The Parula is weak-voiced, and its call notes, as far as I know, are slight and barely peculiar; but it has at least three main songs, with great range of variations.All may be recognized, or at least distinguished from the weak songs of theDendroicae, like the Blackburnian and Bay-breast, by their beady, buzzy tones. In phrasing, in everything but tone-quality, certain variations of the Parula’s and of the Blackburnian’s songs very nearly meet and overlap; but the tell-tale tones remain unchanged,—wheezy and beady in the one, smooth as glass in the other. Commonest of the Northern Parula’s three main songs is probably the short, unbroken buzz, uttered on an evenly-ascending scale, and ending abruptly, with a slight accentuation of the final note. Next is that which begins with several notes of the same beady character, but clearly separated, and finishes, likewise on an ascending scale, with a brief congested buzz. The third main song is based on an inversion of the second—a buzz followed by a few separate drawled notes, high-pitched like the buzz-ending of the two other songs. All these vary and intervary perplexingly.
The Parula is weak-voiced, and its call notes, as far as I know, are slight and barely peculiar; but it has at least three main songs, with great range of variations.
All may be recognized, or at least distinguished from the weak songs of theDendroicae, like the Blackburnian and Bay-breast, by their beady, buzzy tones. In phrasing, in everything but tone-quality, certain variations of the Parula’s and of the Blackburnian’s songs very nearly meet and overlap; but the tell-tale tones remain unchanged,—wheezy and beady in the one, smooth as glass in the other. Commonest of the Northern Parula’s three main songs is probably the short, unbroken buzz, uttered on an evenly-ascending scale, and ending abruptly, with a slight accentuation of the final note. Next is that which begins with several notes of the same beady character, but clearly separated, and finishes, likewise on an ascending scale, with a brief congested buzz. The third main song is based on an inversion of the second—a buzz followed by a few separate drawled notes, high-pitched like the buzz-ending of the two other songs. All these vary and intervary perplexingly.
Aretas A. Saunders contributes the following notes on the song of this warbler: “The parula warbler has two distinct types of song. One is a simple buzzy trill rising in pitch, and frequently terminated by a short, sharp note of lower pitch. Of 12 records of this song, 7 have the terminal note and 5 do not. The other form has the same buzz-like quality, but begins with three or four short notes on the same pitch, followed by a longer, higher note that is frequently, but not always, slurred upward. Both songs are similar in length and in pitch intervals. They vary from 11⁄5to 13⁄5seconds in length. The rise in pitch varies from one to four and a half tones, and averages about two tones. The actual pitch is exceedingly variable in individuals and varies from A‴ to D‴″. Songs vary considerably in loudness, many of them becoming suddenly louder toward the end.
“The species sings throughout migration, and on the breeding grounds till late July. At that season I have seen males still singing while feeding young just out of the nest.”
Enemies.—Dr. Friedmann (1929) writes; “This bird is practically free from that greatest enemy of most of the warblers, the Cowbird. Occasionally, however, parasitic eggs are found in the dainty pensile nests of the Parula Warbler. Stone found a nest on May 26, 1892, at Cape May Point, New Jersey, containing three eggs of the Warbler and one of the Cowbird.* * *Five other records have come to my notice, from Long Island, New York, Pennsylvania and Connecticut, and the bird is listed as a victim of the Cowbird by several writers, as Bendire, Davie, and Chapman.” Mrs. Nice (1931) records two more cases in Oklahoma.
Harold S. Peters (1936) records two lice,Myrsidea incerta(Kellogg) andRiciniussp., as external parasites on this species.
Field marks.—The parula, is one of our smallest warblers. The adult male is well marked, with its blue upper parts, the yellow back being inconspicuous, two conspicuous white wing bands, black lores, yellow breast and chestnut or blackish throat band. The female is duller in all colors, more greenish above and has little or no throat band. Young birds are even less conspicuously marked, as noted in the description of plumages.
Fall.—As soon as the young are strong on the wing the family parties desert their breeding grounds, and after the molting season is finished they resort to the deciduous woods and join the migrating hosts of warblers and other small birds drifting southward through the tree-tops or along the roadside shade trees. The fall migration is apparently a reversal of the springtime routes, as they travel to their winter haunts in Mexico and the West Indies. Professor Cooke (1904) says that this warbler “passes through Florida in countless thousands, being second only to the black-throated blue warbler in the frequency with which it strikes the lighthouses.* * *By the middle of September the great flights begin and continue in full force for a month.”
DISTRIBUTION
Range.—Southern Canada to Nicaragua and the West Indies.
Breeding range.—The Parula warbler breedsnorthto southern Manitoba (Shoal Lake and Caddy Lake); central Ontario (Off Lake, Rossport, and Lake Abitibi); and southern Quebec (Lake Timiskaming, Blue Sea Lake, Gaspé Peninsula, and Anticosti Island).Eastto Anticosti Island (Fox Bay); Prince Edward Island (Tignish); Nova Scotia (Halifax and Yarmouth); and the Atlantic coast south to central Florida (Deer Park, Lake Gentry, and St. Lucie).Southto central Florida (St. Lucie, Bull Creek Swamp, and Tarpon Springs) and the Gulf coast to south-central Texas (Houston and San Antonio).Westto central Texas (San Antonio and Kerrville); eastern Oklahoma (Caddo, red Oak, and Copan); eastern Kansas(Neosha Falls, Topeka, and Leavenworth); central Iowa (Des Moines); north-central Minnesota (Cass Lake and Itasca); and southeastern Manitoba (Shoal Lake).
