close together. * * *

On the second day of our sojourn, June 19, we visited one of the typical nesting places of this warbler, a boggy cleared swale, with scattering, small second growth, and soon flushed a female from a nest containing six fresh, or practically fresh, eggs. This nest, typical of the majority of those found in both construction and situation, was placed in the side of a small tussock, bedded in moss and completely overhung by the dead grass of the previous year’s growth. The nest was composed entirely of fine, nearly white, dead grass stems. From the front rim protruded outward and downward, a wisp of dead grass tips, lying over the lower grasses in the tussock, and shingled over by the overhanging grass, establishing a continuity of the side of the tussock, thus cunningly adding to the perfect concealment. A tiny tree and one or two bush shoots grew from the tussock, close to the nest and this feature was typical of the greater number of the nests found.

They give the measurements of four nests; the outside diameter varied from 3 to 4 inches, the inside diameter from 1¹⁄₈ to 2 inches, the outside depth from 2 to 3¹⁄₄, and the inside depth from 1¹⁄₈ to 1¹⁄₂ inches. What nests I have seen, in collections, all appeared much flatter than the above measurements indicate, but they were probably flattened in transit. All that I have seen seemed to consist entirely of very light, straw-colored grass rather lightly arranged. Some observers mention moss in the composition of the nest, but the nests are evidently made in the moss and not of it.

Dr. Paul Harrington mentions in his contributed notes four nests that he found near Sudbury, Ontario: “The nests were all similarly situated in a clump or mound of sphagnum, well arched so that to obtain a full view of the nest it was necessary to part the sphagnum, in shaded areas on the borders of black spruce bogs. These, and others I have examined, have always been constructed entirely of fine straw-colored grasses, whereas in those of the Nashville warbler a few hairs or gold-threads were generally incorporated in the structure.”

Philipp and Bowdish (1919) record in a later paper the finding of a number of additional nests in New Brunswick, and say: “The experience of the past two years has demonstrated that while the boggy ground nesting, previously described, is the really typical and by far the most common form, not a few of these birds nest on higher and dryer ground. One such nest, found June 24, 1918, was well up on a steep hillside, in rather open woods, on fairly dry ground, utterly devoid of moss and grass cover. It was built among a thick growth of dwarf dogwood, and under a tiny, crooked stemmed maple sapling, very well concealed, and was rather more substantially built than the average nest of this species.”

The nesting history of the Tennessee warbler would not be complete without mentioning two authentic records made in 1901. J. Parker Norris, Jr. (1902), reported receipt of a set of four eggs, collected by Major Allan Brooks on June 15, 1901, at Carpenter Mountain, Cariboo, British Columbia. This is apparently the first authentic set of eggs ever taken, as those mentioned above by Professor Cooke were taken a few days later. In this far western locality, the birds “generally frequented the clumps of aspen trees and Norway pines, where the ground was covered with a thick growth of dry pine grass.” Major Brooks found several other nests in the same locality, and says in his notes: “The nests were always on the ground, sometimes at the foot of a small service berry bush or twig. They were all arched over by the dry pine grass of the preceding year, this year’s growth having just well commenced.”

The Fort Smith nests, referred to by Professor Cooke, were recorded by Edward A. Preble (1908) as follows:

Nests containing eggs were found by Alfred B. Preble on June 20 and 27, the eggs, five in number, being fresh in each instance. The first nest was embedded in the moss at the foot of a clump of dead willows near the edge of a dense spruce forest. It was rather slightly built of dead grass with a lining of the same material, and was protected from above by the overhanging bases of the willows, and by the strips of bark which had fallen from them, so that the nest could be seen only from the side. The second nest was more bulky, was composed outwardly of shreds of bark, coarse grass, and Equisetum stems, and was lined with fine grass. It was placed on the ground beneath a small fallen tree, in a clearing which had been swept by fire a year or two previously.

W. J. Brown, of Westmount, Quebec, tells me that he and L. M. Terrill in an hour found 16 nests of this warbler in a corner of a sphagnum bog, and, “there must have been about 100 pairs nesting in this ideal spot at the time.”

Eggs.—The Tennessee warbler lays large sets of eggs, from four to seven, with sets of six common. Philipp and Bowdish (1919) state, “it appears that more full layings of six eggs are to be found than of five.”

The eggs are ovate to short ovate and have only a slight luster. The ground color is white or creamy white, and the markings, in the form of speckles and small spots, are in shades of “chestnut” and “auburn,” sometimes intermingled with “light vinaceous-drab.” On some the markings are well scattered over the entire surface while on others they are concentrated at the large end, often forming a loose wreath. Only occasionally do the spots assume the proportions of blotches. The measurements of 50 eggs average 16.1 by 12.4 millimeters; the eggs showing the four extremes measure 17.8 by 12.7, 16.8 by 13.1, 14.8 by 12.3, and 15.8 by 11.4 millimeters (Harris).

Young.—Nothing seems to have been recorded on the period of incubation, which is performed by the female alone. Nor do we know anything about the care of the young or their development.

Plumages.—Dr. Dwight (1900) says that the young Tennessee warbler in juvenal plumage, in which the sexes are alike, is similar to the young Nashville warbler in similar plumage but lacks the brownish cast and has a faint transocular stripe. He describes it as “above dull grayish olive-green, the rump brighter. Wings and tail clove-brown, the primaries whitish edged, the secondaries, tertiaries and wing coverts greenish edged with two yellowish white wing bands. Below grayish buff rapidly fading when older to a greenish gray; abdomen and crissum pale straw-yellow. Trace of ducky transocular streak.”

The incomplete postjuvenal molt, involving the contour plumage and the wing coverts, but not the rest of the wings or the tail, begins about the middle of July. This produces the first winter plumage, in which the young male is “above, bright olive-green, gray tinged on the pileum. Below, olive-yellow darker on the flanks, the abdomen and crissum white. Superciliary line and orbital ring buff. Transocular streak dull black.” The young female “differs from the male in having the lower parts more washed with olive-green.” Young and old birds are now practically indistinguishable.

Dickey and van Rossem (1938) say that the prenuptial molt “begins in late February and is not finished before about the middle of March. The molt involves most of the anterior body plumage, but progresses so slowly that this species never has the ragged ‘pin-feathered' appearance so often seen in Dendroica aestiva at the spring molt.” Dr. Dwight noticed the beginning of this molt as early as January 14. He says it “involves chiefly the head, chin and throat. The ashy gray cap is acquired, the chin, throat, and superciliary line become white, the throat is tinged with cream-buff and the transocular streak black. The yellow tints of the feathers retained below are lost by wear.” In the female, this molt is less extensive than in the male, and “the crown never becomes, even in later plumages, as gray as that of the male, but always has a brown or greenish tinge.”

Subsequent molts consist of a complete postnuptial in July and a partial prenuptial molt in late winter and early spring as in the young bird.

Food.—Bowdish and Philipp (1916) sent four stomachs of birds collected in June to the U. S. Biological Survey for analysis. One of these was empty. Of the other three, one contained 8 small caterpillars (Tortricidae), 35 percent; dipterous fragments, 23 percent; a small spider, 2 percent; and scalelike fragments (perhaps of some catkin), 40 percent. Another held a camponotid ant, 16 percent; at least 78 small caterpillars (Tortricidae), 75 percent; a snail (Vitrea hammoides), 4 percent; and unidentified vegetable fragments, 5 percent. The other contained 3 lampyrids (near Podabrus), 8 percent; a small coleopterous (?) larva, 3 percent; about 15 small caterpillars (as above), 25 percent; a neuropterous insect (apparently a caddis fly), 50 percent; 2 small spiders, 14 percent; and a trace of unidentified vegetable matter.

Several observers have complained that Tennessee warblers do considerable damage to grapes, and this is undoubtedly true. W. L. McAtee (1904), while investigating the damage done by this and the Cape May warbler, found that—

in the arbor under observation, which was a small one, scarcely a grape and not a cluster was missed. The damage, however, was inconsiderable as the birds did not commence to use their appropriated share of the crop until the owner had taken all he desired. * * * Both species were constantly busy catching insects on the vines, and on a walnut and some appletrees near by. Frequently, however, they dashed into the vines and thrust their bills quickly into a grape. Sometimes they withdrew them quickly; again they poked around in the interior of the grape a little, and always after these attacks, they lifted their heads as in drinking. This action suggested a reason for piercing the grapes, that I am satisfied is the true one, that is, the obtaining of liquid refreshment.

A supply of available drinking water for the birds, might help to protect the grapes. And, as the warblers feed on insects that seriously damage the grapevines, the good work they do may compensate for the grapes that they damage. The stomach of one Tennessee warbler examined by Mr. McAtee contained a Typhlocyba comes, an especial pest of the grape, a destructive jassid or leafhopper, 6 caterpillars which were doing all in their power to eat up the leaves remaining on the vines, 2 spiders, a bug (Corizus), a weevil, and one parasitic hymenopteron (the only insect that was not harmful).

S. A. Forbes (1883) found that a stomach taken from an orchard infested by canker-worms contained about 80 percent of these destructive larvae and about 20 per cent beetles. Professor Aughey (1878) observed these warblers catching young locusts in Nebraska. Clarence F. Smith adds, in some notes sent to me, that “in the fall, during migration time, Tennessee warblers often glean their food from dense patches of such weeds as sunflower, goldenrod, and ragweed,” and that “sumac, poison ivy, and other berries are sometimes eaten in small quantity.”

F. H. King (1883) has considerable to say about the damage done to Delaware and Catawba grapes in Wisconsin; as soon as they are wounded, they are attacked by ants, bees, and flies and soon destroyed. But he thinks the service rendered more than compensates for the harm done. He refers to the feeding habits of the Tennessee warbler as follows:

It is very dexterous in its movements, and obtains the greater part of its food upon and among the terminal foliage of trees. Titmouse-like, it often swings pendant from a leaf while it secures an insect which it has discovered. Small insects of various kinds, not especially attractive to larger birds, are destroyed by this species in large numbers; and its slender, acute bill serves it much better in picking up these forms than a heavier, more clumsy one could. * * * Of thirty-three specimens examined, two had eaten two very small hymenoptera (probably parasitic); seven, thirteen caterpillars; three, fifteen diptera; six, thirteen beetles; three, forty-two plant-lice, among which were two specimens of the corn plant-louse Aphis maidis (?); three, thirty-five small heteroptera, .09 of an inch long; and one, eleven insect eggs.

Alexander F. Skutch has sent me the following interesting notes on the feeding habits of the Tennessee warbler in Central America: “I was surprised to find last month [March] that these warblers were visiting my feeding shelf on the guava tree in the yard. About the only food I ever serve to the birds on this table is bananas and occasionally plantains; and my chief guests are tanagers of about half a dozen brilliant kinds, a few finches, honeycreepers, and wintering Baltimore orioles. But the Tennessee warblers soon formed the habit of visiting the table and sharing the food with the bigger resident birds.

“Some seemed to linger in the vicinity much of the day, making frequent visits to the board and each time eating liberal portions of banana or the somewhat harder ripe plantain. They were intolerant of each other, and one individual would not let a second alight on the board until it had finished its own meal, although there was plenty of room and plenty of food for all. I have noticed also that the Tennessee warblers chase each other as they forage among the trees in wintering flocks. I cannot recall ever having seen any other wood warbler eat banana.

“Last November 14 a Tennessee warbler behaved most surprisingly. The grass in the yard had grown very long, and I had it cut with a machette. Late in the afternoon, after the usual rain, a lone Tennessee warbler flew down on the fallen grass and began to hop over it, catching small insects.

“It also entered the uncut grass, about a foot high, and disappeared momentarily amidst it. Twice driven up by passing people, each time it promptly returned to the grass. Its third visit to the cut grass was longest. While I stood quietly watching, it hopped deliberately about, much in the manner of a house wren, and gathered an abundant harvest from the fallen herbage. Once it found a caterpillar about an inch long, which it carefully bruised in its mandibles before swallowing it. The warbler was amazingly bold, and hopped over the grass within a yard of my feet, and allowed me to follow closely as it moved away. Early the following morning, and again at the close of the day, the warbler foraged over the lawn in the same fashion. In the evening, it continued to creep slowly over the mown grass and after all other birds had disappeared into their roosts, and the light was becoming too dim to see it clearly.”

Behavior.—Much of the behavior of the Tennessee warbler has been mentioned above, and there is little more to be said. It is a very close sitter on its nest, when incubating, and has been caught there by throwing a hat or a net over it; but, when flushed, it is rather shy about returning to it, usually making its demonstrations of protest by flitting about at a safe distance and nervously uttering a sharp chip.

The Prebles (1908) witnessed a rather remarkable flight behavior at Fort Resolution, Mackenzie:

During the forenoon of June 25, an extremely windy day, we observed a remarkable movement of these warblers. They came from the northward, flying over the point of land on which the fort is built In loose flocks of from 10 to 20 individuals. After passing the point, they either struck out directly across the bay or skirted the shore, in either case having to face a strong southeast wind. Some paused a few moments among the low bushes on the point, but the slightest alarm started them off. The flight lasted over two hours, and, during this time, upward of 300 birds were seen from our camp. Two specimens, a male and a female, were collected. The ovaries of the female contained eggs only slightly developed.

Voice.—Aretas A. Saunders contributes the following: “The song of the Tennessee warbler is a rapid series of short, loud, unmusical notes. It has been compared to the song of the chipping sparrow, but it varies more in pitch, time, and loudness, and is distinctly in two or three parts. To my ear it is much more like the chippering of a chimney swift.

“In 35 records of this song, the number of notes varies from 9 to 25, the average being 17. Only one song has a true trill in it, that is, notes so rapid that they cannot be counted. Each song is of either two or three parts, each part composed of a series of notes on the same pitch and in uniform rhythm. The parts differ from each other in pitch, time, or loudness. In a number of songs, one of the parts is a repetition of 2-note phrases. Loudness generally increases to the end of the song, but sometimes the reverse is true. Some songs rise in pitch to the end and others fall; my records are about evenly divided in this matter. A typical three part song would be something like

tit it it it it it it pita pita pita pita pita chit chit chit chit chit.

“Pitch varies from G‴ to E‴′, or four and a half tones. Single songs vary from half a tone to three and a half tones, averaging one and a half. The length of songs varies from 1⁴⁄₅ to 3¹⁄₅ seconds. An individual bird may sing a dozen different variations of the song in a short time. On the other hand, I have heard three birds in one tree singing alternately, the songs of all three being exactly alike so far as my ear could determine.”

Francis H. Allen gives me his impression of the song as follows: “The song bears some resemblance to that of the Nashville warbler, but is easily distinguished. I have written it

wi-chip wi-chip wi-chip wi-chip, wi-chip wi-chip chip chip chip chip chip chip chip.

The higher notes in the middle sometimes appear to be monosyllables, and they are sometimes omitted. The series of chips at the end are very emphatic, and the last one is perhaps accented somewhat. All the notes are staccato.”

Various other renderings of the song have appeared in print, but they all give the same impression of a variable, loud, striking song which, once learned, can be easily recognized. The bird is a very persistent singer rivaling the red-eyed vireo in this respect. Bowdish and Philipp (1916) write: “As a basis for estimating the frequency of song repetition, counts were kept on three singing birds for a period of 5 minutes each, with a result of 32, 36, and 22 songs, respectively, within the period. In one instance, a bird was observed to sing while on the wing, repeating the song twice in the course of a short flight.” Albert K. Brand (1938) found the pitch of the Tennessee warbler’s song to be well above the average, the approximate mean count being 6,600 vibrations per second, the highest note about 9,150 and the lowest 4,025; this compares with an approximate mean of 8,900 vibrations per second for the black-poll warbler, and about 4,000 for the average passerine song.

Field marks.—The Tennessee warbler has no prominent wing-bars and no very conspicuous field marks. It might be mistaken for one of the small vireos, but its bill is much more slender and acute. The male has a gray crown, a light line over the eye, and a dusky line through it; the upper parts are bright olive-green and the under parts grayish white. The female has a greener crown and more yellowish under parts. For more details, see the descriptions of plumages.

Fall.—The fall migration starts early in August, but is quite prolonged, many birds lingering in the northern States until early in October and in the southern States all through that month. During some seasons and at certain places the Tennessee warbler is exceedingly abundant, sometimes far outnumbering any other species, but it is very variable in its abundance.

Mr. Trautman (1940) says that at Buckeye Lake, Ohio, “during some years not more than 20 individuals could be recorded in a day in the southward migration, nor more than a 100 in the season. In other years the bird rivaled the Myrtle Warbler in numbers, and as many as 1,000 individuals could be seen in a day and several thousands during a migration. * * * Throughout the southward migration the species did not confine itself to the upper sections of the taller trees as in spring, but was found in almost equal numbers in smaller trees and brushy thickets, in bushes and saplings along fence rows, and in weedy fields.”

Professor Cooke (1904) says of the fall migration route: “The principal line of migration is from the Mississippi Valley across the Gulf of Mexico to Mexico and Central America. The eastern part of this route probably extends from the southern end of the Alleghenies across northwestern Florida to the coast of Yucatan and Honduras.” A. H. Howell (1932), however, gives several records for central and southern Florida, and says: “In autumn, Weston reports a large migration on October 26 and 27, 1925, when 31 birds were killed at the lighthouse near Pensacola on the two nights, and large numbers seen on the morning of October 26 in vacant lots in the city.”

Dickey and van Rossem (1938) say of the migration in El Salvador:

During the fall migration of 1925, Tennessee warblers arrived in the vicinity of Divisadero on October 13. No advance guard, that is, individuals arriving ahead of the main flights, was observed in this case. On the above-mentioned date they were suddenly found to be present in numbers, and from then on were common in every lowland or foothill locality visited. In point of relative abundance this was by far the most common warbler (resident or migratory) throughout the coastal plain and in the foothills, but it was greatly outnumbered by Dendroica virens above 3,000 feet.

The manner of occurrence was usually as small flocks of six or eight or even twenty or more birds. These combined with several other species to make up larger flocks which worked ceaselessly through the crown foliage of low, semi-open woodland. However, many were found even in the tall, dense swamp forests along the coast and also in the oak woods on Mt. Cacaguatique.

Winter.—Dr. A. F. Skutch has contributed the following account: “The Tennessee warbler winters in Central America in vast numbers. Coming later than many other members of the family, the first individuals appear in mid-September; but the species is not abundant or widely distributed until October. During the year I passed on the Sierra de Tecpán in west-central Guatemala a single Tennessee warbler appeared in the garden of the house, at 8,500 feet, on November 7 and despite frosty nights lingered into December. On November 19, 1935, I saw one on the Volcán Irazú in Costa Rica at 9,200 feet—the highest point at which I have a record of the species. At the other extreme I found a few of these adaptable birds among the low trees on the arid coast of El Salvador in February and among the royal palms at Puerto Limón, on the humid coast of Costa Rica, in March. But Tennessee warblers are most abundant as winter residents at intermediate altitudes, chiefly between 2,000 and 6,000 feet above sea-level. From 3,000 to 5,000 feet they often seem to be the most abundant of all birds during the period of their sojourn. They travel in straggling flocks and form the nucleus of many of the mixed companies of small, arboreal birds. At times ‘myriads’ is the only term that seems apt to describe their multitudes.