Winter range.—The parula warbler wintersnorthto southern Tamaulipas (Tampico); occasionally southern Florida (Tarpon Springs, Sanibel Island, and Miami); the Bahamas Islands (Nassau and Caicos); Hispaniola (Tortue Island and Samaná); Puerto Rico; the Virgin Islands (St. Thomas); and the Lesser Antilles (Saba).Eastto the Lesser Antilles (Saba, St. Christopher, Guadaloupe, and Barbados).Southto the Lesser Antilles (Barbados); Jamaica (Kingston); and Nicaragua (Río Escondido).Westto Nicaragua (Río Escondido); El Salvador (Barra de Santiago); western Guatemala (San José and Escuintla); southern Oaxaca (Tehuantepec); Veracruz (Tlacotalpan); and Tamaulipas (Tampico).
The above range is for the species as a whole, of which two geographic races are recognized: the southern parula warbler (P. a. americana) breeds in southeastern United States from Maryland southward, east of the mountains; the northern parula warbler (P. a. pusilla) breeds in the western and northern portion of the range.
Migration.—Late dates of spring departure from the winter home are: El Salvador—Barra de Santiago, April 18. Guatemala—San José, March 7. Yucatán—San Felipe, April 4. Virgin Islands—St. Croix, April 30. Puerto Rico—Mayagüez, May 7. Haiti—Port au Prince, April 4. Cuba—Habana, May 4. Bahamas—Cay Lobos, May 14.
Early dates of spring arrival are: Florida—Daytona Beach, March 3. Alabama—Coosada, March 25. Georgia—Savannah, March 8. South Carolina—Frogmore, March 5. North Carolina—Washington, March 26. West Virginia—Bluefield, April 9. District of Columbia—Washington, April 6. Pennsylvania—Carlisle, April 25. New York—Shelter Island, April 23. Massachusetts—Stoughton, April 25. Vermont—St. Johnsbury, April 21. Maine—Portland, April 29. Nova Scotia—Wolfville, May 8. New Brunswick—St. Stephen, May 9. Quebec—Quebec, May 10. Louisiana—New Orleans, February 15. Mississippi—Bay St. Louis, March 5. Arkansas—Helena, March 24. Tennessee—Athens, April 3. Kentucky—Eubank, April 4. Indiana—Bloomington, April 21. Ohio—Columbus, April 28. Michigan—Ann Arbor, April 29. Ontario—Toronto, May 2. Missouri—Columbia, April 5. Iowa—Grinnell, April 28. Wisconsin—Madison, April 30. Minnesota—Red Wing, May 5. Texas—Hidalgo, March 5. Oklahoma—Caddo, March 25. Kansas—Independence, April 8. Nebraska—Havelock, April 20.
Late dates of fall departure are: Minnesota—St. Paul, October 5. Wisconsin—Milwaukee, October 9. Missouri—St. Louis, October 5.Ontario—Point Pelee, October 5. Michigan—Grand Rapids, October 19. Ohio—Toledo, October 19. Indiana—Richmond, October 14. Tennessee—Nashville, October 3. Arkansas—Monticello, October 2. Louisiana—Covington, October 26. Mississippi—Gulfport, November 2. Quebec—Hatley, September 30. New Brunswick—Scotch Lake, September 28. Maine—Portland, October 24. New Hampshire—Hanover, October 11. Massachusetts—Rockport, October 25. New York—Rhinebeck, October 21. Pennsylvania—Berwyn, October 26. District of Columbia, Washington, October 17. West Virginia—French Creek, October 1. Virginia—Lynchburg, October 17. North Carolina—Rocky Mount, October 23. South Carolina—Charleston, October 22. Georgia—Athens, November 4. Florida—Gainesville, November 19.
Early dates of fall arrival are: Bahamas—Watling Island, September 28. Cuba—Habana, August 10. Dominican Republic—San Juan, October 21. Puerto Rico—Parguera, September 19. Nicaragua—Río Escondido, October 20. Costa Rica—Villa Quesada, October 24.
Banding.—Only a single migration record is available from banded birds. A parula warbler banded as an adult at Flushing, Long Island, New York, on September 16, 1946, was found dead about October 1, 1947, at La Grange, Maine.
Casual records.—The parula warbler has been recorded three times in Colorado (in El Paso County, at Kit Carson, and at Denver); and three times in Wyoming (once at Cheyenne and twice at Torrington).
Egg dates.—Massachusetts: 52 records, May 20 to July 7; 29 records, May 29 to June 10, indicating the height of the season.
Connecticut: 39 records, May 25 to June 25; 25 records, June 1 to 10.
South Carolina: 20 records, April 10 to June 24; 10 records, April 30 to May 11.
PARULA AMERICANA AMERICANA (Linnaeus)
SOUTHERN PARULA WARBLER
Plate22
HABITS
This southern race of our well-known blue yellow-backed warbler is said to breed from the District of Columbia southward to Florida and Alabama. William Brewster (1896), in describing and naming the northern race, restricted the Linnaean nameamericanato the southern bird because it was evidently based on Catesby’s excellent plate, drawn from a bird taken in South Carolina. In his comparative diagnoses of the two forms, he describes the southern bird as "averagingslightly smaller but with longer bill. Adult male with more yellow on the under parts and less black or blackish on the lores and malar region; the dark collar across the jugulum narrow, obscure, often nearly wanting; the chest pale, diffuse russet, without obvious markings.” He admits that no one of these characters is quite constant, the best one being the depth and definition of the reddish brown on the chest. And he suggests that the distribution of the two forms in the breeding season may be roughly correlated with the distribution ofUsneain the north and ofTillandsiain the south, in which the two forms, respectively, seem to prefer to build their nests. This, however, is not strictly accurate or universal (for example, see some remarks by M. G. Vaiden, under the preceding form, on the breeding of this species in two different localities in Mississippi).