“I think ‘coffee warbler’ would be a name far more appropriate than Tennessee warbler for this plainly attired little bird; it was merely a matter of chance that Alexander Wilson happened to discover the species in Tennessee rather than at some other point on its long route from Canada to Central America; but the warblers themselves manifest a distinct partiality to the coffee plantations. The open groves formed by the shade trees, whose crowns rarely touch each other, yet are never far apart, seem to afford just the degree of woodland density that they prefer. It matters not whether these trees are Grevilleas from Australia with finely divided foliage, or Ingas with large, coarse, compound leaves, or remnants of the original forest—a mixture of many kinds of trees with many types of foliage: from Guatemala to Costa Rica the Tennessee warblers swarm in the coffee plantations during the months of the northern winter and are often the most numerous birds of any species among the shade trees. Possibly they may at certain times and places be as multitudinous in the high forest as in the plantations. Although I have never found them so, the negative evidence must not be allowed to weigh too heavily, for such small, inconspicuous birds, devoid of bold recognition marks, are not easy to recognize among the tops of trees over a hundred feet high.

“Tennessee warblers are fond of flowers, especially the clustered heads of small florets of the Compositae and Mimosaceae, and of the introduced Grevillea that sometimes shades the coffee plantations. They probe the crowded flower clusters, perhaps seeking small insects lurking there rather than nectar. The white, clustered stamens of the Inga—the most generally used shade tree of the coffee plantations—are especially attractive to them. Local movements within their winter range appear to be controlled by the seasonal abundance of flowers. So, in the valley of the Río Buena Vista in southern Costa Rica, at an altitude of about 3,000 feet, I found Tennessee warblers very abundant during December and January. Here they flocked not only in the forest and among the shade trees of the little coffee groves, but also in great numbers through the second-growth thickets that filled so much of the valley, where at this season there was a profusion of bushy composites with yellow or white flower-heads, and of acacia-like shrubs (Calliandra portoricensis) with long, clustered, white stamens. But during February, the third dry month, the thickets became parched and flowered far more sparingly. Now the Tennessee warblers rapidly declined in numbers, and before the end of the month disappeared from the valley. During the following year, which in its early quarter was far wetter, a number remained through March, and a few well into April.

“Tennessee warblers pluck the tiny, white protein corpuscles from the brown, velvety bases of the long petioles of the great-leafed Cecropia trees, taking advantage of these dainty and apparently nutritious tid-bits when the usual Azteca ants fail to colonize the hollow stems; for only on trees free of ants does this ant-food accumulate in abundance.

“While the Tennessee warbler departs during February from some districts where it is common in midwinter, it remains until April in regions where the dry season is not severe. After the middle of April it is only rarely seen in Central America; and there appears to be no record of its occurrence in May.”

DISTRIBUTION

Range.—Canada to northern South America.

Breeding range.—The Tennessee warbler breeds north to southwestern Yukon (Burwash Landing and the Dezadiash River); southern Mackenzie (Mackenzie River below Fort Wrigley, lower Grandin River, and Pike’s Portage); northeastern Manitoba (Churchill and York Factory); central Quebec (Fort George, Lake Mistassini, and Mingan); and possibly southern Labrador (Hawkes Bay). East to southeastern Labrador (Hawkes Bay); central Newfoundland (Lamond and Gaff Topsail). South to central Newfoundland (Gaff Topsail); Nova Scotia (Wolfville); southern New Brunswick (Grand Manan); northern and central western Maine (Mount Katahdin, Livermore, and Lake Umbagog); north-central New Hampshire (Mount Washington); south-central Vermont (Rutland); possibly northwestern Massachusetts (Hancock); southern New York (Slide Mountain); southern Ontario (Ottawa, North Bay, and Biscotasing; probably occasionally farther south); west-central Michigan (Duck Lane); probably northern Wisconsin (Plum Lake); northern Minnesota (Tower, Cass Lake, and Warren); southwestern Manitoba (Margaret and Aweme); central Saskatchewan (Emma Lake; has been found in the breeding season at Indian Head, Old Wives Creek, and Maple Creek); southern Alberta (Flagstaff, Red Deer, and Banff); and south-central British Columbia (150 Mile House and Kimquit). West to western British Columbia (Kimquit, Hazelton, Telegraph Creek, and Atlin); and southwestern Yukon (Dezadiash River and Burwash Landing).

Winter range.—In winter the Tennessee warbler is found north to central Guatemala (Volcán de Santa María, Cobán, and Gualán). East to eastern Guatemala (Gualán); northeastern El Salvador (Mount Cacaguatique); eastern Nicaragua (Río Escondido); eastern Costa Rica (Puerto Limón); eastern Panamá (Barro Colorado and Permé); northern Colombia (Santa Marta region); and northern Venezuela (Caracas). South to northern Venezuela (Caracas and Mérida); and northwestern Colombia (Concordia). West to western Colombia (Concordia and Antioquia); Panamá (Paracaté); Costa Rica (El General and Liberia); El Salvador (Puerto de Triunfo); and Guatemala (Tecpán and Volcán de Santa María). It has also been found to the first of January (possibly delayed migration) at Knoxville (1936) and at Nashville (1935), Tenn.; and one wintered (1934-35) in Cameron County, Tex.

Migration.—Late dates of departure from the winter home are: Colombia—Miraflores, April 19. Costa Rica—San Isidro del General, April 30. El Salvador—San Salvador, April 25. Guatemala—Livingston, April 8. Chiapas—Tixtla Gutiérrez, May 8. Tamaulipas—Gómez Farías, April 27.

Early dates of spring arrival are: Cuba—Habana, April 8. Florida—Sandy Key, April 13. Georgia—Athens, April 13. District of Columbia—Washington, May 2. West Virginia—French Creek, April 20. Pennsylvania—McKeesport, April 27. New York—Corning, May 3. Massachusetts—Northampton, May 8. Maine—Waterville, May 11. New Brunswick—Petitcodiac, May 19. Quebec—Quebec, May 19. Louisiana—Avery Island, April 6. Arkansas—Winslow, April 8. Tennessee—Memphis, April 9. Kentucky—Bowling Green, April 19. Indiana—Bloomington, April 12. Ohio—Columbus, April 25. Michigan—Ann Arbor, April 21. Ontario—Ottawa, May 12. Missouri—Columbia, April 22. Iowa—Sigourney, April 25. Wisconsin—St. Croix Falls, April 25. Minnesota—Clarissa, April 30. Kansas—Winfield, April 19. Nebraska—Red Cloud, April 18. South Dakota—Vermillion, May 1. North Dakota—Fargo, May 1. Manitoba—Margaret, May 3. Colorado—Estes Park, May 14. Wyoming—Torrington, May 12. Montana—Great Falls, May 9. Alberta—Belvedere, May 1. British Columbia—Carpenter Mountain, Cariboo, May 15; Atlin, May 26.

Late dates of spring departure of transients are: Cuba—Habana, May 5. Florida—Fort Myers, May 15. Alabama—Melville, May 3. Georgia—Athens, May 7. North Carolina—Chapel Hill, May 3. Virginia—Falls Church, June 3. District of Columbia—Washington, June 3. Pennsylvania—Warren, May 30. New York—Rochester, June 6. Massachusetts—Beverly, June 3. Vermont—Wells River, June 5. Louisiana—Shreveport, May 15. Mississippi—Oxford, May 15. Arkansas—Delight, May 20. Tennessee—Nashville, May 21. Illinois—Lake Forest, June 3. Ohio—Toledo, June 5. Michigan—Houghton, June 7. Ontario—Toronto, June 7. Missouri—Columbia, May 31. Iowa—Sioux City, June 6. Wisconsin—Racine, June 4. Minnesota—St. Paul, June 1. Kansas—Lawrence, May 24. Nebraska—Omaha, May 28. South Dakota—Faulkton, June 5.

Late dates of fall departure are: British Columbia—Atlin, July 26; 16-mile Lake, Cariboo, August 28. Alberta—Glenevis, September 13. Montana—Fortine, September 11. Wyoming—Laramie, October 5. Saskatchewan—Wiseton, September 29. Manitoba—Aweme, October 3. North Dakota—Fargo, October 8. South Dakota—Arlington, October 8. Nebraska—Lincoln, October 14. Kansas—Lawrence, October 22. Oklahoma—Fort Sill, October 19. Minnesota—Hutchinson, October 11. Wisconsin—Madison, October 19. Iowa—National, October 17. Missouri—St. Louis, October 19. Michigan—Ann Arbor, October 30. Ontario—Port Dover, October 10. Ohio—Columbus, October 31. Illinois—Evanston, October 28. Tennessee—Nashville, October 23. Arkansas—Jonesboro, October 19. Louisiana—New Orleans, November 8. Mississippi—Gulfport, November 12. Quebec—Montreal, September 28. Vermont—Wells River, September 29. Massachusetts—Harvard, October 1. New York—Rhinebeck, October 14. Pennsylvania—Beaver, October 26. District of Columbia—Washington, October 22. North Carolina—Mount Mitchell, October 1. Georgia—Dalton, October 30, Alabama—Birmingham, October 25. Florida—Pensacola, November 4. Cuba—Habana, November 10.

Early dates of fall arrival are: Wyoming—Laramie, August 28. South Dakota—Lennox, August 30. Kansas—Topeka, August 29. Wisconsin—Delavan, August 19. Illinois—Glen Ellyn, August 17. Missouri—Monteer, August 20. Ohio—Toledo, August 19. Tennessee—Knoxville, September 15. Arkansas—Hot Springs, September 19. Louisiana—Monroe, September 14. Mississippi—Gulfport, September 5. Vermont—Woodstock, August 22. Massachusetts—Lexington, August 11. Pennsylvania—Jeffersonville, August 27. District of Columbia—Washington, August 31. Virginia—Salem, August 23. North Carolina—Blowing Rock, September 1. Georgia—Atlanta, September 9. Alabama—Leighton, September 17. Florida—Fort Myers, September 20. Cuba—Habana, October 13. Guatemala—Huehuetenango, September 11. Nicaragua—Río Escondido, October 24. Costa Rica—San José, September 17. Panamá—New Culebra, October 24. Colombia—Santa Marta Region, October 14.

Casual records.—In 1898 an adult male of this species was found dead at Narssag, Greenland. In Bermuda one was seen on March 2, 1914, and it remained about six weeks.

Egg dates.—Alberta: 6 records, June 1 to 16.

New Brunswick: 82 records, June 10 to July 10; 46 records, June 17 to 26, indicating the height of the season.

Quebec: 30 records, June 8 to 29; 21 records, June 17 to 27.

VERMIVORA CELATA CELATA (Say)

EASTERN ORANGE-CROWNED WARBLER

HABITS

The type race of the orange-crowned warbler makes its summer home in northwestern Canada and Alaska, from northern Manitoba to the Kowak River, migrating in the fall southeastward through the United States to its winter range in the southern Atlantic States and Gulf States, from South Carolina and Florida to Louisiana. It was discovered and named by Say (1823) early in May at Engineer Cantonment, on the Missouri River, while on its northward migration.

The main migration route is through the Mississippi Valley, northwestward in the spring and southeastward in the fall. It is very rare in spring in the northern Atlantic States, though there are a few records for even Rhode Island and Massachusetts, but there are many fall records for this region, some of them remarkably late. It seems to be rare at either season in Ohio; Milton B. Trautman (1940) gives only 10 records for Buckeye Lake, 5 in spring and 5 in fall. “Eight were noted in lowlands, within 10 feet of the ground, in dense tangles of blackberry bushes, rosebushes, or grapevines. The remaining 2, both fall birds, were in rather well-drained, brushy, and weedy fields.”

Dr. E. W. Nelson (1887) says of its status in Alaska:

Throughout the wooded region of Northern Alaska, from the British boundary line west to the shores of Bering Sea, and from the Alaskan range of mountains north within the Arctic Circle as far as the tree-limit, this species is a rather common summer resident. It is known along the shores of Bering Sea and Kotzebue Sound mainly as an autumn migrant, as it straggles to the southward at the end of the breeding season. Wherever bushes occur along the northern coast of the Territory it is found at this season, and at Saint Michaels it was a common bird each summer from the last of July up to about the middle of August, after which it became rare and soon disappeared. I have never noted it on the seacoast during the spring migration.

The Prebles (1908) found it well distributed and probably breeding throughout the Athabaska-Mackenzie region. MacFarlane (1908) found it breeding as far north as the Anderson River. Kennicott, according to Baird, Brewer, and Ridgway (1874), found it nesting about Great Slave Lake. And Ernest Thompson Seton (1891) reported it as a common summer resident and breeding near Carberry, Manitoba.

Nesting.—Herbert Brandt (1943) found two nests of the eastern orange-crowned warbler along the Yukon River in Alaska, about 20 miles up from the sea, on July 1, 1924. His first nest contained five eggs, advanced in incubation. The nest was near the bank of the river, “in a bush 18 inches from the ground. The nest was loosely made of coarse grass held together with bark strips, silvery plant down, and a few feathers, one of which was a mottled feather of the Northern Varied Thrush. Twenty feet away was another nest of the same species, which held three young just hatched and two pipped eggs. * * * The measurements of the two nests cited are: height, 2.25 to 3.00; outside diameter, 3.5; inside diameter, 1.75; and depth of cup, 1.50 to 1.75 inches.”

MacFarlane’s (1908) nests, found on the Anderson River, “held from four to six eggs each, and they were made of hay or grasses lined with deer hair, feathers and finer grasses, and were usually placed in a shallow cavity on the ground in the shade of a clump of dwarf willow or Labrador tea.”

Baird, Brewer, and Ridgway (1874) write:

The nests of this species, seen by Mr. Kennicott, were uniformly on the ground, generally among clumps of low bushes, often in the side of a bank, and usually hidden by the dry leaves among which they were placed. He met with these nests in the middle of June in the vicinity of Great Slave Lake. They were large for the size of the bird, having an external diameter of four inches, and a height of two and a half, and appearing as if made of two or three distinct fabrics, one within the other, of nearly the same materials. The external portions of these nests were composed almost entirely of long, coarse strips of bark loosely interwoven with a few dry grasses and stems of plants. Within it is a more elaborately interwoven structure of finer dry grasses and mosses. These are softly and warmly lined with hair and fur of small animals.

E. A. Preble (1908) reported a nest found near Fort Resolution that “was placed among thick grass on a sloping bank, and was composed outwardly of grass and Equisetum stems, with a layer of finer grass and with an inner lining of hair.”

Several nests have been reported from points farther south as being of this warbler, but these are probably all referable to the Rocky Mountain subspecies Vermivora celata orestera.

Eggs.—The orange-crowned warbler lays from 4 to 6 eggs to a set, probably most often 5. Dr. Brandt (1943) describes his Alaska eggs as follows: “The egg is short ovate in outline, the surface moderately glossy, and the shell delicate. The ground color is white and is prominent because the markings obscure but one-fifth of its area. These spots are very small, and are peppered over the broad end in an ill-defined wreath, while over the smaller two-thirds the egg is almost immaculate. In color the markings range from hydrangea red to ocher red; and underlying these are a few weak spots of deep dull lavender.” Probably a series of the eggs would show all the variations shown in eggs of the other races. The measurements of 50 eggs, including those of the Rocky Mountain race, average 16.2 by 12.7 millimeters; the eggs showing the four extremes measure 18.3 by 13.2, 17.0 by 14.2, and 14.7 by 12.2 millimeters (Harris).

Plumages.—Dr. Dwight (1900) describes the juvenal plumage as “above, brownish olive-green. Wings and tail olive-brown, broadly edged with bright olive-green, the median and greater coverts tipped with buff. Below, greenish buff paler and yellower on abdomen and crissum. Lores and auriculars grayish buff.”

The first winter plumage is acquired by a postjuvenal molt that involves the contour plumage and the wing coverts but not the rest of the wings or the tail. The sexes are alike in the juvenal plumage and much alike in all plumages, except that the female is always duller; in her first winter plumage the orange crown is lacking, and it is more or less suppressed and sometimes wholly lacking in subsequent plumages. Dr. Dwight (1900) describes the young male in first winter plumage as “above, bright olive-green, mostly concealed on the pileum and nape with pale mouse-gray edgings that blend into the green. The crown brownish orange concealed by greenish feather tips. Wing coverts broadly edged with dull olive-green, sometimes the greater coverts with faint whitish tips. Below, pale olive-yellow, grayish on the chin and sides of neck with very indistinct olive-gray streaking. A dusky anteorbital spot. Lores, orbital ring and indistinct superciliary stripe mouse-gray.”

The first nuptial plumage is acquired by a partial prenuptial molt, “which involves chiefly the anterior part of the head and the chin. A richer, half concealed, orange crown patch is acquired; the lores and adjacent parts become grayer, the anteorbital spot darker. Wear makes birds greener above and slightly yellower below. Young and old become practically indistinguishable.”

Subsequent molts consist of a complete postnuptial molt in summer and a partial prenuptial molt in early spring, as described above. The adult winter plumage “differs chiefly from first winter dress in possessing a larger, more distinct crown patch,” in the male, and more or less of it in the female. “The color below is uniform and paler.”

Food.—Nothing seems to be known about the summer food of the orange-crowned warbler, but it probably does not differ greatly from that of the lutescent warbler, whose food has been more thoroughly studied. In winter, it probably eats a fair proportion of berries and other fruits, especially when it spends the winter somewhat farther north than insects are to be found in abundance. It has also been known to come to a feeding station and eat suet, peanut butter, and doughnuts. In summer, it is probably almost wholly insectivorous. I can find no evidence that it does any damage to grapes or other cultivated fruits on its fall migration.

Voice.—Ernest Thompson Seton (1891) says of an orange-crowned warbler that he shot in Manitoba on May 12, 1883: “It was flitting about with great activity among the poplar catkins, and, from time to time, uttering a loud song like 'chip-e chip-e chip-e chip-e chip-e.' On May 141 shot another Orange-crowned Warbler. Its song is much like that of the Chipping Sparrow, but more musical and in a higher key. The bird is extremely restless and lively, moving about continually among the topmost twigs of the trees and uttering its little ditty about once in every half minute.”

Dr. Lynds Jones wrote to Dr. Chapman (1907): “The song is full and strong, not very high pitched, and ends abruptly on a rising scale. My note book renders it chee chee chee chw’ chw'. The first three syllables rapidly uttered, the last two more slowly. One heard late in the season sang more nearly like Mr. Thompson’s description: chip-e, chip-e, chip-e, chip-e, chip-e, but with the first vowel changed to e, thus eliminating what would appear to be a marked similarity to the song of Chippy. Even in this song the ending is retained.”

Francis H. Allen tells me that this warbler “has a chip note suggesting that of the tree sparrow but sharper.”