Arthur T. Wayne (1910) says of the haunts of the southern bird in South Carolina: “As soon as the sweet gum trees begin to bud, the song of this beautiful bird is heard. It heralds the approach of spring and is one of the first warblers to arrive which does not winter. The range of this species in the breeding season is entirely governed by the presence or absence of the Spanish moss, and where the moss is growing in profusion the birds are common, but where the moss is absent the birds are absolutely not to be found.”
A. H. Howell (1932) calls this southern subspecies “an abundant spring and fall migrant [in Florida]; a common summer resident south at least to Osceola County; and a rare winter resident, chiefly in the central and southern part. Owing to the presence of a few wintering individuals, it is difficult to determine when spring migration begins.* * *Positive evidence of migration is furnished by the appearance of large numbers striking the light on Sombrero Key, March 3, 1889, when 250 birds were observed and 30 were killed. This species is one of the most numerous and regular visitants at the lighthouses on the east coast and on the Keys.” Many of these were, of course, the northern race. Of the haunts of the southern race, he says: “The dainty little Parula Warbler is found most frequently in cypress swamps or heavily timbered bottom-lands, and to a lesser extent in the upland hammocks. The abundant Spanish moss on the trees furnishes ideal nesting sites for the birds.”
Nesting.—Except for the fact that the so-called Spanish moss (Tillandsia) replaces the beard moss (Usnea), the nesting habits of the two races are very much alike. A. T. Wayne (1910) says that in South Carolina “the nest is always built in the festoons of the Spanish moss, from eight to more than one hundred feet from the ground, and is constructed of the flower of the moss and a few pieces of fine, dry grass.” The nesting habits in Florida are very similar.
In southeastern Virginia, according to Harold H. Bailey (1913) this southern race is:—
a most common breeding bird in its favorite haunts, the cypress or juniper swamps of the southeastern section; Cape Henry southward. These trees seem to furnish particularly fine feeding grounds, and wherever you find one festooned with the long, hanging Spanish moss, here also you are likely to find one or more nests. In this section I should call them a colony bird, for in days past I have seen on the trees in and surrounding one small lake, as many as two hundred pair breeding in company. The Dismal Swamp and its surrounding low territory has been an ideal spot for a feeding and breeding home in years past, but of late, the cutting of the juniper for commercial purposes, and the disappearance of the moss to a great extent, has driven the majority of the birds elsewhere.
Eggs.—These are indistinguishable from those of the northern parula warbler. The measurements of 50 eggs average 16.2 by 12.0 millimeters; the eggs showing the four extremes measure19.5by12.7and14.0by11.0millimeters (Harris).
Food.—Howell (1932) reports: “Examination of the stomachs of four birds taken in Florida in February showed the contents to consist almost wholly of insects and spiders, with a few bud scales. Hymenoptera (ants, bees and wasps) composed the largest item, amounting in two instances to approximately half the total contents. Other insects taken in smaller quantities were lepidopterous larvae, fly larvae, beetles, weevils, scale insects, bugs, and grouse locusts. Spiders were found in three stomachs, and amounted to about 20 per cent of the total food.”
PARULA PITIAYUMI NIGRILORA (Coues)
SENNETT’S OLIVE-BACKED WARBLER
HABITS
This northern race of a wide-ranging species is represented by a number of allied races in Central and South America. From its range in northeastern Mexico it rarely crosses our border into the valley of the lower Rio Grande in southeastern Texas. For its introduction into our fauna and for most of our knowledge of its habits we are indebted to George B. Sennett (1878 and 1879) and to Dr. James C. Merrill (1878). The discovery of the bird in Texas in 1877 is thus described by Mr. Sennett:
On April 20th, soon after reaching Hidalgo, I was directed up the river some four miles by road, and there shot the first three specimens of this new species. On May 3d, another was shot among the mesquite timber of the old resaca, within a mile of town.On May 8th, another was shot in a dense forest about half a mile from where the first three were obtained. Several more were seen; in fact, they were more abundant than any other Warbler.* * *All of the specimensobtained are males, and I remember of seeing none in pairs. They were seen usually in little groups of three or four. They are by no means shy, but frequenting, as they do, the woods, cannot be readily seen.
On April 20th, soon after reaching Hidalgo, I was directed up the river some four miles by road, and there shot the first three specimens of this new species. On May 3d, another was shot among the mesquite timber of the old resaca, within a mile of town.
On May 8th, another was shot in a dense forest about half a mile from where the first three were obtained. Several more were seen; in fact, they were more abundant than any other Warbler.* * *All of the specimensobtained are males, and I remember of seeing none in pairs. They were seen usually in little groups of three or four. They are by no means shy, but frequenting, as they do, the woods, cannot be readily seen.
He visited the locality again the following year and says in his report (1879):
It is truly a bird of the forest, and delights to be in the upper branches of the tallest trees. The song of the male is almost continuous as it flies about, and is so clear that it can be heard at a long distance and readily distinguished from all other birds. By its notes we could locate the bird, and this accounts for our securing so many more males than females. Were it not for its song, I doubt if we would have taken many, owing to their diminutive size and habit of frequenting the tops of the forest-trees. As it was, by only taking such as came in our way, we shot over twenty specimens, and could have taken any number more had we set out for them alone. In feeding habits I could see nothing different from our familiar Blue Yellow-back,P. americana.
Dr. Merrill (1878) says of its haunts: “Arrives about the third week in March, and passes the summer among thick woods and near the edges of lagoons where there is Spanish moss.” We found Sennett’s warbler fairly common around Brownsville, especially on the edges of the resacas, partially dry old river beds where the trees, mostly small mesquites, are more or less draped withUsneaand suggest the places where we would look for parula warblers in the north.
In appearance and behavior they were strikingly reminiscent of our northern friends. Sutton and Pettingill (1942) found this warbler up to 2,000 feet elevation in southwestern Tamaulipas, in full song on March 14, and a pair copulating on March 20.
Nesting.—Dr. Merrill sent to Mr. Sennett (1878) the following description of a nest he found near Brownsville after Mr. Sennett left: “My nest ofParulawas taken July 5th, about five miles from here. It was placed in a small thin bunch of hanging moss, about ten feet from the ground, in a thicket; was simply hollowed out of the moss, of which it was entirely composed, with the exception of three or four horsehairs; entrance on side; contained three young about half fledged. Parents very bold, but thinking they wereamericanaI did not shoot them.”
The next year, his Mexican guide brought him a nest and a broken egg, which Mr. Sennett (1879) describes as follows:
The nest is exceedingly interesting and beautiful. It is made in a gray mistletoe-like orchid, an air-plant very common on the Rio Grande, which establishes itself on the small branches of trees, and varies in size up to eight or ten inches in diameter. This one is six inches long by four and one-half inches wide, quite firm in texture, and was fastened some ten feet from the ground, to the end of a drooping branch of a brazil-tree in open woodland. The nest is constructed very simply, being formed by parting the gray leaves of the orchid and digging into its centre from the side, a cavity some two inches in diameter being made, with an opening of one and one-quarter inches. The bottom and sides are lined pretty well up with short cotton wood fibres, forming a fine matting forthe eggs to rest upon. A firmer and more secure nest is seldom seen, although so easily made. I imagine a day would complete one, and certainly but little time need be wasted in selecting a site, for thousands of orchids stand out on the partially dead branches on trees with little foliage. That they build also in the hanging trusses of Spanish moss, so abundant everywhere, is true, the young before referred to being found in a nest in one.
There are two nests of Sennett’s warbler in the Thayer collection in Cambridge. One of these was taken for F. B. Armstrong in Tamaulipas, Mexico, on July 5, 1911, and held three eggs. It is described as a “nest of hair in bunch of growing moss hanging from limb of cypress tree in river bottom,” 8 feet up; it is built right into theTillandsiaand is made almost wholly of black and white cattle hair. The other, with a set of four eggs, was taken by James Johnson near Saltillo, Mexico, on May 27, 1906. It is described by the collector as “dug and hollowed in a bunch of pipestem mosses.” It is a compact little nest made of very fine rootlets, very fine grasses, shreds of the brown inner bark of the palmetto or palm, and some weed blossoms; it is lined with finer shreds, a little plant down, and a few feathers. Externally it measures 21⁄2inches in diameter and 2 inches in height; the inside diameter is about 11⁄2inches; and the depth of the cup about 11⁄4inches.
Eggs.—Either 3 or 4 eggs seem to constitute the full set, as far as we now know, for Sennett’s warbler. The 7 eggs in the Thayer collection vary from ovate to short ovate, and have only a slight lustre. They are white or creamy white and are speckled and spotted with shades of “wood brown,” “cinnamon-brown,” or “Brussels brown,” with underlying spots of “pale brownish drab.” On some eggs the markings run to much darker browns, such as “auburn” and “chestnut,” and on these the drab spottings are frequently lacking. Usually a loose wreath is formed where the spots are concentrated at the large end, but occasionally they are distributed nearly evenly over the entire surface. The measurements of 36 eggs average 16.3 by 12.2 millimeters; the eggs showing the four extremes measure19.0by13.7and15.0by11.3millimeters (Harris).
Plumages.—Young Sennett’s warblers that I have examined are uniform grayish olive above, inclining to olive-green on the back; the black lores and cheeks are lacking; the median wing coverts are narrowly tipped with whitish, and the greater coverts more broadly so; the chin is pale yellow; the chest and upper breast are shaded with pale gray and centrally tinged yellowish; the abdomen is dull white; and the sides and flanks are shaded with pale olive-grayish. I have not seen enough material to trace subsequent molts and plumages, which doubtless parallel those of the parula warbler.
Food.—We have no definite information about the food of Sennett’s warbler, but Clarence F. Smith has sent me the following note:“The only laboratory report available on the food of the species pertains specifically to a South American subspecies of thepitiayumigroup. The stomach contents were reported to consist of remains of hymenopterous insects and two-winged flies (Zotta, 1932).”
* * *
Nothing further seems to have appeared in print regarding the habits of this warbler. It is much like the well-known parula warbler in appearance and behavior, but can be recognized in the field by the conspicuous black lores and cheeks and by the complete absence of any pectoral band.
DISTRIBUTION
Range.—The species ranges from southern Texas to northern Argentina and Uruguay. The race occurring in the United States is found in southern Texas and northeastern Mexico.
Breeding range.—Sennett’s olive-backed warbler breedsnorthto northeastern Coahuila (Sabinas); and southern Texas (Hidalgo, Harlingen, and Point Isabel).Eastto southern Texas (Point Isabel and Brownsville); and southeastern Tamaulipas (Altamira and Tampico).Southto southern Tamaulipas (Tampico); and southern San Luis Potosí (Valles).Westto eastern San Luis Potosí (Valles); and eastern Coahuila (Cerro de la Silla and Sabinas).