Field marks.—The orange-crowned warbler is a plain bird, with practically no white markings in wings or tail, clad in dusky olive-green, paler below, the underparts sometimes obscurely streaked with olive-gray. The brownish orange crown patch is usually not conspicuous, except in worn summer plumage, and lacking in young birds and some females.

Fall.—Orange-crowned warblers begin to leave northern Alaska in August. Dr. Nelson (1887) says that it is rare about St. Michael after the middle of the month, his latest date being August 24. The birds obtained at that season were mainly young of the year. “In fall this species frequents the vicinity of dwellings and native villages, where it searches the crevices of the fences and log houses for insects.”

The southeastward migration through central Canada and the United States seems to be leisurely and quite prolonged, mainly in September and early October, but often continuing into November. In Massachusetts, there are numerous late fall records and some winter records. Horace W. Wright (1917) has published an extensive paper on this subject and has collected the following Massachusetts records: “Mr. Brewster’s eleven records lie within the period of autumn from September 23 to November 28. There are three for September, namely, the 23rd and the 30th twice; none for October; and eight for November, namely, 7th, 9th, 10th, 17th, 20th-21st, 23rd-24th, 25th, and 28th. On two occasions two birds were present, November 9 and 28. My own records run later. The earliest is November 5, and the latest is January 23. They are November 5, 18, 20, 22, 28, 29, January 10, 19, 23.” As Mr. Wright’s records cover a period of 8 years ending with January 1916, they indicate that the orange-crowned warbler is not such a rare straggler in Massachusetts as is generally supposed, and may be looked for almost any year in late fall, or even winter. Mr. Forbush (1929) says of its occurrence there:

This warbler may be found almost anywhere in New England during the fall migration wherever there are trees and shrubbery. In my experience the bird has been either in the trees or in the tops of rather tall shrubs and never very high, but like other members of the genus, though it nests on the ground it is said to spend considerable time in the upper parts of trees. It seems fond of the edges of woodlands near water, but it also frequents open woods, orchards, fruit gardens and shade trees, where amid the foliage it is very seldom noticed by the ordinary observer. When approached it divides its attention between the observer and its insect prey, which it hunts assiduously in the manner of others of the genus. This warbler may be seen rarely in small companies, but more often singly or in company with a small group of warblers of other species.

Dr. Winsor M. Tyler contributes the following: “The orange-crowned warbler is a rare bird in New England, but we may look for it with some hope of success in the very late autumn, through November and even into December, during the soft, calm days of Indian Summer. As we walk along over the dead leaves, wet from last night’s frost, watching for the bird in the shrubs by the roadside and in neglected pastures, almost the only sound is the ticking of the falling leaves as they hit against the branches; and mistiness is all about us. Several seasons may pass before we hear its sharp chip, which stands out clearly from the gentle voice of the late-lingering myrtle warblers, and see it flitting all alone among the twigs, or on the ground—a lonely, dark, obscure little bird, darker and more deliberate than the kinglets. It is strange that a Vermivora should linger here with winter so near at hand, but indeed there is evidence which leads us to believe that a few of these warblers may attempt to spend the winter in the southern part of this region, and should any one of them withstand the cold season, it may furnish, when it moves northwards towards its breeding ground, one of the exceedingly rare instances of the occurrence of the bird on the northern Atlantic coast in spring.”

Winter.—The principal winter home of the orange-crowned warbler seems to be in the southern Atlantic and Gulf States. Of its occurrence in coastal South Carolina, Arthur T. Wayne (1910) writes:

My earliest date for its arrival is October 30, 1897, but it is never abundant until the middle of November, remaining until the second week in April. It is capable of enduring intense cold. I have seen numbers of these highly interesting birds near Charleston when the thermometer ranged as low as 8° above zero and it is always more active and hence oftener seen when the weather is cold and cloudy.

The Orange-crowned Warbler inhabits thickets of lavender and myrtle bushes as well as oak scrub, and its center of abundance is on the coast islands, the greater part of which is veritable jungle, in which it particularly delights. Its only note while it sojourns here is a chip or cheep which very closely resembles the note of the Field Sparrow in winter.

Dr. Chapman (1907) says: “During the winter I have found the Orange-crowned Warbler a not uncommon inhabitant of the live-oaks in middle Florida where its sharp chip soon becomes recognizable. In Mississippi, at this season, Allison (MS.) says that ‘its favorite haunts are usually wooded yards or parks, where the evergreen live oak and magnolia can be found; I have seen it most commonly among the small trees on the border of rich mixed woods, above an undergrowth of switch cane. Coniferous trees it seems not to care for, though I have seen it in the cypress swamps.'”

DISTRIBUTION

Range.—From Alaska and northern Canada to Guatemala.

Breeding range.—The orange-crowned warbler breeds north to north-central Alaska (Kobuk River and Fort Yukon; a specimen has been collected near Point Barrow); northern and western Mackenzie (Fort McPherson, Fort Anderson, Lake Hardisty, and Hill Island Lake); northern Saskatchewan (near Sand Point, Lake Athabaska); northeastern Manitoba (Churchill and York Factory); and casually to northwestern Quebec (Richmond Gulf). East to eastern and southern Manitoba (York Factory, Winnipeg, and Aweme); southwestern Saskatchewan (East End and the Cypress Hills); southeastern Alberta (Medicine Hat); western Montana (Great Falls, Belt, and Bozeman); northwestern and southeastern Wyoming (Yellowstone Park and Laramie); central Colorado (Denver, Colorado Springs, Wet Mountains, and Fort Garland); central New Mexico (Taos Mountains and Willis); and southwestern Texas (Guadalupe Mountains). South to southwestern Texas (Guadalupe Mountains); south-central New Mexico (Capitan Mountains); southeastern and northwestern Arizona (Tucson, Santa Catalina Mountains, and north rim of the Grand Canyon); southern Nevada (St. Thomas); and southern California (Panamint Mountains, San Bernardino Mountains, San Jacinto Mountains, Coronado Beach, and San Clemente Island). West to the Pacific coast of California (San Clemente and Santa Rosa Islands, Santa Barbara, San Francisco, and Eureka); Oregon (Coos Bay and Tillamook); Washington (Cape Disappointment, Stevens Prairie, and Neah Bay); British Columbia (Nootka Sound and the Queen Charlotte Islands); and Alaska (Sitka, Yakutat, Nushegak, Igiak Bay, St. Michael, and the Kobuk River).

The orange-crowned warbler has been recorded in migration in southern Quebec as far east as Metamek and may occasionally breed. There is a single breeding record for Minnesota at Cambridge.

Winter range.—The orange-crowned warbler winters north to northwestern Washington (Seattle); central California (Marysville, Bigtrees, Atwater, and Victorville); southern Nevada (near Searchlight); central and southeastern Arizona (Fort Verde, Phoenix, and Tucson); southern Texas (El Paso, Fort Clark, and Boerne); Louisiana (Monroe); rarely Tennessee (Memphis); central Georgia (Macon and Augusta); and southern South Carolina (Charleston). It has also occurred occasionally in winter as far north as Madison, Wis.; Ann Arbor, Mich.; Canandaigua, N. Y.; and Boston, Mass. East to South Carolina (Charleston); Georgia (Savannah); and Florida (Jacksonville, Coconut Grove, and Royal Palm Hammock). South to southern Florida (Royal Palm Hammock); the Gulf coast of Florida (Ozona, Wakulla Beach, and Pensacola); Mississippi (Biloxi); Louisiana (New Orleans); Texas (Rockport, Corpus Christi, and Brownsville); Tamaulipas (Altamira); Veracruz (Orizaba); and Guatemala (Chimuy and Tecpán). West to western Guatemala (Tecpán and Nenton); Guerrero (Chilpancingo and Coyuca); Colima (Manzillo); Jalisco (Mazatlán); Baja California (Cape San Lucas and Santa Margarita Island); the Pacific coast of California (San Clemente and Santa Cruz Islands, Santa Barbara, San Francisco, and Eureka); western Oregon (Eugene); and northwestern Washington (Tacoma and Seattle).

The above ranges apply to the species as a whole, of which four subspecies or geographic races are recognized: the eastern orange-crowned warbler (V. c. celata) breeds from northern Alaska, northern Mackenzie and northern Manitoba south to central Alaska, northern Alberta, and Saskatchewan to southern Manitoba; the Rocky Mountain orange-crowned warbler (V. c. orestera) breeds from northern British Columbia, central Alberta, and southwestern Saskatchewan southward east of the Cascades and Sierra Nevadas; the lutescent orange-crowned warbler (V. c. lutescens) breeds in the Pacific coast region from Cook Inlet, Alaska, south to southern California and eastward in California to the west slope of the Sierra Nevadas; the dusky orange-crowned warbler (V. c. sordida) is resident on the southern coastal islands of California and locally on the adjacent mainland.

Migration.—The orange-crowned warbler is of rare occurrence in the northeastern United States where it is reported more often in fall than in spring.

Early dates of spring arrival are: Pennsylvania—Harrisburg, April 21. New York—Rochester, April 27. Tennessee—Memphis, April 5. Kentucky—Bowling Green, April 23. Ohio—Oberlin, April 14. Michigan—Ann Arbor, April 26. Ontario—Queensborough, April 26. Missouri—Columbia, April 20. Iowa—Sioux City, April 24. Wisconsin—Madison, April 19. Minnesota—Red Wing, April 19. Kansas—Lake Quivira, April 18. Nebraska—Fairbury, April 16. South Dakota—Arlington, April 22. North Dakota—Fargo, April 22. Manitoba—Winnipeg, April 25. Saskatchewan—East End, May 2. Mackenzie—Simpson, May 21. New Mexico—Carlisle, April 28. Colorado—Colorado Springs, April 27. Wyoming—Laramie, April 21. Montana—Fortine, April 28. Alberta—Glenevis, April 28. Oregon—Portland, March 26. Washington—Bellingham, March 2. British Columbia—Courtney, March 24. Yukon—Carcross, April 26. Alaska—Ketchikan, April 26; Tanana Crossing, May 18.

Late dates of spring departure of migrants are: Florida—Pensacola, April 20. Georgia—Atlanta, April 29. South Carolina—Aiken, May 3. North Carolina—Hendersonville, May 9. West Virginia—Wheeling, May 12. New York—Canandaigua, May 27. Louisiana—New Orleans, April 3. Mississippi—Biloxi, April 21. Tennessee—Knoxville, April 25. Ohio—Austinburg, May 30. Ontario—Ottawa, May 28. Missouri—St. Louis, May 8. Iowa—Des Moines, June 6. Wisconsin—Racine, May 24. Michigan—Sault Ste. Marie, June 3. Minnesota—Rochester, May 28. Texas—Lytle, May 19. Oklahoma—Copan, May 2. Kansas—Onaga, May 22. Nebraska—Neligh, May 13. South Dakota—Faulkton, June 1. North Dakota—Fargo, June 6.

Late dates of fall departure are: Alaska—Craig, September 24. British Columbia—Atlin, September 9; Okanagan Landing, October 23. Washington—Semiahmoo, October 8. Oregon—Prospect, October 8. Alberta—Glenevis, October 5. Montana—Fort Keogh, September 22. Wyoming—Laramie, October 25. Utah—St. George, October 12. New Mexico—Gallinas Mountains, October 9. Saskatchewan—East End, September 16. Manitoba—Aweme, October 14. North Dakota—Fargo, October 19. South Dakota—Aberdeen, October 14. Nebraska—Hastings, October 8. Kansas—Wichita, November 2. Oklahoma—Norman, October 19. Minnesota—Minneapolis, October 20. Wisconsin—Milwaukee, October 26. Iowa—Giard, October 19. Ontario—Kingston, October 6. Michigan—Ann Arbor, November 1. Ohio—Toledo, October 27. Illinois—La Grange, October 28. Tennessee—Dover, October 26. Massachusetts—Lynn, November 30. New York—Rochester, October 9. Pennsylvania—Harrisburg, November 19 (bird was banded).

Early dates of fall arrival are: North Dakota—Ryder, August 18. South Dakota—Faulkton, August 23. Nebraska—Hastings, September 16. Texas—Lytle, August 29. Minnesota—Lanesboro, August 3. Wisconsin—New London, August 24. Iowa—National, August 28. Michigan—Blaney, August 19. Illinois—Chicago, August 28. Ontario—Ottawa, September 7. Ohio—Columbus, September 9. Tennessee—Clarksville, October 16. Arkansas—Hot Springs, September 11. Louisiana—New Iberia, November 19. Mississippi—Saucier, October 12. Massachusetts—Concord, October 2. Pennsylvania—Erie, September 15. West Virginia—Bethany, October 20. Georgia—Athens, October 12. South Carolina—Frogmore, September 20. Florida—Key West, October 5.

Banding.—Two returns of banded orange-crowned warblers seem worth recording. One banded at Mellette, S. Dak., on September 21, 1939, was found, probably dead, on December 13, 1940 at Webster, Wis. Another banded at Eagle Rock, Calif., on April 3, 1940, was found dead, on June 21, 1940 at Wards Cove, Alaska.

Casual record.—An immature orange-crowned warbler was collected October 14, 1906, at Lichtenfels, Greenland.

Egg dates.—Alaska: 10 records, June 8 to July 2.

California: 71 records, April 3 to June 24; 36 records, April 20 to May 12, indicating the height of the season.

Washington: 17 records, April 25 to June 25; 9 records, May 13 to 24.

VERMIVORA CELATA ORESTERA Oberholser

ROCKY MOUNTAIN ORANGE-CROWNED WARBLER

HABITS

Although recognized and described by Dr. Harry C. Oberholser (1905) over 45 years ago, this well-marked subspecies was not accepted by the Committee for addition to the A. O. U. Check-List until comparatively recently.

It is described as “similar to Vermivora celata celata, but larger and much more yellowish, both above and below.” Dr. Oberholser (1905) adds the following remarks: “This new form has usually been included with V. celata celata, but breeding specimens recently obtained, principally from New Mexico and British Columbia, indicate its much closer relationship, in all respects except size, with the west coast forms. From Vermivora celata lutescens it may, however, readily be distinguished by its duller, less yellowish color, both above and below, and by its much greater size.”

He gives its geographical range as: “Mountains of New Mexico, Arizona, and southeastern California to British Columbia; in migration to Minnesota and Pennsylvania, south to Texas, and Mexico to Lower California, Michoacán, Guerrero, and Puebla.”

Nesting.—Stanley G. Jewett (1934) reports a nest within the range of this race, of which he writes:

On June 18, 1934, a nest of this species was found at 6,000 feet altitude on Hart Mountain, Lake County, Oregon. The location was a rather dense mixed grove of aspen, alder, willow, and yellow pine. The female was on the nest, which was placed on the ground well under a small leaning willow stump, about five inches in diameter, that had been cut off about a foot above the ground, leaving the stump leaning at an angle of about 45 degrees. Weeds had grown over the stump forming a loose canopy of vegetation which protected the nest and sitting bird from being easily seen. The nest was composed of coarse dry strips of willow bark, lined with porcupine hairs. It measured, inside, 50 mm. in width and 33 mm. in depth.

A nest and four eggs of this species, probably orestera, is in the Thayer collection in Cambridge; it was collected at Banff, Alberta, on June 9, 1902. The nest was said to be "in root of a shrub, a few inches above the ground". It is compactly made of the finest larch twigs, yellow birch bark, fine shreds of coarse weed stems, other fine plant fibers and fine grasses, fine strips of inner bark, and a little plant down; it is lined with finer pieces of the same materials and some black and white hairs. The outside diameter is about 3 inches, and the height about 2 inches; inside, it measures about 1³⁄₄ inches in diameter and 1¹⁄₄ inches in depth. A set of three eggs in my collection was taken May 14, 1909, near Glacier National Park, Mont.; the nest was on the ground, concealed by grass on a hillside. The measurements of the eggs of this race, which are indistinguishable from those of other races of the species, are included in those of the type race.

VERMIVORA CELATA LUTESCENS (Ridgway)

LUTESCENT ORANGE-CROWNED WARBLER

HABITS

This brightly colored race of the orange-crowned warbler group is widely distributed during the breeding season along the Pacific coast regions from southern Alaska to southern California and migrates in the fall southward to Baja California, western Mexico, and Guatemala. It differs from typical celata in being more brightly olive-green above and distinctly yellow below; in strong light it seems to be a yellow rather than an olive bird.

Dr. Walter K. Fisher sent the following sketch of it in its California haunts to Dr. Chapman (1907):

Chaparral hillsides and brushy open woods are the favorite haunts of the Lutescent Warbler. Its nest is built on or near the ground, usually in a bramble tangle or under a rooty bank, and the bird itself hunts near the ground, flitting here and there through the miniature jungle of wild lilacs, baccharis and hazel bushes. Its dull greenish color harmonizes with the dusty summer foliage of our California chaparral, and with the fallen leaves and tangle of stems that constitute its normal background. It impresses one chiefly by its lack of any distinctive markings, and the young of the year, particularly, approach that tint which has been facetiously called “museum color.”

Ordinarily the crown-patch is invisible as the little fellow fidgets among the undergrowth, but at a distance of 3 feet Mr. W. L. Finley was able to distinguish it when the bird ruffled its feathers in alarm.

In May, 1911, while I was waiting in Seattle, Wash., to take ship to the Aleutian Islands with R. H. Beck and Dr. Alexander Wetmore, we were shown by Samuel F. Rathbun the haunts of the lutescent orange-crowned warbler around Seattle. He says that it is one of the more common warblers of the region and is widely distributed. It favors small deciduous growths in more or less open situations, with or without accompanying evergreens. “It is also partial to the edges of old clearings fringed with a deciduous growth.” He says that it is an early migrant, arriving early in April or sometimes in the latter part of March, and departing in September.

On Mount Rainier, according to Taylor and Shaw (1927), it was—

fairly common in the Hudsonian Zone (4,500 feet to 6,500 feet); occurs also, but more rarely, in the Canadian Zone between 3,500 and 4,500 feet. * * * The lutescent warbler was commonly found in the mountain ash, huckleberry, azalea, and willow brush, principally in the open meadow country of the subalpine parks. Warm and sunny south-facing slopes were favorite places of resort, especially after a period of cold or fog. Occasionally the bird was found in patches of Sitka valerian; at other times in the lower branches of alpine firs. His summer foraging seems for the most part to be done within 10 feet of the ground, though in the fall, when migrating, he apparently takes to the tree tops.

Nesting.—On May 7, 1911, Samuel F. Rathbun took us over to Mercer Island in Lake Washington. At that time, this interesting island was heavily forested in some places with a virgin growth of tall firs, in which we saw the sooty grouse and heard it hooting, later finding its nest in an open clearing. While walking through another open space among some scattered groups of small fir trees, Mr. Beck flushed a lutescent warbler from her nest in a hummock covered with the tangled fronds of dead brakes (Pteridium aquilinum). The nest was so well concealed in the mass of dead ferns that we had difficulty in finding it. It was made of dead grasses and leaves, deeply imbedded in the moss of the hummock, and was lined with finer grasses and hairs. It held four fresh eggs. Three days later, Dr. Wetmore took a set of five fresh eggs at Redmond. This nest was located beside a woodland path at the edge of a swamp; it was well hidden on the ground, under a stick that was leaning against a log. It was made of similar materials and was lined with white horsehair.

Mr. Rathbun mentions three nests (MS.), found in that same vicinity; one was well hidden under some fallen dead brakes; and the other two were beautifully concealed in the centers of small huckleberry bushes.

William L. Finley (1904b) records six Oregon nests. The first “was tucked up under some dry ferns in the bank of a little hollow where a tree had been uprooted. * * * The second nest was on a hillside under a fir tree, placed on the ground in a tangle of grass and briar.” Another was “in a sloping bank just beside a woodland path. A fourth nest was tucked under the overhanging grasses and leaves in an old railroad cut.” He found two nests in bushes above ground. He saw a female carrying “food into the thick foliage of an arrow-wood bush. A cluster of twigs often sprouts out near the upper end of the branch and here, in the fall, the leaves collect in a thick bunch. In one of these bunches, 3 feet from the ground, the warbler had tunneled out the dry leaves and snugly fitted in her nest making a dark and well-protected home.” He found another nest 2 feet up in a bush, within a few yards of the ocean beach.

Henry W. Carriger, of Sonoma, Calif., (1899) mentions two more elevated nests of the lutescent warbler. He writes:

On May 31, 1897, I found a nest of the Lutescent Warbler placed three feet from the ground in a bunch of vines. * * * On May 3, 1899, * * * I flushed a bird from a nest in an oak tree, and was surprised to see it was a Lutescent Warbler. The nest was six feet from the ground and three feet from the trunk of the tree. A horizontal limb branched out from the tree and a small branch stuck up from it for about eight inches, and over this was a great quantity of Spanish moss (Ramalina retiformis), which fell over the horizontal limb. The nest is quite bulky, composed of leaves, grass and bark strips, lined with hair and fine grass, and was partially supported by both limbs and the moss, which is all about it and which forms quite a cover for the eggs.

Eggs.—The lutescent warbler lays from 3 to 6 eggs to a set, probably most often 4. These are ovate or short ovate and are practically lusterless. The white or creamy white ground color is speckled, spotted or occasionally blotched with shades of reddish brown, such as “russet,” “Mars brown,” “chestnut,” and “auburn,” intermingled with underlying shades of “light brownish drab.” The markings are usually concentrated at the large end, but some eggs are speckled more or less evenly over the entire surface. Small scrawls of blackish brown may be found on some of the more heavily marked types. The measurements of 50 eggs average 16.2 by 12.6 millimeters: the eggs showing the four extremes measure 17.7 by 12.8, 16.8 by 13.5, 14.7 by 12.2, and 15.9 by 11.1 millimeters (Harris).

Young.—We seem to have no information on incubation or on the care and development of the young.

Plumages.—The molts and plumages are evidently similar to those of the orange-crowned warbler, though the lutescent is, of course, decidedly more yellow in all plumages.

Food.—Prof. Beal (1907) examined the contents of the stomachs of 65 California specimens of this species.

Less than 9 percent of the food is vegetable matter, and is made up of 3 percent of fruit and rather more than 5 percent of various substances, such as leaf galls, seeds, and rubbish. Fruit was found in only a few stomachs, but the percentage in each was considerable; figs were the only variety identified. [Of the 91 percent animal matter,] Hemiptera are the largest item and amount to over 25 percent, mostly leaf-bugs, leaf-hoppers, plant-lice, and scales. Plant-lice were found in only one stomach and scales in 5, of which 3 contained the black olive species. Beetles amount to about 19 percent of the food, and with the exception of a few Coccinellidae are of harmful families, among which are a number of weevils. * * * Caterpillars are eaten rather irregularly, though they aggregate 24 percent for the year. Stomachs collected in several months contained none, while in others they amounted to more than half of the food. * * * Hymenoptera amount nearly to 15 percent, and are mostly small wasps, though some ants are eaten.

Other items were flies, less than 1 percent, and spiders, 7 percent. W. L. McAtee (1912) says that this is one of only two wood warblers known to prey upon codling moths. “The lutescent warbler shows a strong liking for the pupae, two taken in California in May having eaten 10 and 18 pupae, respectively.”

Behavior.—Mrs. Wheelock (1904) writes thus of its feeding activities: “All day long he flits about through the oak trees, leaning away over the tips of the boughs to investigate a spray of leaves, or stretching up his pretty head to reach a blossom just above him; now clinging head downward underneath a spray, or hovering under the yellow tassels as a bee hovers beneath a flower.”

Voice.—Samuel F. Rathbun (MS.) gives me his impression of the song of the lutescent warbler as follows: “Its song is a succession of trilling notes on a slightly rising then falling key, the latter more lightly given and faster. There is an apparent ease in this song that is suggestive of airiness, and, although simple in construction, it is pleasing to hear and further bears the stamp of distinctiveness.”

Fall.—The fall migration is southward to southern California, western Mexico, and Guatemala. The movement is apparently leisurely and quite prolonged, for the earliest birds begin leaving western Washington in August and September, and Theed Pearse gives me two October dates for Vancouver Island, with his latest date November 1. Taylor and Shaw (1927) write of the fall movement on Mount Rainier as follows:

The postnuptial scatter movement was in full swing by the middle of August. At this time the lutescent warbler was often found in the same flocks with Shufeldt juncos, western golden-crowned kinglets, or chestnut-backed chickadees. It is not unlikely that there is some good reason for this flocking, aside from the companionship involved. The warblers and the juncos, kinglets, or chickadees probably do not compete for food as would one warbler with another of the same species. The individual warbler, attached to a flock of kinglets, let us say, may be the more surely guided to available food. Then, too, differences in alertness of the two or more species concerned may afford greater protection to each than would be the case if they remained separate.

Robert Ridgway (1877) met with these warblers in large numbers in Nevada:

In the fall, the thickets and lower shrubbery along the streams, particularly those of the lower cañons, would fairly swarm with them during the early portion of the mornings, as they busily sought their food, in company with various insectivorous birds, especially the Black-capped Green Warbler (Myiodioctes pusillus) and Swainson’s Vireo (Vireosylvia swainsoni). At such times they uttered frequently their sharp note of chip. The brightly-colored specimens representing H. lutescens were prevalent in the western depression of the Basin, but were not observed eastward of the upper portion of the Valley of the Humboldt, nor at any locality during the summer; and wherever found, were associated with individuals of the other form, which is the only one found breeding on the mountains. It is therefore inferred that all these individuals were migrants from the northern Pacific Coast region and the Sierra Nevada, while those of H. celata proper were from the higher portions of the more eastern mountains, or from farther northward in the Rocky Mountain ranges, full-fledged young birds being numerous in the high aspen woods of the Wasatch Mountains in July and August.

VERMIVORA CELATA SORDIDA (Townsend)

DUSKY ORANGE-CROWNED WARBLER

Plate [15]

HABITS

The subspecific characters of this warbler, as given by the original describer, C. H. Townsend (1890), are: “Adult male: Entire plumage decidedly darker than H. celata lutescens. Feet and bill larger; wings slightly shorter. There is an appearance of grayness about the upper plumage, owing to a leaden tinge on ends of feathers. Throat and under parts slightly streaked.”

The principal breeding range of the dusky warbler is on the Santa Barbara Islands off the coast of southern California, but it has also been known to breed in San Diego and probably breeds farther south in Baja California, and on the Todos Santos Islands, off that coast.

The dusky orange-crowned warbler was discovered by Dr. Townsend on San Clemente Island January 25, 1889, but it does not seem to be so common there as on some of the other islands. According to A. Brazier Howell (1917) it has been reported from all of the channel islands except San Nicholas, which is too barren for it; and its occurrence on Santa Barbara Island is doubtful, as this precipitous island is not suited for it. It is probably commonest on Santa Catalina Island, “in the darker canyons and on the wooded hillsides.”

J. Stuart Rowley writes to me: “I found that the weekend nearest the 15th of April was the ideal time to hunt nests of this warbler on Catalina Island, and after much hiking about this island I finally located a little ravine, only about a mile or so out of the town of Avalon, where these warblers nested abundantly, due to the little trickle of surface water in the bottom of the ravine. Since most of the ravines here are dry, this one was ‘made to order’ and I enjoyed the chance to find many nests in the short time allotted to me. Around the middle of April this little ravine fairly trilled with the songs of many males, who were constantly pursuing trespassing individuals out of their nesting territories, only to return and continue their melodic songs.”

Nesting.—Of its nesting habits, J. Stuart Rowley continues: “I have found dusky warblers nesting in every conceivable sort of place, ranging from those placed on the ground in the grass to those placed 15 feet up in toyon trees. The usual nesting site here seems to be in a small toyon bush, rather well concealed, but not over 2 to 3 feet from the ground; the nests are made of fibres and grasses and, although nicely cupped and lined, are rather bulky affairs externally for a warbler to build.” Howell (1917) writes:

The usual nesting site of the Lutescent Warbler is on the ground, but I have never heard of sordida building in such a situation. On the smaller barren islands, such as the Coronados and Todos Santos (where it is common), they build in a bush or tangle of vines, a foot or so above the ground, and the nest is always mainly constructed of gray moss, where this is to be had, lined with a little fine grass. On the larger islands, where there are good-sized trees, the site chosen may be a thicket of vines several feet above the bed of a stream, a small shrub, say four feet up, or perhaps an oak as much as fifteen feet above the ground. In such case the nest is quite substantially made of leaves, twigs, bark, rootlets, and often a little sheep wool. Three or four eggs constitute a set, and at least two broods of young are raised each year.

A most unusual nesting site for a dusky warbler is described by Clinton G. Abbott (1926). It was—

a decorative fern basket inside a small lath house adjoining the home of Mrs. A. P. Johnson, Jr., at 2470 C Street, San Diego. * * * Her house is in one of the older residential sections of the city, known as Golden Hill. The homes here are large and surrounded by more or less extensive grounds, but the whole aspect is distinctly urban, with streets everywhere paved. Broadway, with double trolley tracks, is only one block away. The lath house, sixteen by twenty-four feet in size, was filled with a luxuriant growth of cultivated plants. A rectangular path within was marked at its corners by four wire fern baskets suspended about four feet from the ground. In one of these were the remains of the two previous years’ nests, and in the basket diagonally opposite was the inhabited nest, which contained three eggs. Although the eggs were manifestly not fresh, there was no bird about and they seemed cool to my touch. I waited about for fully ten minutes and was beginning to fear that disaster had overtaken the home, when I heard a low, scolding note overhead. Then down from between the slats hopped the dainty little warbler, and, with no concern whatsoever, she took her place upon the eggs, although I was standing in full view close by. [The nest was] cosily placed in the moss at the base of the ferns.

We soon discovered that not only was the bird practically fearless in the ordinary sense, but that she would even allow us to touch her without leaving her nest. She would permit us to raise her from her eggs with no greater protest than a pecking at the intruding finger. If she was not sitting sufficiently broadside for a good photograph, it was possible to arrange her the way we wanted her! Sometimes, if our familiarity was beyond her patience, she would merely hop among the foliage behind the nest, wait there for a few minutes, and then nestle back on her eggs.

Eggs.—Three eggs seem to constitute the average set for the dusky warbler, with occasionally only two or as many as four. Mr. Rowley tells me that, out of at least two dozen nests examined, he found only two sets of four; one nest had only one newly hatched young, and two or three nests held two well-incubated eggs. The eggs are apparently indistinguishable from those of the mainland races. The measurements of 27 eggs average 17.0 by 13.2 millimeters; the eggs showing the four extremes measure 18.5 by 13.5, 17.6 by 14.0, and 16.0 by 12.7 millimeters.

Winter.—Many of the dusky warblers, perhaps most of them, desert the islands in the fall when they become dry and uninviting, for the winter spreading widely on the mainland as far north as the San Francisco Bay region and inland to Merced County. Dr. Joseph Grinnell (1898) says: “This subspecies appears in the vicinity of Pasadena in the oak regions and along the arroyos in large numbers during August, and even by the middle of July. Remains in diminishing numbers through the winter; the latest specimen noted in the spring was secured by me, Feb. 29 (‘96).”

VERMIVORA RUFICAPILLA RUFICAPILLA (Wilson)

EASTERN NASHVILLE WARBLER

Plates [16], [17]

HABITS

Alexander Wilson discovered this species near Nashville, Tenn., and gave it the name Nashville warbler. Baird, Brewer, and Ridgway (1874) say of its early history: “For a long while our older naturalists regarded it as a very rare species, and knew nothing as to its habits or distribution. Wilson, who first met with it in 1811, never found more than three specimens, which he procured near Nashville, Tenn. Audubon only met with three or four, and these he obtained in Louisiana and Kentucky. These and a few others in Titian Peale’s collection, supposed to have been obtained in Pennsylvania, were all he ever saw. Mr. Nuttall at first regarded it as very rare, and as a Southern species.”

This is not strange when we stop to consider that this bird is more or less irregular in its occurrence, apparently fluctuating in numbers in different localities and perhaps choosing different routes of migration. Its record here in eastern Massachusetts illustrates this point. Thomas Nuttall never saw the bird while he lived in Cambridge, from 1825 to 1834. Dr. Samuel Cabot, who lived there from 1832 to 1836, told William Brewster (1906) that he was sure that it did not occur regularly in eastern Massachusetts at that time. According to Brewster:

Soon afterwards a few birds began to appear every season. They increased in numbers, gradually but steadily, until they had become so common that in 1842 he obtained ten specimens in the course of a single morning.

In 1868, and for some fifteen years later, I found Nashville Warblers breeding rather numerously in Waltham, Lexington, Arlington and Belmont, usually in dry and somewhat barren tracts sparsely covered with gray birches, oaks or red cedars, or with scattered pitch pines. A few birds continue to occupy certain of these stations, but in all of the towns just mentioned the Nashville Warbler is less common and decidedly less generally distributed in summer now than it was twenty-five or thirty years ago.

Forbush (1929) found it “more common in eastern Massachusetts in the latter quarter of the last century than it is today.” And my own experience has been similar; prior to 1900 we used to consider the Nashville Warbler a common bird on migrations and even found it breeding in Bristol County in 1892; but we have seen very little of it since the turn of the century.

Spring.—From its winter home in Mexico and Central America, the eastern Nashville warbler seems to migrate mainly northeastward through Texas to the lower Mississippi Valley and then west of the Alleghenies to New England and northward up the central valleys. Some individuals apparently fly straight across the Gulf of Mexico, but it is very rare in Louisiana, for which Dr. Oberholser (1938) gives only three records. It seems to be very rare, or entirely unknown, in any of the southeastern States, east of Louisiana and south of Virginia, except in some of the mountains.

According to Dr. Chapman’s (1907) tables, about 18 days elapse between the average date of the first arrival of the species in Missouri and that of its first appearance in Minnesota, and it seems to require exactly the same time to migrate from West Virginia to New Brunswick.

Dr. Dayton Stoner (1932) says of its migration through the Oneida Lake region, N. Y.:

The Nashville warbler here seems to prefer coppices along the edges of woodland such as young aspen and maple and elm thickets and other small growth that springs up in cut-over and burned-over areas. In such situations I have found it singing persistently in late May and the first few days in June. This warbler and the chestnut-sided are often found together. However, it does not confine its activities to thickets, for it not infrequently visits woodlands of tall elm, maple, beech and other deciduous trees, as well as mixed forest and the vegetation in door-yards. The flowering currant is in full bloom at the time this bird reaches the height of its abundance and I have seen it visiting such shrubbery during the first part of May.

In Massachusetts in May, according to Forbush (1929), “among its favorite haunts are the bushy edges of woodlands, whether along roads, railroads or streams, or about ponds, lakes, marshes, swamps or open fields. It may often be found among willows, alders, birches or poplars. Old neglected fields and pastures, with scattered growths of birches and bushes, are favorite feeding grounds, but the bird also visits orchards, gardens and shade trees, even in city parks. It may be found on dry lands where scattered pitch pines grow, and on moist lands with rank shrubbery.”

W. E. Clyde Todd (1940) says of the migration in western Pennsylvania: "The Nashville Warbler appears during the flood tide of the warbler migration in both spring and fall and is sometimes inordinately abundant. * * *

“Almost every spring there is a day or two of decided movement, when the species is very common and on occasion exceedingly abundant. On May 3, 1901, I witnessed a remarkable flight at Beaver. That morning the woods everywhere were full of Nashville warblers, to the exclusion of almost all other kinds. I counted a dozen in one tree. They kept mostly in the treetops and were singing very little.”

These warblers are also sometimes abundant in Ohio, for Milton B. Trautman (1940) noted as many as 80 individuals on May 15, 1932, at Buckeye Lake.

Nesting.—The nesting haunts of the eastern Nashville warbler are quite varied, and habitats similar to some of those frequented on the spring migration seem to be suitable for breeding grounds. But the nest is always placed on the ground and generally is well hidden. Gerald Thayer wrote to Dr. Chapman (1907):

Birch Warbler would be a good name for this bird as it appears in the Monadnock region where it breeds abundantly. For here it is nowhere so common as in abandoned fields and mountain pastures half smothered by small gray birches. From the airy upper story of these low and often dense birch copses the Nashvilles sing; and among the club-mosses and ferns, and the hardhacks and other scrubby brushes at their bases and around their borders, the Nashvilles build their nests. But such is merely their most characteristic home. * * * Dark spruce woods they do not favor, nor big, mixed virgin timber; but even in these places, one is likely to find them wherever there is a little “oasis” of sunlight and smaller deciduous growth. They are fairly common among the scanty spruces, mountain ashes, and white birches of the rocky ridge of Mt. Monadnock, almost to the top—3,169 feet.

F. H. Kennard records in his notes two nests found near Lancaster, N.H. One was among some dead weeds on a mossy hummock in a pasture; the other was in a swamp, at the base of and under a clump of alders beside a path. Miss Cordelia J. Stanwood (1910), of Ellsworth, Maine, writes:

When a growth of evergreens—pine, fir, spruce and hemlock—is cut, it is succeeded by a growth of hard wood—gray, white and yellow birches, maple, poplar, beech, cherry and larch—and vice versa. As the woodland is cut in strips, there are always these growths in juxtaposition. Though the nest of the Nashville is always placed among the gray birches, the inevitable strip of evergreen woodland is near at hand, and a swale not far away.

The nest of the Nashville is sometimes placed in comparatively low ground (that is, compared with its immediate surroundings), in soft green moss under an apology for a shrub, again in the side of a knoll covered with bird wheat (hair-cap) moss, or at other times in an open space in the woodlands under a stump, or tent-like mass of grass, or a clump of gray birch saplings. Around the top is usually woven a rim of coarse, soft, green moss; sometimes dried boulder fern or bracken is added. The side coming against the stump or overhanging moss lacks this foundation. The nest is lined with fine hay, if it abounds in the neighborhood, or pine needles if they are nearer at hand. Sometimes both are used. The red fruit stems of bird wheat moss and rabbit’s hair are often employed. One or two birds have preferred some black, hair-like vegetable fibre for lining matter, one bird, horse hair.