Winter range.—While probably not a sedentary form, its winter range very nearly coincides with its breeding range. It has been found in winter from Brownsville, Tex., to northern Hidalgo (Jacala).
Egg dates.—Texas: 6 records, April 28 to May 30; 4 records, May 2 to 12, indicating the height of the season.
Mexico: 2 records, May 27 and July 5.
PARULA GRAYSONI Ridgway
SOCORRO WARBLER
HABITS
The Socorro warbler is closely related to Sennett’s warbler and other races ofpitiayumibut is accepted as a distinct species. It differs fromnigrilorain having gray, instead of black, lores and cheeks, and in having much less white on the inner webs of the outer rectrices. It was supposed to be confined to Socorro Island, one of the Revillagigedo group, about 250 miles southwest of the southern tip of Baja California. It was added to our fauna by Chester C. Lamb (1925), who states:
On November 3, 1923, I collected one of these birds at Todos Santos, on the Pacific Ocean side of the peninsula of Lower California, some forty miles northof Cape San Lucas.* * *On February 5, 1924, I saw another of these little warblers, within a few feet of me; but my gun was not at hand, so I had to be content with a sight record. The locality was inland, at El Oro, on the east side of the Victoria Mountains, about thirty miles from Todos Santos. The next occurrence, like the first, was at Todos Santos, where, on July 23, 1924, I secured an adult female which is now in my collection at the Los Angeles County Museum, Los Angeles. The taking of these two birds, in the winter and summer of two successive years, would indicate that the species is of more or less regular occurrence in the Cape Region of Lower California. The capture of a specimen in July suggests the possibility of breeding at the point of record.
Nothing more seems to have been heard of the species since. And we know nothing of its habits.
DISTRIBUTION
Range.—Socorro Island and the Cape region of Baja California.
Breeding range.—The Socorro warbler is known to breed only on Socorro Island, where it is resident. It has been found in the breeding season near Todos Santos, Baja California.
This warbler has been found in winter in two localities (Todos Santos and El Oro) in Baja California, and appears to be resident in small numbers.
PEUCEDRAMUS TAENIATUS ARIZONAE Miller and Griscom
NORTHERN OLIVE WARBLER
Plate 23
HABITS
The olive warbler was long classed as a species ofDendroica, withPeucedramusregarded as a subgenus, but it is now properly placed in a genus by itself, for as Dr. Chapman (1907) points out it differs fromDendroicachiefly “in its slenderer, more rounded bill, proportionately longer wings (about 1.00 inch longer than the tail) and decidedly forked tail, the central tail feathers being more than .25 inches shorter than the other ones. In general color and pattern of colorationPeucedramusis markedly unlikeDendroica, from all the species of which the male differs in requiring two years to acquire adult plumage.”
For a still longer time it was supposed to be a homogeneous species, until Miller and Griscom (1925) made a study of it and divided the species into five subspecies, mostly Mexican and Central American. In giving this bird the nameP. t. arizonae, they state that it is entirely different in coloration from the type race; "upperparts plain mouse-gray, in spring plumage almost never tinged with olivaceous, even on the upper tail-coverts, appearing lighter and grayer than typicalolivaceus; collar on hind neck not so complete, usually invading the occiput; primaries rarely if ever edged with olive-green in spring plumage; head and throat plain ochraceous, duller than in typicalolivaceus; underparts lighter, the center of the belly purer white, more contrasted with the flanks, which are less olivaceous, more grayish brown; size as in typicalolivaceus. Throat and side of neck of adult female and immature pale lemon-yellow.” They give as its range “mountains of southern and central Arizona south at least to Chihuahua and perhaps east to western Tamaulipas (Miquihuana).”
The species had long been known in Mexico and had been erroneously reported in Texas, but it remained for Henry W. Henshaw (1875) to record it definitely as a North American bird by capturing three specimens on Mount Graham, Ariz., in September, 1874. Since then it has been noted by numerous observers on several other mountain ranges in southern Arizona, where it is now known to be fairly common in summer and where a few remain in winter.
It is a bird of the open pine forests on or near the summits of the mountains. In the Huachucas we found it breeding at about 9,000 feet elevation in the open forests of yellow pine, sugar pine, and fir. As Swarth (1904) says: “I found them only in the pine forests of the highest parts of the mountains, even in cold weather none being seen below 8,500 feet; and more were secured above 9,000 feet than below it.”
In the Chiricahuas, Frank Stephens collected a fine series of these warblers for William Brewster (1882a) in March, 1880, in the pine woods at elevations from 10,000 to 12,000 feet. And it was here that W. W. Price (1895) found the first nest in 1894; “the region was a dry open park, thinly set with young pine (Pinus jeffreyi), at between nine and ten thousand feet above the sea.”
The olive warbler is not always confined to the pines at all seasons, for Dr. Walter P. Taylor tells me that he obtained a single specimen from an oak tree in the Santa Rita Mountains at 5,000 feet on February 4, 1923. It was in the same general locality with bridled titmice and ruby-crowned kinglets, and was alone, perhaps a winter wanderer, foraging nervously through the foliage of the oak.
Spring.—According to Swarth (1904), migrating olive warblers reach the Huachuca Mountains, from their winter resorts in northern Mexico, about the first of April. “In 1903 they became fairly abundant, particularly in April, when many small flocks of five or six birds each, were seen.* * *They were seldom in company with other warblers, but when not alone, associated with nuthatches and creepers.” Frank C. Willard (1910) says that "the first few days are spent, as it were, in staking out their claims anew. The males at this time are quite pugnacious toward one another, and, tho apparentlyalready mated, they promptly drive any wanderer of the same sex from their selected bit of forest. I believe they return each year to the same locality in which they made their home of the previous year, as I have found them in the same patch of trees year after year while other places near by, with the same apparent advantages, never seem to be chosen.” Dr. Taylor (MS.) saw a pair of olive warblers, 20 to 30 feet up in some yellow pines in the Santa Catalina Mountains on May 13, 1928. They kept giving a whistled call with descending inflection. “The two birds were courting apparently, flying about, often facing each other at short range, 6 to 18 inches, calling at very frequent intervals.”