Ora W. Knight (1908) mentions a Maine nest that “was situated on the ground on an open wooded hillside at the foot of and between two small spruce trees, and was well imbedded in the moss. It measures in depth outside one and three-fourths inches, and inside one inch, the diameter outside was three and a quarter. * * * Nest building begins soon after the birds have arrived, and presumably the female does most of the work, while the male perches in a near by sapling and sings. * * * It takes from seven to nine days to build the nest, and on its completion an egg is laid each day until the set is completed. The eggs are usually laid between six and ten in the morning.”

A nest found by Henry Mousley (1918) near Hatley, Quebec, “was located at the foot of a spirea bush on a little mound, well sunk into the surrounding hair-cap moss (Polytrichum commune) and dwarf cornel or bunchberry (Cornus canadensis) of which the mound was carpeted. It was entirely hidden from sight and would never have been found had I not flushed the female from her set of five eggs.”

The only local nest of which we have any record was found by Owen Durfee (MS.) in Rehoboth, Mass., on June 2, 1892. It was only partially concealed among some very low bushes, grass, and other herbage near the foot of a small hill in neglected pasture land; the hill had a scattered growth of oak and beech saplings and had been tramped over by cattle.

Frank A. Pitelka (1940a) found the Nashville warbler breeding in northeastern Illinois in “oak-maple-hickory climax woodland with semi-dense undergrowth, * * * with the stream cutting it and a semi-swampy, sedge-grass area with willow thickets and scattered elms and ashes.” In northern Michigan, he found it “in spruce and cedar bogs and in sandy woods of aspen, birch, and Norway pine.”

Richard C. Harlow tells me that most of the nests he has found in New Brunswick, about 10, are very frail, but are lined with moose hair. He has found 7 nests in the mountains of Pennsylvania, where the normal lining is deer hair.

Eggs.—The first set of eggs for the Nashville warbler seems to be always either 4 or 5; reported sets of 3 are probably incomplete or late sets. The eggs are ovate or short ovate and are only slightly lustrous. They are white or creamy white, speckled with shades of reddish brown, such as “chestnut” and “auburn,” mixed with “light brownish drab.” On some eggs the markings are fairly evenly scattered over the entire surface, but usually they are concentrated and form a wreath at the large end. Occasionally eggs are more boldly marked with spots and small blotches or short scrawls; others are nearly immaculate. The measurements of 50 eggs average 15.7 by 12.1 millimeters; the eggs showing the four extremes measure 17.2 by 12.7, 16.4 by 13.0, 14.5 by 11.6, and 15.2 by 11.5 millimeters (Harris).

Young.—The period of incubation is said to be from 11 to 12 days, and probably the female does most of it, though Mr. Knight (1908) says: “One bird relieves the other on the nest and at times when the eggs are very near the hatching point I have seen the male bring insects to its mate on the nest. Possibly he may feed the female at earlier stages of incubation but I have not seen him do so. Both birds feed the young, giving them at first soft grubs and caterpillars, later on small beetles, flies and similar insects. * * * The young leave about the eleventh day after hatching.”

For a further study of the nesting behavior of the Nashville warbler, the reader is referred, to an excellent paper on the subject by Louise de Kiriline Lawrence (1948).

Plumages.—Dr. Dwight (1900) calls the natal down “sepia-brown,” and describes the juvenal plumage of the Nashville warbler as follows:

“Pileum hair-brown, back darker, olive tinged, and rump olive-green. Below, pale yellowish wood-brown, straw-yellow on abdomen and crissum. Wings and tail olive-brown broadly edged with bright olive-green, the median and greater coverts tipped with pale buff-yellow forming two wing bands. Lores and auriculars mouse-gray, the orbital ring pale buff.”

The sexes are alike in juvenal plumage. A postjuvenal molt occurs in July and August that involves the contour plumage and the wing coverts but not the rest of the wings or the tail. This produces a first winter plumage in which young birds become practically indistinguishable from adults in many cases, but the chestnut crown patch is generally smaller and more veiled in the younger male and is often lacking in the young female.

Dr. Dwight (1900) says that the first nuptial plumage is “acquired by a partial prenuptial moult which involves chiefly the crown, sides of head and throat, but not the rest of the body plumage nor the wings and tail. The head becomes plumbeous gray, the edgings only half concealing the rich chestnut of the crown. The orbital ring is white and conspicuous. Wear is marked, bringing the gray of the nape into contrast with the greenish back, later exposing the chestnut of the crown.”

A complete postnuptial molt in July and August produces the fully adult plumage. In fresh fall plumage the head is browner than in spring, the back is grayer, the crown patch is more veiled with gray tips, and the breast is tinged with brownish. The females are paler than the males, with less chestnut in the crown. Adults probably have a partial prenuptial molt similar to that of young birds.

Food.—Very little has been published on the food of the Nashville warbler. Knight (1908) says that “the food of the adults consists of beetles, larvae of various insects and the eggs of various insects. In fact they eat almost anything which they can glean in the insect line from the shrubbery and ground.”

Forbush (1929) says: “As the bird ranges from the ground to the tree-tops it takes most of the insects that any warbler will eat, among them flies, young grasshoppers and locusts, leaf-hoppers and many plant-lice, caterpillars both hairless and hairy, among them the gipsy, brown-tail and tent caterpillar, most of which are taken when young and small; also small wood-boring beetles are eaten, and other small insects of many species. The bird appears to be almost wholly insectivorous.”

Behavior.—The eastern Nashville warbler is an active, sprightly, restless member of an active family, ranging in its foraging mainly in the lower story of the open woodlands and more often in the low trees and shrubbery around the borders of the forest. When thus engaged it is not particularly shy and often seems quite unconscious of the presence of an observer. On migrations it seems to be sociably inclined and may be seen associated with the mixed flocks of warblers that are drifting through the tree tops. At these seasons it often visits our orchards and the shrubbery in our gardens, giving us a glimpse of green and gold among the blossoms and opening leaves.

J. W. Preston (1891) describes an interesting manner of foraging:

“One will fly to the foot of a fir tree or other conifer and begin an upward search, hopping energetically from branch to branch until the very highest point is reached, when the bird drops lightly down to the foot of another tree, much as does the Brown Creeper. When an insect is discovered the bird secures it by a sudden bound, and, should the object be not easily dislodged, Helminthophila sustains himself on flapping wings until his purpose is accomplished, which often requires several moments.”

Voice.—Gerald Thayer gave Dr. Chapman (1907) a very good description of the songs and calls as follows:

The Nashville has at least two main perch-songs, and a flight-song, all subject to a good deal of variation. It belongs decidedly among the full-voiced Warblers. * * * Its commoner perch-song consists of a string of six or eight or more, lively, rapid notes, suddenly congested into a pleasant, rolling twitter, lower in key than the first part of the song, and about half as long. In the other perch-song, the notes of what correspond to the rolling twitter are separate and richer, and the second part of the song is longer and more noticeable than the first, whose notes are few and slurred, while the whole is more languidly delivered.

The differences are hard to describe intelligibly; but in reality they are pronounced and constant. The flight-song, a fairly common performance in late summer, is sung from the height of five to forty feet above the (usually low) tree-tops. It is like the commoner perch-songs, but more hurried, and slightly elaborated, often with a few chippings added, at both ends. Among the Nashville’s calls a very small, dry chip, and a more metallic, louder chip, somewhat Water-Thrush-like, are noteworthy. It also chippers like a young Warbler or a Black-throated Green.

Miss Stanwood (1910a) writes:

One common song sounds like ‘tsin, ‘tsin, ‘tsee, another sweeten, sweeten, ‘tsee, a third, sillup, sillup, sillup, ‘tsee-e-e-e-e-e. At other times the bird sings but part of the song as sweeten, sweet; or sweeten, ‘tsee; or sweeta, sweeta, ‘tsee; or recombines them differently as sweeten, sweeten, sweeten, ‘tsee-e-e-e-e-e. * * *

The song is loud, constant, and heard all over the locality, coming principally from the gray birches, but also from the maples, poplars, and evergreens. The bird sings from the tree-tops, but likewise from the middle branches, and I have seen it singing on the ground and just a few inches above it. My last record of its song in 1908 was made the 17th day of July, the first, May the 14th. Between these dates it sang well-nigh incessantly.

Knight (1908) says that, while the female is building the nest, “the male bird perches in a nearby sapling and sings leisurely 'pea-cie-pea-cie-hit-i-hit-i-hit.'” Wilson (1832) thought that the “notes very much resembled the breaking of small dry twigs, or the striking of small pebbles of different sizes smartly against each other for six or seven times, and loud enough to be heard at the distance of thirty or forty yards.” Rev. J. H. Langille (1884) writes: “The song of the Nashville Warbler is a composition, the first half of which is as nearly as possible like the thin but penetrating notes of the Black-and-white Creeping Warbler, while the last half is like the twitter of the Chipping Sparrow.” He writes it in syllables as “ke-tsee-ke-tsee-ke-tsee-chipe-ee-chip-ee-chip-ee-chip.”

The song has been said to resemble that of the chestnut-sided warbler, but the two are really quite distinct; the song of the latter does not end in a trill or in chipperings. It does, however, more closely resemble the song of the Tennessee warbler. Dr. Roberts (1936) heard the two singing at the same time and noted this difference: “The Nashville’s song is an utterance of rather greater volume than that of the Tennessee and differs, also, in the fact that it has a short, rapidly weakening trill or slide, following a rather long and deliberate prelude of four or five notes; while the Tennessee has a brief prelude with a long finishing trill, increasing in loudness and intensity to an abrupt ending.”

Aretas A. Saunders contributes the following study of the song: "The territory song of the Nashville warbler is in two parts, the first a series of 2-note phrases, and the second a series of rapid notes, commonly lower in pitch and just twice as fast as the notes of the first part; pa tipa tipa tipa tipa tititititititit. In 26 of my 29 records the second part of the song is lower than the first. In the other three it is higher. "The pitch of songs varies from G‴ to F sharp‴′, or five and a half tones. Single songs rarely vary more than one and a half or two tones. They are from 1²⁄₅ to 2 seconds in length. The quality is rather musical, and some individuals have almost as sweet a tone as the yellow warbler. In my experience field students often confuse the songs of these two species.

“The nesting song may be heard commonly on the breeding grounds. I have several records from the Adirondacks. This song is in three or four parts, each part of three or four notes, and a little lower in pitch than the preceeding part. Two-note phrases are not commonly heard in the nesting song.”

Francis H. Allen’s rendering of the song is not very different from the first one of Mr. Saunders', though he noted some variation, and mentions in his notes an aberrant song, which “doubled the common song, which in this case had a first part consisting of only a single phrase, thus; chip-ee-(trill) chip-ee-(trill).”

Field marks.—The gray head, white eye ring, olive-green back, bright yellow under parts, and the absence of wing bars, with no white in the tail, are the distinguishing marks of the eastern Nashville warbler. The Connecticut warbler has a white eye ring but it has a gray throat, whereas the Nashville is bright yellow from chin to abdomen. The chestnut crown patch is not very conspicuous in the male and is less so, or entirely lacking, in the female; the female is duller yellow below and browner above than the male.

Enemies.—Like other ground-nesting birds, this warbler has the usual four-footed enemies to contend with, but its nest is quite well hidden. Perhaps its worst bird enemy is the cowbird, although Friedmann (1934) listed it as an uncommon victim of this parasite and had only six records of it, the nests containing from one to two eggs of the cowbird.

Fall.—As soon as the molting season is over and the young birds are freshly clad in their winter dress the migration begins in Massachusetts. This takes place in August, and the last stragglers may be seen passing through in early October.

In Ohio, according to Mr. Trautman (1940), the first migrants are seen about the first of September, the peak of the migration coming during the latter half of that month when from 10 to 100 could be found in a day, and after the 10th of October only an occasional bird remains. He writes: “As with many other transient warblers the southward migration of the Nashville Warbler covered a greater period of time than did the spring movement, which usually lasted less than 30 days, whereas the fall movement generally extended more than 45 days. * * * In spring the species frequented the upper half of large trees and was more numerous in tall trees of woodlands than it was in smaller groups or rows of tall trees. In fall the species tended to inhabit the middle section of large trees, and it also resorted to the taller bushes and saplings, especially the larger hawthorn trees.”

The fall migration route is apparently a reversal of the spring route southwestward into Mexico and Central America where it spends the winter.

Winter.—The Nashville warbler is evidently very common in winter in certain parts of Mexico, for Dr. C. William Beebe (1905) says: “At times there were twenty and thirty in sight at once near our camp in the Colima lowlands.” These may have been the western race.

DISTRIBUTION

Range.—Southern Canada to Guatemala.

Breeding range.—The eastern Nashville and the western Nashville (formerly the Calaveras) warblers breed north to southern British Columbia (Tahsis Canal and Beaver Creek, Vancouver Island; Pemberton, Lillooet, and Revelstoke); northern Idaho (Clark Fork); northwestern Montana (Fortine); east-central Saskatchewan (Cumberland House); southern Manitoba (Duck Mountain, Lake St. Martin, and Hillside Beach); central Ontario (Casummit Lake, Lake Nipigon, and Lake Abitibi); and southern Quebec (Lake Baskatong, Quebec, Kamouraska, Mingan, and Natashquan River). East to southeastern Quebec (Natashquan River and the Magdalen Islands); and Nova Scotia (Baddeck, Halifax, and Barrington). South to Nova Scotia (Barrington); Maine (Ellsworth and Bath); northeastern Massachusetts (Haverhill and Beverly); southern Connecticut (Norwich); northern New Jersey (Moe and Beaufort Mountain); northeastern Pennsylvania (Dingman’s Ferry, Mount Riga, and Highland Falls); northern West Virginia (Stony River Dam, Canaan Mountain, and Cranesville Swamp); northeastern Ohio (Pymatuming Lake); southern Michigan (Ann Arbor); northeastern Illinois (Deerfield); southern Wisconsin (Lake Koshkonong); central Minnesota (Onamia and Detroit Lakes); reported to breed in northeastern Nebraska but no specific records; northwestern South Dakota (Cave Hills); northern Idaho (Falcon); northwestern Oregon (Powder River Mountains, probably); probably western Nevada (Lake Tahoe); and south-central California (Greenhorn Mountains). West to central and western California (Greenhorn Mountains, Paicines, and Yreka); western Oregon (Pinehurst, Gold Hill, Depoe Bay, and Portland); western Washington (Mount Adams, Tacoma, and Blaine); and southwestern British Columbia (Friendly Cove and Tahsis Canal).

There are several records of the occurrence of this species in spring migration in southern Saskatchewan (Regina, East End, and Maple Creek); and in fall at Lake Kimawan, Alberta, west of Lesser Slave Lake. These records imply the existence of a breeding range north of any yet discovered.

Winter range.—The Nashville warbler and races are found in winter north to central Durango (Chacala); western Nuevo León (Monterrey) and southern Texas (Somerset and Matagorda County). East to southern Texas (Matagorda County, Rio Hondo, and Brownsville); eastern Puebla (Metlatoyuca); western Veracruz (Jalapa); Chiapas (Chicharras); and central Guatemala (Barillos, Panajachel, and San Lucas). South to Guatemala. West to western Guatemala (San Lucas and Sacapulas); Oaxaca (Tehuantepec); Guerrero (Acapulco); Colima (Manzanillo); and Durango (Durango and Chacla).

The Nashville warbler has been recorded as wintering occasionally in southern Florida, but in view of the extreme rarity of the species in southeastern United States it seems best to consider the record hypothetical until specimens are collected.

Like other species that winter regularly in the Tropics, the Nashville warbler can resist low temperatures as long as food is available. Evidence of this is seen in the daily presence of one in a garden in New York City from December 16, 1918, to January 9, 1919 (perhaps longer). Another was noted almost daily from January 1 to March 1, 1938, at a feeding table in Arlington, Va. The latter bird was caught and brought to the U. S. Biological Survey for confirmation of the identification, and was banded. On January 31, 1890, a specimen was picked up in Swampscott, Massachusetts, that had apparently been killed by a shrike about two weeks before.

The ranges as outlined apply to the entire species which includes two geographic races; the eastern Nashville warbler (V. r. ruficapilla) breeds from eastern Saskatchewan and Nebraska eastward; and the western Nashville warbler (V. r. ridgwayi) breeds west of the Rocky Mountains.

Migration.—Some early dates of spring arrival are: West Virginia—French Creek, April 23. District of Columbia—Washington, April 20. Pennsylvania—Beaver, April 25. New York—Canandaigua, April 25. Massachusetts—Taunton, April 24. Vermont—Rutland, April 27. Maine—Presque Isle, May 2. Quebec—Kamouraska, May 2. New Brunswick—Scotch Lake, May 8. Mississippi—Rosedale, April 26. Tennessee—Memphis, April 16. Kentucky—Bardstown, April 28. Indiana—Indianapolis, April 24. Ohio—Oberlin, April 19. Michigan—Ann Arbor, April 25. Ontario—Toronto, April 29. Texas—San Antonio, March 27. Arkansas—Delight, April 14. Missouri—St. Louis, April 21. Iowa—Davenport, April 26. Illinois—Chicago, April 25. Wisconsin—Madison, April 25. Minnesota—Red Wing, April 29. Manitoba—Winnipeg, May 2. Arizona—Tucson, April 6. Montana—Missoula, April 25. Idaho—Coeur d’Alene, April 29. California—Buena Park, March 3. Oregon—Prospect, April 20. Washington—Tacoma, April 23. British Columbia—Okanagan Landing, April 21.

Late dates of spring departure are: West Virginia—Wheeling, May 24. District of Columbia—Washington, May 20. Pennsylvania—Jeffersonville, May 20. Mississippi—Rosedale, May 6. Tennessee—Nashville, May 19. Kentucky—Bowling Green, May 19. Indiana—Richmond, June 1. Texas—Ingram, May 10. Arkansas—Monticello, May 9. Missouri—Columbia, May 28. Iowa—Grinnell, June 2. Illinois—Rockford, May 30. Kansas—Lake Quivira, May 21. Nebraska—Red Cloud, May 24. South Dakota—June 1. Arizona—Otero Canyon, Baboquivari Mountains, April 29. California—Cabezon, May 7.

Late dates of fall departure are: British Columbia—Okanagan Landing, September 13. Washington—Port Chehalis, October 11. California—Los Angeles, October 8. Idaho—Bayview, September 12. Montana—Bozeman, September 12. Arizona—Fort Verde, September 28. Manitoba—Shoal Lake, September 26. North Dakota—Fargo, October 15. South Dakota—Mellette, October 4. Nebraska—Blue Springs, October 1. Kansas—Lawrence, October 8. Minnesota—St. Paul, October 25. Wisconsin—Racine, October 6; Madison, November 1. Iowa—Marshalltown, October 14. Missouri—Columbia, October 19. Arkansas—Winslow, October 14. Texas—Cove, November 15. Ontario—Ottawa, October 7. Michigan—Sault Ste. Marie, October 7. Illinois—Springfield, October 2. Ohio—Toledo, October 29. Kentucky—Lexington, October 16. Tennessee—Memphis, October 3. Mississippi—Deer Island, October 16. Quebec—Hatley, October 18. Maine—Portland, October 13. New Hampshire, Center Ossipee, October 23. Massachusetts—Danvers, October 12. New York—New York, October 17. Pennsylvania—Philadelphia, October 17. District of Columbia—Washington, October 14. West Virginia—Bluefield, October 19.

Early dates of fall arrival are: California—Los Angeles, August 9. Arizona—Patagonia, August 8. North Dakota—Rice Lake, August 18. South Dakota—Yankton, August 2. Kansas—Lake Quivira, August 31. Iowa—Iowa City, August 18. Missouri—Montier, August 8. Arkansas—Winslow, September 8. Texas—Rockport, September 1. Illinois—Glen Ellyn, August 16. Indiana—Bloomington, August 26. Ohio—Cleveland, August 2. Kentucky—Versailles, August 13. Tennessee—Marysville, September 1. Massachusetts—Martha’s Vineyard, August 17. New York—Rhinebeck, August 13. Pennsylvania—Pittsburgh, August 28. District of Columbia—Washington, September 5. West Virginia—French Creek, September 7.

The Nashville warbler is a rare species in the lower Mississippi Valley; there are only three records for Louisiana; and it is almost unknown in the Atlantic States south of the Chesapeake Bay.

Casual records.—Four specimens have been collected in Greenland: One at Godthaab, about 1835; two at Fiskenaes, October 10, 1823, and August 31, 1840; and one marked “West Greenland,” between 1890 and 1899. The three latter were all immature birds. A specimen was collected in Bermuda on September 16, 1907.

Egg dates.—Maine: 27 records, May 8 to August 7; 15 records, May 27 to June 14, indicating the height of the season.

Minnesota: 11 records, May 7 to June 15.

Quebec: 32 records, May 28 to July 4; 18 records, June 19 to 29.

California: 23 records, May 17 to July 30; 12 records, May 21 to June 5 (Harris).

VERMIVORA RUFICAPILLA RIDGWAYI van Rossem

WESTERN NASHVILLE WARBLER

HABITS

This western form of our well-known eastern Nashville warbler, often called the Calaveras warbler, was discovered by Robert Ridgway in the East Humboldt Mountains, Nev., on September 6, 1868, and given the subspecific name gutturalis. He (1902) describes it as similar to the eastern bird, “but olive-green of rump and upper tail-coverts brighter, more yellowish, yellow of under parts brighter, lower abdomen more extensively whitish, and greater wing-coverts lighter, more yellowish olive-green.” He gives as its range: “Western United States, breeding on high mountains, from the Sierra Nevada (Calaveras Co., California) to British Columbia (Vernon, Nelson, Okanogan district, etc.), eastward to eastern Oregon (Fort Klamath), northern Idaho (Fort Sherman), etc.; southward during migration to extremity of Lower California, and over western and northern Mexico, and southeastward to Texas (San Antonio; Tom Green County; Concho County).” The 1931 A. O. U. Check-List says that this form winters “in Mexico south to Puebla, Oaxaca, Guerrero, Jalisco, and Colima.”

Dr. Walter K. Fisher wrote to Dr. Chapman (1907): “The Calaveras Warbler is a characteristic denizen of the chaparral and is found on both slopes of the Sierra Nevadas about as far south as Mt. Whitney. It frequents the belts of the yellow, sugar, and Jeffrey pines, and ranges up into the red fir zone. During the height of the nesting season one may see them flitting about among thickets of manzanita, wild cherry, huckleberry, oak and buck brush, almost always in song; and while the female is assiduously hunting among the dense cover of bushes, the male is often singing in a pine or fir, far above mundane cares. * * * I have observed this Warbler at lower altitudes on the west slope among small black oaks, in company with Hermit Warblers.”

Dr. Wilfred H. Osgood (1896) first saw it in the Sierras at 3,500 feet elevation, but more commonly at 3,700 feet. “At 5,000 feet we found them most common, and from 7,000 to 9,000 feet they gradually disappeared, apparently going as high up as the black oak, in which trees they were generally seen, skipping about in search of insects.”

Grinnell and Storer (1924) say: “The Calaveras Warbler is common during the summer months in the black oaks and maples along each side of the Yosemite Valley and in similar situations elsewhere on the western flank of the Sierra Nevada. Among all the warblers to be seen in the Yosemite Valley during the summer months the present species is the only one which does not forage and nest in the same niche. The Calaveras seeks its food and does its singing well up in trees, but places its nest immediately upon the ground.”

C. W. and J. H. Bowles (1906) write of its haunts in Washington:

Like the hermit warbler, a bird of the higher altitudes in the mountains of California, the Calaveras warbler, on reaching the cooler climate of the northwest, is to be found as a rule only on the driest prairies. Here the birds frequent the scattered clumps of young oaks and fir trees that have reached a height of some three or four feet, and which border the large tracts of dense fir timber. It is a noteworthy fact that, while these birds are not often to be found more than a hundred yards outside of the forests, they are seldom or never seen inside of the dividing line where the heavy timber meets the prairie. Also they do not encroach upon the hillside territory of the lutescent warbler, which bird in turn does not appear on the prairies but confines itself to the brush-covered uplands.

Nesting.—Dr. Osgood (1896) found three nests of the western Nashville, or Calaveras, warbler near Fyffe in the Sierras; two of these were concealed under dead leaves, one of which was partially concealed by a little sprig of cedar at the foot of a cedar stump, and the other was under a little tuft of “mountain misery”; the third was in a thick patch of “mountain misery” and was “well embedded among the roots of this little shrub, and shaded by its thick leaves.”

In the Yosemite Valley, Grinnell and Storer (1924) found a nest in what must be an unusual situation:

The location was only about 75 feet from the much traveled south road on the Valley floor and at the base of the talus pile of huge boulders. The nest was in the face of one of the larger of these boulders, partly in a diagonal fissure. It was on the north side of the rock and so never received any direct rays of sunlight. The whole face of the boulder was covered densely with yellow-green moss which in places was overlaid by olive-gray lichens. The nest was 43 inches from the base of the rock and about 60 inches from the top. Another nest was found in a hollow of the ground at the base of an azalea bush, near an old road along the hillside. The creek itself was about 50 feet distant. This nest was 3 inches across the outside and about 2 inches high, the cavity being 1¹⁄₄ inches deep. Strips of bark of the incense cedar, plant fibers, and horsehair comprised the building material.

The Bowles brothers (1906) say that the nests are very much like those of the eastern Nashville warbler, as taken by them in Massachusetts. In Washington, “the site chosen is usually at the base of a very young oak, or fir, tho on one occasion we found one built under some blackberry vines at the base of a large fir stub. The nests are sunk well into the ground or moss, and are so well concealed as to defy discovery unless one flushes the bird.”

Eggs.—The eggs of the western Nashville warbler are practically indistinguishable from those of the eastern form. The measurements of 40 eggs average 15.3 by 12.2 millimeters; the eggs showing the four extremes measure 16.6 by 13.2, 14.3 by 11.9, and 16.0 by 11.5 millimeters (Harris).

We have no information on the incubation of the eggs or care of the young. The changes in plumage parallel those of the eastern bird. Very little seems to be known about the exact food of the Calaveras warbler, and its voice seems to be the same as that of the Nashville, but the following accounts of its habits seem worth quoting. Grinnell and Storer (1924) write:

The forage range of this warbler lies chiefly in trees other than conifers. Such trees as the black oak and big-leafed maple renew their foliage every spring and the Calaveras Warblers find excellent forage in the insects and larvae which feed upon this tender new leafage during the spring and summer months. Less often these birds may be found in golden oaks and occasionally in Douglas spruces. They usually forage 25 to 40 feet above the ground, keeping within the stratum of new foliage, but they have been seen as low as 10 feet and as high as 70 feet above the earth. When within the foliage their yellow and green coloration makes it difficult to locate them, especially as the birds do not move about as rapidly as some of the other warblers. At times a Calaveras Warbler will poise on rapidly beating wings to capture some insect otherwise out of reach.

Dr. J. C. Merrill (1888) calls them “restless, shy, and very difficult to shoot”, and says further, “When alarmed, as they very easily are, the males move rapidly through the trees, often flying a hundred yards or more at once, and were it not that their constant song indicates their movements, it would be impossible to follow them. I have frequently followed one for half an hour or more before I could even catch a glimpse of it, and my pursuit of any particular one was more often unsuccessful than the reverse. * * * I have never found a land bird more wary and difficult to shoot. But as soon as the young leave the nest this extreme shyness disappears, and the parents are readily approached and observed as they busily search for food for their young family.”

Dr. William T. Shaw, who collected a specimen of this warbler in northwestern Washington, says in his notes: “This warbler, a singing male, was noticeably a percher upon high, isolated cedar poles when singing, having three or four favorite ones in his territory, which was a hillside grown to a height of about 15 feet with second-growth deciduous trees, following fire. He sang from a height of from 30 to 40 feet up near the top of these old widely-scattered, fire-blasted, weather-bleached trees, clearly out in the open and isolated from green sheltering foliage beneath him, in such a location as one is accustomed to seeing lazuli buntings perch when they sing.” Dr. Shaw thought the first part of the song suggested that of Macgillivray’s warbler, and the latter notes reminded him of “those heard among the inspirational notes in the song of the lazuli bunting.”

The Bowles brothers (1906) say that, in the spring, the males have at times a very pleasing habit while singing, “that of hovering thru the air for a distance of fifteen or twenty yards. The manner of flying at these times is very slow and closely resembles that of one of the marsh wrens, but the beak is turned upwards and the feathers on the swelling throat separate until it seems almost certain that the bird will sing himself into some serious bodily mishap.”

VERMIVORA VIRGINIAE (Baird)

VIRGINIA’S WARBLER

Plate 18

HABITS

This warbler was discovered by Dr. W. W. Anderson, at Fort Burgwyn, New Mexico, and was described by Baird, in a footnote in The Birds of North America, by Baird, Cassin, and Lawrence (1860). The footnote occurs under the explanation of plates in the second volume. The warbler was named for Mrs. Virginia Anderson, wife of the discoverer.

Its range during the breeding season covers portions of Nevada, Utah, Colorado, Arizona, and New Mexico, mainly in the mountain regions, and it retires to Mexico for the winter. It seems to be more abundant in Colorado than elsewhere, breeding from the foothills, where it is a characteristic bird and perhaps the most abundant of the wood warblers, up to 7,500 to 8,000 feet in the mountains. On the spring migration, it is abundant along the valley streams, among the cottonwoods and willows, or sometimes among the pines; but in the summer it is found among the low scrub oak brush on the hillsides.

Bailey and Niedrach (1938) write attractively of Virginia’s warbler in its Colorado haunts:

In the broken prairie where the yellow pines have taken their stand upon the crest of the tableland, and in the rocky canyons clothed with the scraggly scrub oaks slipping down to narrow grass-grown creek-bottoms, Virginia’s Warbler chooses its nesting grounds.

Plants seem to burst into life during the early weeks in May. * * * The flowers of the scrub oaks tinge the hillsides with a greenish-yellow bloom; the green of bursting leaves and grasses soon blends with the nodding blossoms of the pasque-flower; the beautiful pink plume sways on the hillside, and yellow blossoms of the Oregon grape thrust forth among the holly-like leaves, making one think of flowering Christmas wreaths. It is then that the Virginia’s Warblers are at the height of their activity. Their colors are the grays and yellows of the new vegetation. The males perch among scrub-oak branches and yellow pines, where they are usually concealed, and do their utmost to outsing their towhee neighbors.

In Nevada, Ridgway (1877) first observed this warbler “among the cedar and piñon groves on the eastern slope of the Ruby Mountains. * * * On the Wasatch and Uintah Mountains it was more abundant, being particularly plentiful among the scrub-oaks on the foothills near Salt Lake City. They lived entirely among the bushes, which there were so dense that the birds were difficult to obtain, even when shot.”

In the Charleston Mountains, Nev., according to A. J. van Rossem (1936), “the distribution appeared to be limited to the so-called Upper Sonoran associations of mahogany and Gambel oaks, and therefore the species is considered characteristic of that zone, although the extremes of altitude at which it was found were 6,300 and 9,000 feet. Because of the relative scarcity of oaks, by far the greater number were found in mahogany which here grows as low, dense forest, instead of in the more familiar shrub form in which it is usually known.”

In the Great Basin region, Dr. Jean M. Linsdale (1938) found Virginia’s warblers in a variety of situations, such as “in sage on rocky, piñon-covered slope 100 yards from a stream; in sage on top of ridge; at tip of mountain mahogany tree; in plum thicket; singing and foraging through upper foliage of tall birches close to creek; in cottonwoods and piñons close to creeks; singing in dead shrub 10 feet high at base of rock slide; in aspen; in thickets of sage, elder, Ephedra, and Symphoricarpos; in willow; on ground among rocks at crest of ridge.” The altitudes ranged from 6,500 to 8,000 feet, with the largest number between 7,000 and 7,500 feet.

In southern Arizona, this warbler, according to Mr. Swarth (1904)—

proved to be very abundant during the spring migration, particularly in the lower parts of the mountains; but the most of them seem to go farther north, and but few, compared with the numbers seen in April and the early part of May, remained through the summer to breed. The earliest arrival noted was on April 10th and soon after they were quite abundant, mostly in the oak region below 5000 feet, remaining so throughout April and up to the first week in May, at which time the migrating birds had about all passed on. All that were seen after that I took to be breeding birds, for they gradually moved to a higher altitude, (6000 to 8000 feet) and were nearly all in pairs. About the middle of April, 1902, I found a few virginiae, together with other migrating warblers, in the willows along the San Pedro River, some fifteen miles from the mountains.

Nesting.—Ridgway was evidently the first to record the nest of Virginia’s warbler, finding it near Salt Lake City on June 9, 1869. “The nest was embedded in the deposits of dead or decaying leaves, on ground covered by dense oak-brush. Its rim was just even with the surface. It was built on the side of a narrow ravine at the bottom of which was a small stream. The nest itself is two inches in depth by three and a half in diameter. It consists of a loose but intricate interweaving of fine strips of the inner bark of the mountain mahogany, fine stems of grasses, roots, and mosses, and is lined with the same with the addition of the fur and hair of the smaller animals” (Baird, Brewer, and Ridgway, 1874).

Shortly afterwards, a nest was found on June 1, 1873, in Colorado, by C. E. Aiken. It was reported by Aiken and Warren (1914) as “the first nest of this species known to science. * * * This was sunk in the ground in a tuft of bunch grass growing in a clump of oak brush, with the dead grass hanging over and completely concealing the nest, which was reached through a small round hole like a mouse hole through the protecting grass.”

Dr. Linsdale (1938) reports a nest found in Nevada, at an elevation of 7,700 feet, that “was at the lower edge of a clump of grass 20 inches tall and 2 feet across. The surrounding hillside was of small rocks lying at a maximum angle of rest. A few similar grass clumps were scattered near, about 10 feet apart. The surrounding trees were mountain mahogany and chokecherry. The nest was composed entirely of grass and was in a depression in the loose soil. It was well concealed by dead grass at the base of the tuft.”

In the Huachuca Mountains, Ariz., Mr. Swarth (1904) found a nest that “was built on a steep sidehill about ten feet from a much traveled trail, and was very well concealed; being under a thick bunch of overhanging grass, and sunk into the ground besides, so as to be entirely hid from view. This was at an elevation of about 8,000 feet, which seems to be about the upward limit for this species in this region.”

We found Virginia’s warbler fairly common there in the middle reaches of the canyons, around 7,000 feet, and found a nest being built at the base of a bush of mountain misery; Mr. Willard collected it with a set of three eggs on June 4, 1922; it was made of leaves and strips of bark and was lined with horsehair.

Another nest before me, from the Huachucas, has a foundation of moss and lichens, dry leaves, and strips of cedar bark, over which are finer strips of the bark and shreds of dry weed stalks and grasses, with a lining of still finer fibers; it is a shallow nest, its diameter being 3 by 3¹⁄₂ inches outside and 2 inches inside.

Eggs.—While 4 eggs seem to constitute the usual set for Virginia’s warbler, as few as 3 and as many as 5 have been reported. These are ovate to short ovate and only slightly lustrous. They are white, finely speckled or spotted with shades of reddish brown, such as “chestnut” and “auburn,” intermingled with faint specks of “pale vinaceous-drab.” Some eggs are profusely spotted over the entire surface, while others have the markings concentrated at the large end. The measurements of 40 eggs average 15.9 by 12.4 millimeters; the eggs showing the four extremes measure 17.0 by 12.4, 16.0 by 13.0, 14.2 by 12.2, and 16.3 by 11.2 millimeters (Harris).

Young.—On the period of incubation and on the development and care of the young we have no information except the following observations of Bailey and Niedrach (1938): “The hatching time of many species of Colorado birds seems to coincide with an abundance of larvae feeding upon plants among which the birds are nesting. We have noticed time and again, that pests are numerous upon the vegetation when the fledglings are in the nest, but a few weeks later, after the little fellows have taken wing and are able to move to other parts, the caterpillars have gone into the pupa stage.” At a nest they were watching, they observed that both parents shared the work of feeding the young, averaging a trip every 6 minutes.

A. J. van Rossem (1936) took young birds that were not fully grown on July 10, and others on July 13 that had nearly completed the postjuvenal molt, from which he inferred that two broods might be raised in a season. H. S. Swarth (1904) noted that the young birds began to appear in the Huachuca Mountains about the middle of July, after which both old and young birds moved down into the foothills.

Plumages.—The young Virginia’s warbler in juvenal plumage is plain grayish brown above; the throat, chest, and sides are paler brownish gray; the abdomen and center of the breast white; the upper and under tail coverts are dull greenish yellow; there is no chestnut crown patch; and the greater and median wing coverts are tipped with dull buffy. The sexes are alike.

The postjuvenal molt begins early in July and is often complete before the end of that month. The first winter plumage is similar to that of the adult female at that season. In this plumage the sexes are not very different, and the crown patch is not much in evidence or is altogether lacking in the young female; both sexes are browner and with less yellow than in the adult plumage, and the female is duller than the male.

A partial prenuptial molt occurs between February and May, mainly about the head, during which the chestnut crown patch is at least partially assumed and the young birds become almost indistinguishable from adults. There is, however, considerable individual variation in the advance toward maturity.

Subsequent molts consist of a complete postnuptial molt in July and August, and a partial prenuptial molt in early spring. The adult male in the fall is browner above and on the flanks, and the yellow on the chest is duller than in the spring, while the chestnut crown patch is concealed by brownish gray tips. The female, also, is browner than in the spring, with little if any yellow on the chest and with the crown patch similarly concealed. In spring birds there is much individual variation, perhaps owing to age, in the amount of yellow on the breast, throat, and chin. Some females are nearly as brightly colored as are the duller males, some have very little yellow on the chest and some lack the chestnut crown patch.