Nesting.—To William W. Price (1895) belongs the honor of finding the first nest of the Arizona olive warbler. On June 15, 1894, on the Chiricahua Mountains, he—
saw a female, closely followed by a male, fly from a bush of spirea (Spirea discolor) to the top of a small pine, and busy itself on a small horizontal limb partially concealed by pine needles. She soon returned to the spirea, followed by the male, which did not enter the bush but perched on a pine branch near by. The female again flew with a dry flower-stem in her bill, from the bush directly to the pine, where a nest was in process of construction.* * *A few days after, a forest fire drove me from my camp, and it was not until July 1 that I was able to visit the nest. The female was sitting, and when frightened from the nest, kept hovering about, but made no sound. The male did not appear at all. The nest was compactly built and placed on a small horizontal branch, about forty feet from the ground, and about six feet from the top of the tree. The eggs, four in number, were in an advanced state of incubation.* * *The body and walls of the nest are composed of rootlets and flower stalks ofSpirea discolor, and the inner lining consists of fine rootlets and a very small quantity of vegetable down. It is a compactly built structure, measuring about 4 inches in outer diameter by 13⁄4inches in depth; the inner cup measures 2 inches in width by 11⁄8inches in depth.
A few years later, O. W. Howard (1899) reported finding four nests in the Huachuca Mountains; one was about 30 feet up in the fork of a large limb of a red fir; another was in a sugar pine near the extremity of a limb and about 30 feet from the ground; a third was near the end of a long slender limb of a yellow pine, about 50 feet up, and well concealed among the long pine needles; the fourth was on a branch of a red fir, not far from the trunk, and over 60 feet from the ground.
F. C. Willard (1910), collecting in the Huachucas, says that “short-leaf pines, long-leaf pines and firs are chosen for the nesting sites.” One female that he watched building her nest "was gathering rootlets at the time and seemed very particular about them, picking up and dropping several before selecting one which she thought satisfactory. This she carried into a dense growth at the tip of a branch of a large fir about one hundred yards away. The male was singing and feedingin a tree close by. After a few trips with material the female would fly into the tree where he was and let him feed her. This is the only time I have observed nest building going on and the male not following the female in her flights.” In his description of the nest, he says: “It is supported by ten small live twigs from the size of a pencil down, all growing from a branch about five eighths of an inch in diameter. It is composed outwardly of moss and pine bud hulls with plant down scattered thruout. The proportion of this latter increases until the the lining is reacht where it forms a felt like a hummingbird’s nest. This lining is supplemented with a few very fine rootlets.”
He gives an interesting account of his attempts to locate another nest in “a short-leaf pine whose branches were weighted down with masses of twigs and cones.” He worked from ten in the morning until three in the afternoon, following the birds about, climbing the suspected tree several times and cutting off many twigs, before he finally found the nest. “The tree was not a very large one and I had shaken every branch and jarred them with my foot, but until I practically toucht the nest she had stayed on.”
While I was in Arizona with Willard he collected for me on May 30 a beautiful nest of the olive warbler, with four fresh eggs. It was taken at an altitude of 8,500 feet on the Huachuca Mountains and was built in a clump of mistletoe near the tip of a branch of a sugar pine about 20 feet out from the trunk and 55 feet from the ground. Its construction was similar to those described previously (pl. 23). The loftiest nest that he ever found was 70 feet from the ground in a pine.
The nest built by the Arizona olive warbler is beautiful, and quite different from that of any other species of its group. A typical nest (in the Thayer collection in Cambridge) is made mainly of a brown lichen or moss mixed with other lichens and mosses, bud scales, flower scales, and some plant down, reinforced with fine yellowish rootlets. All these are compactly worked into and supported by the living needles of the yellow pine in which the nest was built. The lining consists of plant down and finer strands of the same yellowish rootlets. It measures 31⁄2by 3 inches in outside diameter and 21⁄2in height; the inner cavity is about 2 inches in diameter and 11⁄4inches in depth.
Eggs.—Three or four distinctive eggs seem to constitute the full set for the northern olive warbler. These are ovate to short ovate and have a very slight lustre. They are grayish or bluish white, or even very pale blue, liberally speckled, spotted and blotched with “dark olive-gray,” “dark grayish olive,” “drab,” “olive-brown,” or “dark brownish drab.” These are interspersed with undertones of “mouse gray,” “deep mouse gray,” or “Quaker drab.” On some eggs the spots are sharp and distinct, while on others the olive, brown, and drab markings are clouded into the undertones. The spottings areusually well scattered over the entire surface, but tend to become heavier at the large end. The measurements of 28 eggs average 17.1 by 12.8 millimeters; the eggs showing the four extremes measure19.0by16.0,16.0by 12.2, and 18.1 by12.0millimeters (Harris).
Young.—Information is lacking on incubation and care of the young.