Food.—Our information on the food of Virginia’s warbler is limited to the observation of Bailey and Niedrach (1938) who saw a pair of these warblers feeding their young on the caterpillars that eat the foliage of the trees and shrubs on their nesting grounds. It is significant that after these caterpillars are no longer available the warbler leaves its breeding haunts and moves down into the foothills, perhaps in search of other food; and it would be interesting to learn what that food is. It has been seen foraging on the ground, as well as in the foliage, and flying up into the air to capture insects on the wing.

Behavior.—Virginia’s warbler is a shy, retiring species, spending most of its time not far above the ground in the thick underbrush, where it is not easily seen, as its colors match its surroundings. It is also very lively and active, almost constantly in motion, except when it mounts to the top of some dead bush or small tree to sit and sing.

Voice.—Dr. Chapman (1907) quotes C. E. Aiken as follows: “The male is very musical during the nesting season, uttering his swee ditty continually as he skips through the bushes in search of his morning repast; or having satisfied his appetite, he mounts to the top of some tree in the neighborhood of his nest, and repeats at regular intervals a song of remarkable fullness for a bird of such minute proportions.” Henry D. Minot (1880) calls the "ordinary note, a sharp chip; song, simple but various (deceptively so); common forms are ché-we-ché-we-ché-we-ché-we, wit-a-wiť-wiť-wiť (these terminal notes being partially characteristic of Helminthophagae) and che-wé-che-wé-che-wé, ché-a-ché-a-ché". Dr. Linsdale’s (1938) comments on singing males follow:

The song varied from 7 to 10 notes, being usually 8, and it occupied about 3 seconds. At the beginning the notes were slow and they came more rapidly at the end. About half a minute elapsed between songs. Another bird sang 14 times in 3 minutes and 10 seconds. * * * Singing perches on dead limbs that were rather exposed were the rule, but they were not often as high as the tops of tall trees. * * * On June 16, 1930, near Kingston Creek, 7500 feet, a singing male was followed for an hour, beginning at 7:30 a. m. It sang about every 30 seconds. The territory over which it moved was surprisingly large, estimated as extending 400 yards along the cañon slope and vertically about 150 yards, from near the stream to the base of the broken cliffs. * * * The song, compared with that of the Tolmie warbler had a more rapid rhythm and the notes were thinner and weaker. It could be distinguished from that of the Audubon warbler by the lack of rising inflection at the end. The song was represented by the observer (Miller) as zdl-zdl-zdl-zdl, zt-zt-zt-zt.

Field marks.—Virginia’s warbler, with its plain gray upper parts, is an inconspicuous bird, and its shy, retiring habits make it difficult to observe. The chestnut crown patch is not prominent and is often invisible. The yellow on the chest and throat of the male is quite variable and in the female and young much reduced or lacking. The best field marks are the dull yellow rump and upper and under tail covers, which are more or less conspicuous in old and young birds at all seasons.

Enemies.—O. W. Howard (1899) says that “the nests of the bird, like those of other ground-nesting birds of this locality, are destroyed by jays and snakes. The jays steal both eggs and young. Often a whole band of these winged wolves will sweep down on a nest and in less time than it takes to tell it they will devour the contents and destroy the nest, the pitiful notes of the helpless parents being drowned by the harsh notes of the marauders.”

Frank C. Cross writes to me that Robert J. Niedrach showed him a nest of this warbler that contained a young cowbird and one young warbler.

Winter.—By the last of August or early September, Virginia’s warblers have retired from their northern breeding haunts, to spend the winter in southern Mexico. Dr. C. William Beebe (1905) writes: “Occasionally in the mornings, numbers of tiny grayish warblers came slowly down the walls of the barranca, feeding as they descended, taking short flights, and keeping close to ground among the dense underbrush. These birds lingered at the camp for a time, and then, with soft, low chirps, all passed on to the water, where they alighted on the sand and drank. Then, as if at some silent signal, all flew up and returned quickly, still keeping close to the ground, zig-zagging their way upward in a long line, like tiny gray mice.” These were, of course, Virginia’s warblers.

DISTRIBUTION

Range.—Western United States to Southern Mexico.

Breeding range.—Virginia’s warbler breeds north to central eastern California (White Mountains); central and northeastern Nevada (Kingston Creek, Ruby Mountains, and East Humboldt Mountains); northern Utah (Salt Lake City, Parley’s Park, Packs Canyon, and Ashley); possibly southeastern Idaho (Joe’s Gap, Bear Lake County; one specimen from Bancroft, Bannock County); and northern Colorado (probably Little Snake River, Moffat County, and Estes Park). East to the eastern slope of the Rocky Mountains in Colorado (Estes Park, Denver, Manitou, Fountain, and Beulah); in migration has occurred east to Limon, and Monon in Baca County close to the Kansas line; and central New Mexico (Tierra Amarilla, Lake Burford, Sandia Mountain, and Apache, probably). South to southwestern New Mexico (Apache); and southeastern Arizona (Paradise and the Huachuca Mountains). West to southeastern and central Arizona (Huachuca Mountains, Santa Catalina Mountains, and Prescott); and eastern California (Clark Mountain and White Mountains; casually in migration to Lemon Grove).

Winter range.—In winter Virginia’s warbler is found in west central Mexico from northern Jalisco (Bolanas); and Guanajuato (Guanajuato), to Morelos (Yautepec); and Guerrero (Talpa and Chilpancingo).

Migration.—A late date of spring departure is: Sonora—Moctezuma, May 10.

Early dates of spring arrival are: Texas—Socorro, April 20. New Mexico—Cooney, April 10. Colorado—Estes Park, May 2. Arizona—Madera Canyon, Santa Rita Mountains, April 2. Utah—Vernal, May 5. Nevada—South Twin River, April 30.

Late spring migrant in Brewster County, Tex., May 13.

Late dates of fall departure are: Utah—Vernal, September 20. Arizona—Tombstone, September 11. Colorado—Boulder, September 21. New Mexico—Koehler Junction, September 11. Texas—El Paso, September 16.

Early dates of fall arrival are: Arizona—Toprock, July 23. Texas—Toyavale, August 21. Sonora—Guadalupe Canyon, August 31.

Casual records.—Two specimens of Virginia’s warbler have been taken in western California: in San Diego County, on September 3, 1931; and at Prisoner’s Harbor, Santa Cruz Island, on September 8, 1948. Virginia’s warbler has been reported as occurring in Nebraska and Kansas, but there is no record of a specimen having been taken in either State.

Egg dates.—Arizona: 10 records, May 17 to June 21; 5 records, May 25 to June 4.

Colorado: 6 records, June 1 to 26.

Nevada: 3 records, June 8 to 15.

VERMIVORA CRISSALIS (Salvin and Godman)

COLIMA WARBLER

CONTRIBUTED BY JOSSELYN VAN TYNE

HABITS

Described in 1889 from a single specimen collected by W. B. Richardson in the Sierra Nevada de Colima, Mexico, this handsome warbler was, in 1932, still known from only a dozen museum specimens, and not a word had been recorded on its habits. In that year a University of Michigan expedition found the Colima warbler to be common in the higher forests of the Chisos Mountains of southwestern Texas and made the first discovery of its nest and eggs. The basis for the inclusion of this warbler in the A. O. U. Check-List had been a single specimen collected by Frederick M. Gaige in the Chisos in 1928 (Van Tyne, 1929).

The range of the Colima warbler has been recorded only very sketchily, but Bangs (1925) was probably correct in surmising that the specimens from southern Mexico (Colima and Michoacán) were migrant birds. The closely related Virginia’s warbler, which nests in the Rocky Mountain States, winters mainly in Michoacán, Guerrero, and Jalisco. Recently R. T. Moore (1942) added a second, more southerly, locality in Michoacán and one in eastern Sinaloa to the known southern range of the Colima warbler. The breeding range is apparently restricted to the highlands of northeastern Mexico and the Chisos Mountains of southwestern Texas. In Texas the Colima warbler occurs at altitudes between 6,000 and 7,500 feet (Van Tyne, 1936); in Coahuila, apparently, only above altitudes of approximately 7,500 feet (Burleigh and Lowery, 1942). Records from the southern part of its range, however, show a greater altitudinal spread. The type specimen was taken in Colima at about 8,000 feet, and R. T. Moore (1942) reports two November specimens, one taken at 9,500 feet in northeastern Michoacán, the other at 5,200 feet in Sinaloa. These represent the extremes of the known altitudinal range.

Courtship.—Mating behavior has been observed during the first few days of May and sets of eggs noted May 15 (just completed) and May 20 (highly incubated). The only recorded specimen in juvenal plumage was collected July 20. Peet observed pursuit behavior in the Chisos Mountains on May 4 (within a few days of nest building), which may have had some courtship significance, but nothing definite is known of the courtship habits. Sutton noted copulation twice on May 1 in the Chisos, and the gonads of specimens collected that day were much enlarged; there was no indication that the females had begun incubating.

Nesting.—Two nests, both in the Chisos Mountains, have been described. The first (discovered in 1932) was lodged between small rocks and deeply imbedded in dead oak leaves on the sloping bank of a dry stream bed. A dense ground cover of vines and other herbaceous plants arched completely over it, leaving an entrance only on the northwest side, toward the stream. The nest had a basic structure of loosely woven fine grasses, the outside reinforced with pieces of green moss and the rim with strips of cedar bark; the cavity (5 centimeters across the rim and 4 centimeters deep) was lined with fine grass, a little fur, and a few hairs (Van Tyne, 1936). The other nest, which was “on the ground, under a little bunch of oak leaves, at the edge of a talus slope, almost at the very base of the cliffs” (Sutton, 1935), was similar, but its basic structure included dry leaves, and the site was concealed by only a partial canopy of leaves (Van Tyne and Sutton, 1937).

Nest building was observed in the Chisos Mountains on May 7, 1932 (Van Tyne, 1936):

As I was crossing the dry stream bed about a hundred yards below Boot Spring, I suddenly saw within twenty-five feet of me a female warbler with nest material in her bill. I stopped instantly and, remaining motionless, was greatly relieved to see the warbler continue undisturbed by my presence. In a moment she dropped to the ground and entered the nest, which was on the sloping right bank of the stream about six feet back from the margin of the rocky stream bed. After working for about twenty seconds the warbler left the nest and flew down the stream bed a hundred and fifty feet. In twelve minutes she was back with more nest material to repeat the performance. Subsequent excursions for building material during the ensuing hour were of three, twelve, six, and twenty-two minutes’ duration. Each time she worked at the nest only fifteen to twenty seconds, until the last trip (at 11:43 A. M.) when she worked about two minutes and then departed, probably to feed, for she did not return again while I watched. Each trip to the nest had been made undeviatingly, without any hesitation, from the stream bed or from the forest to the west. Alighting almost directly above the nest, without a pause she dropped through the branches by three or four stages and promptly entered the nest, placed the material, and snuggled down working it into place. After a few moments she seemed to have completed this to her satisfaction, and, leaving the nest, she flew up to the branches ten or twelve feet above, fed for a few moments on the insects among the fresh green leaves of the little oaks and maples, and went away for more material.

When it was evident that the nest building was over for the time I went over to the nest and, examining it more closely, found that it was nearly built. The following day, May 8, it seemed to be finished.

Eggs.—Two complete clutches have been found, each containing four eggs. Four eggs collected and measured were 18 by 13.3, 18 by 13.5, 18 by 13.5, and 18.5 by 14 millimeters. They were creamy white, speckled, and blotched in a wreath at the larger end with “vinaceous fawn,” “light brownish drab,” and “cinnamon drab.”

Egg laying, in the one instance observed, was at daily intervals (May 12-15); the first egg was laid four days after completion of the nest. Incubation had begun May 16, the day after the last egg was laid. The length of the incubation period is not known. Females collected on May 12 (Peet), May 17 (Van Tyne), and May 20 (Sutton) had well-marked incubation patches; males collected at the same time had no patch.

Plumages.—The Colima warbler differs from its nearest relative, the Virginia’s warbler, in being larger; darker, less gray, above; crown paler; rump and upper tail coverts darker and richer in color; yellow of throat and breast absent or, if present, more green and more diffuse; sides and flanks more brownish; crissum darker, more aniline yellow; sexes much more nearly alike. The adult female Colima warbler is slightly darker than the male and is more brown below. It is apparently never yellow on the breast.

The juvenal plumage (known from only one specimen) differs from the adult plumage in lacking the crown spot and in having two buffy wing bars. The rump is also much more yellow (less green) and the crissum is more yellow (less orange). The young Colima warbler differs from the young Virginia’s warbler in having a larger bill, darker plumage, and a less ochraceous rump.

The fall plumage differs from that of the spring in being “darker and browner throughout, the gray of head a good deal obscured by deep olive or light brownish olive; crown patch orange rufous; under parts darker with whitish area in middle of belly more distinct and under tail-coverts duller, more nearly aniline yellow” (Bangs, 1925).

George Miksch Sutton’s fine color plate (Van Tyne, 1936, frontispiece) of the Colima warbler is apparently the only published figure of the species.

Behavior.—In Texas, the Colima warbler was observed feeding on insects (which were not identified), but nothing further has been recorded about its food. All observers seem to agree that it is not a shy bird, although in its preferred cover, the female seems elusive and nests are difficult to find. Sutton has remarked that they are “rather deliberate, even vireo-like in their movements” (Van Tyne and Sutton, 1937). In the Chisos Mountains, they frequented especially the young maples and deciduous oaks along the banks of the dry, boulder-strewn stream bed, and elsewhere on the steep mountain slopes their preference for clumps of small oaks was noted.

Voice.—The call note of the Colima warbler is a very sharp, almost explosive psit. Its common song is a continuous trill, like that of the chipping sparrow, but shorter (lasting 3 to 4 seconds), more musical, and ending with two separate notes slightly lower in scale. A second, rarer, and more varied song is so clear that it can be heard for three or four hundred feet through the woods although it does not seem loud when heard from nearby. It is perhaps this song that Brandt (1940) describes as resembling the song of the eastern redstart. E. C. Jacot (MS.) reports that the males usually start singing when “a person approaches the territory of a pair, and continues to sing until the intruder has passed.” In the Chisos Mountains, Tex., the males were persistent singers. Once several sang even after a dense fog had silenced most other species. They sang usually from bushes and small trees between periods of feeding and moving about but sometimes remained for a while on a higher perch (up to 20 feet), singing at frequent intervals.

DISTRIBUTION

Range.—Chisos Mountains, Tex., and mountains of northeastern Mexico; probably winters in Colima, Michoacán, and Sinaloa.

The Colima warbler has been recorded from: Texas (Chisos Mountains); Coahuila (Sierra Guadalupe and Diamante Pass); Tamaulipas (Miquihuana); Michoacán (Patamba and Sierra Ozumatlan); Sinaloa (5 miles north of Santa Lucia); Colima (Sierra Nevada).

Egg dates.—Texas: 2 records, May 15 and 20.

VERMIVORA LUCIAE (Cooper)

LUCY’S WARBLER

Plates 18, 19

HABITS

Dr. J. G. Cooper discovered this tiny and inconspicuous warbler at Fort Mojave, on the Arizona side of the Colorado River, in the spring of 1861, and named it in honor of Miss Lucy Baird, daughter of Prof. Spencer F. Baird. It might well have been named the mesquite warbler, as its distribution coincides very closely with that of this tree, which seems to furnish its favorite home, most of its nesting sites, and much of its foraging area.

Harry S. Swarth (1905) wrote of conditions then existing:

South of Tucson, Arizona, along the banks of the Santa Cruz River, lies a region offering the greatest inducements to the ornithologist. The river, running underground for most of its course, rises to the surface at this point, and the bottom lands on either side are covered, miles in extent, with a thick growth of giant mesquite trees, literally giants, for a person accustomed to the scrubby bush that grows everywhere in the desert regions of the southwest, can hardly believe that these fine trees, many of them sixty feet high and over, really belong to the same species. This magnificent grove is included in the Papago Indian Reservation, which is the only reason for the trees surviving as long as they have, since elsewhere every mesquite large enough to be used as firewood has been ruthlessly cut down, to grow up again as a scraggly bush.

But this magnificent forest did not long remain in its pristine glory. When I was in Arizona with Frank Willard in 1922, we had looked forward with keen anticipation to visiting the mesquite forest, where he had told me that we should find a thick stand of big trees covering a large area, and some wonderful bird life. We were disappointed in the forest, for the Papago Indians had been cutting down the larger trees unmercifully and had made a network of cart roads all through it for hauling out the firewood. There were only a few large trees left, more or less scattered, and between them many open spaces in which were thickets of small mesquites and thorn or patches of medium-sized mesquites and hackberries. But we were not disappointed in the bird life, for here and in other parts of Pima County, wherever there were mesquites, we found Lucy’s warblers really abundant and breeding. The forest fairly teemed with bird life, from the graceful Mexican goshawks soaring overhead to the Gambel’s quails whistling on the ground. The constant cooing of the white-winged doves was almost too monotonous, but the rich song of the Arizona cardinal, mingled with the voices of the orioles, towhees, wrens, and vireos made a delightful chorus, among which the sweet song of Lucy’s warbler was prominent.

Dr. Joseph Grinnell (1914) writes, referring to the Colorado Valley: “On the California side, both at Riverside Mountain and above Blythe, Lucy warblers were numerous, and very closely confined to the narrow belt of mesquite. The singing males, each representing the forage area and nesting site of a pair, were spaced out very uniformly, so that an estimated strip of about 200 yards in length belonged to each. The birds foraged out to a limited extent from the mesquites towards the river into the arrowweed and willows, and away from the river at the mouths of washes into the ironwoods and palo verdes. But the metropolis was always most emphatically the mesquites.”

Nesting.—M. French Gilman (1909) had considerable experience with the nesting habits of Lucy’s warbler along the Gila River in Arizona, of which he says:

Four general types of nesting sites were noticed, in the following order of frequency: in natural cavities, under loose bark, in woodpecker holes, and in deserted Verdins’ nests. Of 23 nests observed, 12 were in natural cavities, 4 under loose bark, 4 in woodpecker holes, and three in Verdins’ nests. Natural cavities were of various kinds. Some were where a limb had been broken off; others in the crack made by a large branch splitting from the trunk; and again a decayed spot furnisht a sufficient hollow to conceal the nest. In all cases the site was in a sheltered or protected position; that is, the trunk leaned enough to shade the entrance from above. A mesquite tree was usually selected, tho others were taken. Of the nests observed, 15 were in mesquites, 5 in palo verde, 2 in ironwood, and one in catsclaw. * * *

The nests were small and compact and well hidden in their cavity. Only twice did protruding material betray the location. In one case nesting material protruded from a woodpecker hole, and the other was a bulky nest that showed from each side of a split branch. This last nest I thought must belong to a House Finch, but investigation showed warbler ownership. Nests were made of bark, weeds, and mesquite leaf-stems, and lined with fine bark, horse and cow hair, a few feathers and sometimes a little rabbit fur. The site averaged six and one-half feet from the ground, the lowest being 18 inches and the highest 15 feet. * * *

In nest-building the female seems to do all the work, her mate sometimes accompanying her on trips to and from the tree, but more frequently flitting about the tops of adjacent trees, occasionally uttering his little warble. One pair I watcht had a nest in a Texas Woodpecker hole in a palo verde tree about 15 feet from the ground. The female brought material to the nest three times in two minutes, then a seven minute interval, followed by two trips in three minutes. The male accompanied her on two trips then made himself scarce. He indulged in no singing and both birds were silent, tho in many cases one or both gave the call note at intervals.

Others have mentioned nests of Lucy’s warblers in verdins’ nests, probably all old winter nests of the male verdin, relined to suit the warbler. O. W. Howard (1899) records such a nest and adds: “Other nests were placed in crevices along river banks where roots of trees were sticking out and one or two were found in natural cavities of the Giant Cactus, or in woodpecker holes therein.” We found a nest with young in a cavity in the bleached skeleton of a fallen giant cactus, where I set up my camera and took several photographs of the bird feeding the young. A very pretty nest of this warbler is in the Thayer collection in Cambridge; it was evidently built in the fork of a mesquite limb, supported by a cluster of old and fresh, green twigs; it is made externally of the leaves, petioles, fine green twigs, and flower clusters of the mesquite and is decorated with a few feathers of the white-winged dove; it is lined internally with fine fibers, white cows' hair and black horsehair, and more dove feathers; it measures 4 by 3 inches in outside diameter and 2 by 1¹⁄₃ inside; the outside height is nearly 3 inches, and the inside cup is about 1³⁄₄ inches deep. A set in my collection was taken from a hole 3 feet above the base of a sandy bank along a wash near the San Pedro River, in Arizona.

Eggs.—Lucy’s warbler lays from 3 to 7 eggs, but the set usually consists of 4 or 5; the larger sets are rare, but O. W. Howard has found two sets of 7, and several sets of 6 have been recorded. The eggs are ovate to short ovate and have very little lustre. The white or creamy white ground color is finely speckled with shades of “chestnut,” “bay,” or “auburn.” The eggs that have markings in the darker shades of “chestnut” and “bay” frequently have a scattering of minute spots of “brownish drab” that are often lacking on eggs with the lighter markings of “auburn.” The spots are usually concentrated at the large end. The measurements of 50 eggs average 14.6 by 11.4 millimeters; the eggs showing the four extremes measure 16.5 by 11.5, 14.6 by 12.0, 13.2 by 11.2, and 13.7 by 10.7 millimeters. (Harris.)

Young.—The period of incubation seems to be unknown, and I can find no information on the development and care of the young. Evidence points to the conclusion that incubation and brooding are performed entirely by the female, and that at least two broods are reared in a season. Mr. Swarth (1905) says that “several broods are probably raised, as unfinished nests and incomplete sets were found at the same time that broods of young as large as the adults were seen flying about.”

Plumages.—Ridgway (1902) says that the young in juvenal plumage are “essentially like adults, but much clearer white beneath; no trace of chestnut on crown; upper tail-coverts ochraceous-buff instead of chestnut; middle and greater wing-coverts tipped with whitish or pale buffy, producing two rather distinct bars.” He might have added that the tertials are edged with cinnamon, and that the primaries and rectrices are edged and tipped with white.

There is apparently a partial postjuvenal molt, some time during the summer, when all the plumage except the flight feathers, remiges, and rectrices, is renewed. Young birds now become very similar to adults, but can be recognized by the juvenal wings and tail until the edgings wear off. I can find no evidence of a prenuptial molt in either young or old birds. I have seen adults in complete postnuptial molt in August. Fall birds are tinged with brown above and with pale brownish buff below; the chestnut crown patch is concealed by very broad brownish gray tips. Females are not always distinguishable from males, but usually the chestnut on the crown and upper tail coverts is paler and more restricted.

Food.—Nothing definite seems to have been published on the food of Lucy’s warbler, but it is evidently largely, if not wholly, insectivorous, as it is often seen foraging in the foliage and flower clusters of the mesquites and in other trees. Dr. W. P. Taylor tells me that he has seen it feeding on the pendant sprays of ocotillo flowers, probably gleaning insects or other materials from the exterior. In late spring when the mesquites, palo verdes, the various cacti, and even the saguaros burst into full bloom, these gorgeous desert plants are a blaze of color and attract myriads of insects.

Behavior.—Mr. Gilman (1909) says that “shyness about the nest seems to be characteristic of these birds.” He was seldom able to flush one from its nest. "In three cases only, did the parent birds show what might be called proper amount of solicitude when the nest was approacht. Some of them seemed rather touchy about their nests, leaving them if the nest were toucht even so lightly.” Some nests, with incomplete sets, were deserted after they had been inspected; but others were not. “They took good care not to sing in the nest tree, preferring to confine their performances to trees some distance away. The male would frequently meet me several rods from the nest and flit from tree to tree singing at short intervals. Once I made a complete circuit of the nest tree and he accompanied me the entire distance. This was an exceptional case of course. While going from tree to tree and singing, the bird usually tried to keep hidden as much as possible and was rather successful in the effort.”

However nest-shy the bird may be when there are eggs in the nest that she does not want discovered, the bird that I watched was not at all shy about her nest, nor was she lacking in parental devotion. For, although my camera stood within a few feet of the nest and I was standing beside it in plain sight, she came repeatedly to feed her young. I should say that these birds are more retiring than shy.

W. L. Dawson (1923) writes: “Albeit an active creature and zealous in song, the Lucy Warbler becomes almost invisible in its habitual setting, and the difficulty of detection is heightened by the bird’s instinctive wariness. Again and again I have known a bird which had seemed quite engrossed in song to fall silent at the stir of a footstep a hundred yards away.”

Voice.—Mr. Dawson (1923) says: “The Lucy Warbler is a loud and industrious singer, but the song has a curious generic quality very difficult to describe. It is Warbler song, rather than the song of the Lucy Warbler. It is, perhaps, most like that of the Pileolated Warbler (Wilsonia pileolata) in quality. After that, it reminds one of the Yellow Warbler’s song, having the same vivacious cadence, but not being so sharply piercing. Again its breathless, haphazard quality suggests one of the Buntings; and I once followed its tantalizing seductions for half an hour under the delusion that I was on the track of the coveted Beautiful Bunting (Passerina versicolor pulchra).”

Dr. Grinnell (1914) says that the song “resembles the song of the Sonora yellow warbler in length and frequency of utterance and somewhat in quality, but with a distinct hurried and lisping effect reminding one of the song of the Lazuli bunting.” Several others have noted the resemblance to the song of the yellow warbler. Mrs. Florence Merriam Bailey (1923) puts the song in syllables as follows: “whee-tee, whee-tee, whee-tee, whee-tee, whee-tee, whee-tee, whee-tee, whee-tee, whee-tee, wheet, and its call was a faint chip.”

Field marks.—There are no very striking marks on Lucy’s warbler; it is clothed in quiet colors and in general appearance suggests a warbling vireo. The chestnut crown patch of the male can be seen under favorable conditions, but on the female it is seldom in evidence. The chestnut upper tail coverts can be seen only when the bird is in certain positions. Its activity will mark it as a wood warbler, and it is the only one of this family likely to be found on its breeding grounds among the mesquites in the nesting season.

Enemies.—Mr. Howard (1899) says that “many nests are destroyed by wood-rats and snakes.” And Mr. Dawson (1923) writes:

Dwarf Cowbirds are prominent in the formidable host of enemies which this tiny bird must face. Sometimes the warblers are able to entrench themselves behind apertures so narrow that the Cowbird cannot get in; and once we saw the Cowbird’s foundling resting unharmed, but also harmless, upon the “doorstep,” not less than two inches distant from the warbler’s eggs. Another nest, more exposed, contained three eggs of the arch enemy, and had been deserted by the troubled owners. The Gila Woodpecker is an especially persistent enemy. Accustomed as he is to poking and prying, he seems to take a fiendish delight in discovering and devouring as many Lucy Warblers’ eggs as possible. We caught several of these villains red-handed, and we found reason to believe that more than half of the nests in a certain section had been wrecked by them. Add to these the depredations of lizards, snakes, and, possibly, rats, and the wonder is that these tiny gray waifs are able to reproduce at all.

DISTRIBUTION

Range.—Southwestern United States to central Mexico.

Breeding range.—Lucy’s warbler breeds north to southern Utah (Beaverdam Wash, Zion National Park; Calf Creek, Garfield County; and the San Juan River); and southwestern Colorado (Montezuma County near Four Corners). East to Colorado (near Four Corners); western New Mexico (Shiprock, possibly San Antonio, mouth of Mogollon Creek, and Redrock); southeastern Arizona (Bisbee); and northeastern Sonora (Moctezuma). South to northern Sonora (Moctezuma and Sáric); southern Arizona (Baboquivari Mountains, Menager’s Dam, and Gadsden); and southern California (Picacho and Silsbee). West to southern California (Silsbee, Mecca possibly, and Chemehuevis Valley); western Arizona (Fort Mojave); and southwestern Utah (Beaverdam Wash).

Winter range.—The few available records place the winter home of Lucy’s warbler in central western Mexico from Jalisco (Bolaños and Lake Chapala) to eastern Guerrero (Iguala).

Migration.—Few migration dates are available for a species with such a limited range. Early dates of arrival are: Arizona—Tucson, March 12. California—Mecca, March 29. Utah—St. George, March 23. A late departure date is: Arizona—Tombstone, October 3.

Egg dates.—Arizona: 58 records, April 22 to June 27; 30 records, May 2 to 21, indicating the height of the season.

PARULA AMERICANA PUSILLA (Wilson)

NORTHERN PARULA WARBLER

Plates [20], [21]

HABITS

I have always preferred the old name, blue yellow-backed warbler, as originally used by Wilson and Audubon, to the modern common name; it seems more descriptive of this dainty wood warbler. As to the origin of this newer name, Dr. Spencer Trotter (1909) writes: “The name ‘parula’ recently in vogue for the warblers of the genus Compsothlypis is clearly borrowed from the old Bonaparte genus Parula (diminutive of titmouse). The bird (C. americana) has appeared under various titles—‘the Finch Creeper’ of Catesby (I, 64), ‘the various coloured little finch creeper’ of Bartram (Travels, 292), and the ‘Blue Yellow-backed Warbler’ of Wilson, Audubon, and later authors.” Parula was extensively used as the generic name during the last century, and is now reinstated to replace Compsothlypis.

The 1931 A. O. U. Check-List of North American Birds recognizes only two races of this species, the subject of this present sketch, P. a. pusilla, and the southern race, P. a. americana. The two forms together occupy a breeding range covering practically all of the United States east of the Great Plains, as well as parts of southern Canada, the type name being restricted to the birds breeding from the District of Columbia southward to Alabama and Florida.

Ridgway (1902) describes the northern bird as “similar to C. a. americana, but slightly larger, with smaller bill and darker, richer coloration; adult male with blue of upper parts deeper, and black of lores more intense; lower throat or upper chest (sometimes both) blackish or dusky (the feathers sometimes tipped with chestnut), forming a more or less distinct, often very conspicuous band; lower chest orange-tawny, tawny, or chestnut (the feathers usually margined with yellow) forming usually a distinct and often abruptly defined patch; sides usually more or less tinged or spotted with chestnut.”

In the same work, he describes a third form, C. a. ramalinae, as “similar in coloration to” the northern bird, “but smaller even than C. a. americana.” He gives as its range the Mississippi Valley, from Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas to Minnesota and Michigan. This western race is not recognized in the 1931 A. O. U. Check-List.

Our experience with the northern parula warbler in Bristol County, Mass., well illustrates the successive changes that nature and man have wrought in the distribution of so many of our birds. Many years ago, perhaps early in the last century or before, some hardy pioneers hewed out a clearing in the forest that clothed the slopes of Rocky Hill in Rehoboth, Mass., planted an apple orchard, and surrounded it with stone walls. All traces of the old farm, if ever there had been one, disappeared before I first visited the locality in 1888, and the forest had begun to encroach on the old clearing. The apple trees even then showed signs of old age and were profusely covered with long festoons of that picturesque tree lichen, often called beard-moss or old-man’s-beard (Usnea barbata, U. longissima, or U. trichodea). This old orchard was a mecca for all local oologists, and many a set of eggs of the blue yellow-backed warbler was taken from it during succeeding years. As time passed, the old trees gradually died, the Usnea disappeared, the warblers ceased breeding there, and the forest eventually reclaimed the land until today only the ancient stone walls remain to mark the locally famous haunt of the blue yellow-backs.

I can remember several other old, neglected orchards that were similarly decorated with the long, gray-green lichen and that were inhabited by parula warblers as nesting sites, but they all suffered the same fate; the orchard trees decayed and were replaced by woods and thickets. During the early part of the present century this warbler continued to breed commonly in Bristol County wherever it could find trees infested with Usnea—around the edges of swamps and along the shores of ponds, lakes, and sluggish streams; but now this lichen seems for some reason to have entirely disappeared from the County, and the parula warbler has likewise disappeared, although it may still breed in a few similar localities on Cape Cod, Mass., where I have found it a few times in more recent years.

Localities such as those described above seem to be typical of the breeding haunts of the northern parula warbler, at least in New England, southern New York, and New Jersey. Whether the presence of Usnea is a sine qua non for the breeding haunts of this wood warbler is an open question; but it may safely be said that where this lichen grows in abundance one is almost sure to find it breeding; and conversely, where this lichen is scarce or lacking, the warbler breeds sparingly or not at all.

Farther westward, northward, and southward, where Usnea is scarce or entirely absent, these warblers seem to find congenial haunts in hemlock ravines and in other coniferous woods and swamps; but even there they are more likely to be found where there is at least some of one species or another of this lichen, or where the somewhat similar Spanish moss (Tillandsia usneoides) grows.

Spring.—Parula warblers that have wintered in the West Indies reach southern Florida during the first week in March. Dr. Wetmore (1916) says that it "was the most common of the migrant warblers in Porto Rico. * * * Migratory movement was apparent among them by February 14, and after this the birds were very restless, especially during early morning, and there was tendency to work from the east to west. In March and April there were distinct waves of migration.” But it is well on toward the middle of May before the first migrants reach the northern limits of their breeding range.

Professor Cooke’s (1904) records show that the migrants from Mexico and Central America reach the Louisiana coast by the very last of February or early March, while the first arrivals on the lower Rio Grande, in Texas, come two or three weeks later. He observes:

A comparison of the dates shows, first, that the parula warbler arrives in Texas much later than in either of the other States, and hence does not reach the Mississippi Valley by way of Texas; second, that it arrives in northern Florida at least ten days later than it attains the same latitude in Louisiana. From these two facts it would appear that Louisiana is reached by direct flight across the Gulf of Mexico. The average date of arrival at New Orleans coincides closely with the date when the first migrants arrive at the southern end of Florida. It would seem that the birds of Mexico and Cuba are prompted to move northward at the same time, but the flight over the Gulf of Mexico being so much longer than that from Cuba to Florida, the Mexican birds reach a higher latitude by their initial flight.

There are other interesting details in Cooke’s account to which the reader is referred.

During migration the parula warbler does not frequent haunts typical of its breeding ground; in fact such are not to be found in much of the country over which it travels; nor does it especially frequent the coniferous woods to which it is partial in summer. It is to be found almost anywhere, in many kinds of trees, though it seems to show a decided preference for deciduous woods. There, it may often be seen drifting through the highest tree-tops in mixed groups of migrating wood warblers, gleaning insects amidst the freshly opening foliage. Referring to the Buckeye Lake region in Ohio, Milton B. Trautman (1940) writes: “The transient Parula Warblers usually displayed a preference for large pin oak and shingle oak trees and a marked preference for one shingle oak in particular. This oak was in the Lakeside Woods, and more Parula Warblers were observed in it than in all of the remaining trees of the woodland. A transient often displays a marked preference for certain types of trees, but it appears unusual for a single tree among many of the same kind to retain yearly so marked an attraction for a particular bird species.”

The migrating parula warbler is often seen in roadside trees and in shade trees in parks and gardens. It even visits our orchards, where one of the most charming sights of springtime is to see this gay-colored, tiny warbler flitting about in search of insects among the apple blossoms, a delightful bit of color contrast in a beautiful setting.

Nesting.—The nests of the northern parula warbler that we used to find in southern Massachusetts were all located in haunts similar to those described, and mostly in old orchards heavily festooned with beard moss (Usnea). We could usually find three to five nests in a well-populated orchard, but they were so well hidden in the hanging moss that we may have overlooked some. A casual observer would never notice one, but with practice we learned to recognize a rounded, cuplike, thick place in a bunch of Usnea as indicating a nest. The nests were usually made in bunches of moss that hung from horizontal or sloping branches and were from 5 to 15 feet above the ground, more being below than above 12 feet. Some nests were in red cedars, or savins (Juniperus virginiana), scattered among other trees or growing in open stands by themselves; they were located in bunches of Usnea close to the center of the tree and often within reach from the ground. Occasionally, isolated trees on the edges of swamps or on the shores of ponds were sufficiently covered with the lichen to contain nests, and these were sometimes as much as 20 feet above the ground. The nearest approach to a colony that I ever found was in a small cedar swamp, not over an acre in extent, that jutted out from the shore of a lake into rather deep water.

The white cedars (Chamaecyparis thuyoides) were growing in water that was waist deep or more in places, and the whole place was so obstructed with fallen trees and sunken snags that it was very difficult to explore thoroughly; I managed to find some half a dozen nests, and there may have been others, for many of the trees were well “bearded.”

The nests that we have found have all been very simple affairs, apparently merely pockets hollowed out in bunches of hanging Usnea, with side entrances slightly above the cups. Some nests were small and suspended only 2 or 3 inches below the supporting branch, practically open baskets accessible from directly above; others were found in long, thick bunches, a foot or more in length, with long streamers hanging below the nest. External measurements were therefore quite variable. Many of the nests were unlined, save with a soft bed of fine shreds of Usnea, some were scantily lined with a few pieces of fine grass, two or three pine needles, one or two horsehairs, or a few bits of buff-colored down from the stems of ferns; rarely, a nest was more elaborately lined with the latter material but never as profusely as are the nests of other wood warblers.

Apparently the nests were also difficult to find in Connecticut; “J. M. W.” (C. L. Rawson, 1888), who has probably taken more eggs of the blue yellow-backed warbler than any other man, says that the older ornithologists did not realize “that the three Southern New England States were about the centre of its breeding range,” until he began sending eggs to Dr. T. M. Brewer. Thomas Nuttall (1833) remarked: “The nest and eggs are yet unknown.”

Rawson found the parula warbler nesting in colonies near Norwich, Conn., and says:

I know a swamp where may be found seventy-five pairs of these summer residents. The first time I visited the Preston colony on the 31st of May, I took eight sets of four. The first time I visited another large community in this county on June 5, on a point of land trending into salt water, I took eleven sets of four. * * *