Plumages.—The plumages and molts of the olive warbler are as distinctive as its nest and eggs. The sexes are not quite alike in juvenal plumage. Ridgway (1902) describes the young male as “pileum, hindneck, back, scapulars, rump, and upper tail-coverts plain dull olive or brownish olive; supra-auricular region and sides of neck dull yellowish buffy, the latter tinged with olive; chin, throat, and chest dull yellowish buffy; otherwise like adult female.” And of the young female, “similar to the young male but paler and grayer above; supra-auricular and post-auricular regions pale brownish buffy; chin, throat, and chest still paler buffy, the chin and upper throat dull buffy whitish.” The white tips of the greater wing coverts are tinged with yellowish.
I have not been able to trace the postjuvenal molt in the series I have examined but it apparently occurs in July and produces very little change, young birds of both sexes in their first winter plumage closely resembling the adult female at that season, though the crown and nape are grayer and the throat and breast are paler. I can find no evidence of a prenuptial molt. Young males evidently breed in this plumage and do not acquire the fully adult plumage until their second fall, or perhaps later. In Brewster’s series, collected in March, three males are in this condition, of which he (1882) says that “two of them, although in unworn dress, are absolutely undistinguishable from adults of the opposite sex; the third (No. 77), however, has the throat appreciably tinged with the brownish-saffron of the adult male.” This last may be a bird that is one year older, for Ridgway (1902) describes the “second year” male as “identical in coloration with the adult female.” Judging from the series that I have examined, including all of Brewster’s birds, I am inclined to think that the adult winter plumage is acquired at the first postnuptial molt, or when the bird is a little over one year old.
There can be no doubt, however, that young males breed in this immature plumage, for Price (1895) secured a pair that were feeding a brood of young, and the “male was not in fully adult plumage and was very similar in coloration to the female.” Swarth (1904) writes: “The male bird breeds in the immature plumage, for on June 21, 1902, I assisted O. W. Howard in securing a nest, containing four eggs, the parents of which were indistinguishable in color and markings.* * *I was surprised at the large proportion of birds in this immatureplumage that were seen. At a very liberal estimate I should say that the males in adult plumage comprised barely a third of the birds seen in the spring.”
Adults have a complete postnuptial molt, mainly in July; all June birds that I have seen are in worn plumage, and August and September birds are in new, fresh feathers. The fall plumage of the male is similar to that of the spring male, but the colors of the head, neck, and chest are duller, more clay color, the back is more olive and the sides are browner. In the female at this season the crown is tipped with grayish and the throat and breast with buffy, while the sides are browner than in the spring; the white tips of the greater wing coverts are tinged with yellowish. The nuptial plumage is acquired mainly, if not entirely, by wear, the edgings wearing away and the colors becoming brighter.
Food.—Nothing definite seems to have been recorded on the food of the olive warbler, but its habit of creeping over the branches and twigs of the pines, much after the manner of the pine warbler, would seem to indicate that it was foraging for the many small insects that infest these trees. It is evidently one of the protectors of the pine forests. Brewster (1882b) says: “In their actions these Warblers reminded Mr. Stephens ofDendroeca occidentalis. They spent much of their time at the extremities of the pine branches where they searched among the bunches of needles for insects, with which their stomachs were usually well filled. Occasionally one was seen to pursue a falling insect to the ground, where it would alight for a moment before returning to the tree above.”
Behavior.—One of the members of Henshaw’s (1875) party brought in a specimen of this warbler, on September 20, “which he stated he had shot from among a flock of Audubon’s Warblers and Snowbirds, which he had started from the ground while walking the pine woods. With the rest, it had apparently been feeding upon the ground, and had flown up to a low branch of a pine, where it sat and began to give forth a very beautiful song, which he described as consisting of detached, melodious, whistling notes.”
W. E. D. Scott (1885), writing of his field work in the Santa Catalina Mountains in late November, says:
Associated with flocks of the Mexican Bluebird (Sialia, mexicana), which was, by the way, the only kind of Bluebird observed, was always to be found one and sometimes two representatives of the Olive Warbler (Peucedramus olivaceus). The Bluebirds were generally feeding on some insects in the tall pines, in flocks of from six to ten individuals. The Olive Warblers were on the best of terms with their blue friends, and as the Bluebirds were shy and restless they made it difficult to obtain or observe very closely their smaller allies. I did not in these pine woods see the two species apart, and became at length so well aware of the intimacy that existed between them, that I would fire atany small bird passing high overhead in company with Bluebirds. They were chance shots, certainly, but the only two small birds obtained flying in this way with the Bluebirds were Olive Warblers.* * *Generally they preferred the largest branches of the pines when they alighted, though I took one not more than three feet from the ground in a small bush. Their movements while feeding or searching for food are very deliberate, though I noticed now and again certain motions when at the extremity of a bough that reminded me of a Kinglet or a Titmouse.
Swarth (1940) says: “Though frequenting the tree tops to a great extent, they seem singularly tame and unsuspicious, and several times I have had one feeding in some of the lower branches, within arm’s reach of me, without its showing the least sign of fear.”
Voice.—The olive warbler has a rather loud, attractive, and distinctive note, but few observers have referred to it as a song. The “beautiful song” mentioned above consisted of “detached, melodious, whistling notes.”
One of its whistling notes sounds very much like thepetonote of the tufted titmouse and might easily deceive the listener. Scott (1885) observed that these warblers “had a call-note so like that of their associates [the bluebirds] as to be almost identical. It seemed to me only a clearer whistle of more silvery tone.” Price (1895) saw a male alight on a twig near his mate, during nest-building, uttering “a liquidquirt, quirt, quirt, in a descending scale.” Mr. Henshaw (1875) heard “a few strange Vireo-like notes coming” from an olive warbler. A bird that Dr. W. P. Taylor (MS.) watched in apparent courtship gave “a whistled call with descending inflection.”
Field marks.—In general appearance and behavior the olive warbler suggests the pine warbler, especially as it creeps over the pines. The orange-brown head, neck, and breast of the adult male, with the conspicuous black band through the eye, is distinctive; these colors are much paler and more yellowish in the female, and the band through the eye is grayish. Both adults have two white wing bars, a white area at the base of the primaries and much white in the tail, the white areas being more restricted in the female. Young birds are much like the female (see descriptions of plumages).
Winter.—The olive warbler, as a species, is probably permanently resident throughout most of its Mexican and Central American range. But the northern olive warbler is evidently partially migratory, though some individuals, perhaps many, remain in Arizona during part, or all, of the winter. All of the 15 specimens taken by Stephens for William Brewster (1882b) were collected in March, probably too early to be migrants, and he says that Stephens had previously taken one in February 1880, evidently a wintering bird. Mr. Swarth (1904) writes: “I have not found this species very abundant in the Huachucas at any time, but it is probably resident to some extent, for I securedan adult male on February 21 when the snow was deep on the ground. During March I saw several more, all adult males and single birds, usually with a troop of Pygmy Nuthatches; but it was not until the first of April, when the other warblers were arriving, that they became at all abundant.” Scott (1885) found them on the Catalinas under winter conditions, with snow on the ground, and says: “I think there can be little if any doubt that they are residents all the year.” And Dr. W. P. Taylor (MS.) took one in the Santa Ritas on February 4, 1923. Just how far south go the birds that migrate away from Arizona does not seem to be known, but apparently they have not been detected beyond Chihuahua and Tamaulipas. Perhaps they do not migrate at all.
DISTRIBUTION
Range.—Southwestern United States to northern Nicaragua.
Breeding range.—The northern olive warbler breedsnorthto central Arizona (Baker’s Butte and White Mountains) and central western New Mexico (Reserve).Eastto western New Mexico (Reserve and McKnight’s Canyon); Chihuahua (Colonia García); southeastern Coahuila (Diamante Pass); and southwestern Tamaulipas (Miquihuana).Southto southwestern Tamaulipas (Miquihuana) and southern Durango (Durango).Westto Durango (Durango); Sonora (Sierra Saguaribo); and southeastern and central Arizona (Huachuca Mountains, Santa Catalina Mountains, and Baker’s Butte).
Other races occur in southern Mexico and Central America.
Winter range.—The northern olive warbler is probably migratory to some extent, individuals withdrawing to the southern part of the range, but it is found in winter occasionally or in small numbers as far north as southern Arizona.
Egg dates.—Arizona: 14 records, May 23 to July 1; 7 records, June 2 to 18, indicating the height of the season.
DENDROICA PETECHIA AESTIVA (Gmelin)
EASTERN YELLOW WARBLER
Plates 24, 25
HABITS
The familiar yellow warbler, also commonly called the summer yellow bird or wild canary, is the best known and the most widely known of all of our wood warblers. It is one of the few birds that almost everybody knows by one of the above names. It is universally beloved as it comes to us in the flush of budding spring, gleaming in the shrubbery, like a rich yellow flame among the freshly opening leaves, or bringing to the apple orchards a flash of brilliant sunshineto mingle with the fragrant blossoms. As Dr. Chapman (1907) says: “In his plumes dwells the gold of the sun, in his voice its brightness and good cheer. We have not to seek him in the depths of the forest, the haunt of nearly all his congeners, he comes to us and makes his home near ours.”
The yellow warbler, as a species, is also the most widely distributed member of its family. Its breeding range extends from the Atlantic to the Pacific in both Canada and the United States (110 degrees of longitude), and from the Barren Grounds in northern Canada to Mexico and the Gulf States (40 degrees of latitude). Its winter range covers 54 degrees of longitude and 31 degrees of latitude in Central and South America. Professor Cooke (1904) says: “The extreme points of the yellow warbler’s range—northern Alaska and western Perú—are farther separated than the extremes of the range of the black-polled warbler, which is considered the greatest migrant of the family.” But it must be remembered that the yellow warbler breeds much farther south than the black-poll.
Spring.—The spring migration of the yellow warbler is long and partially circuitous; eastern yellow warblers that winter as far east as British Guiana probably make a roundabout flight to Central America, as there seem to be no springtime records for this bird in the West Indies and few for it in Florida. These birds may fly across the Gulf from Yucatán to Cuba and Florida, but the main flight is probably directly north from Yucatán to Louisiana and other points on the Gulf coast; they have been repeatedly seen flying northward in the middle of the Gulf. There is also a considerable migration along the coast of Texas, which I have personally observed.
The migration is also prolonged or very irregular, for according to the dates of departure given to me by Alexander F. Skutch (see underWinter), the last of these warblers do not leave Central America until the very last of April, or the first of May, after the first arrivals have reached New England; some of these records, however, may apply to one of the western races. After the birds reach the United States, the migration fans out northward and northeastward and seems to be more rapid. Of this Frederick C. Lincoln (1939) says: “Coming north from the Tropics these birds reach New Orleans about April 5, when the average temperature is 65° F. Travelling on northward much faster than does the season, they reach their breeding grounds in Manitoba the latter part of May, when the average temperature is only 47°. Encountering progressively colder weather over their entire route, they cross a strip of country in the 15 days from May 11 to 25 that spring takes 35 days to cross. This ‘catching up’ with spring is characteristic of species that winter south of the United States and of most of the northern species that winter in the Gulf States.”
Territory.—Soon after their arrival on their breeding grounds the males begin to select their territories and then to defend them. Dr. S. Charles Kendeigh (1941) made a study of the territories of birds in a prairie community in northwestern Iowa, and writes: