Chapter C: W. Bowles (1902) mentions a nest in southern Oregon that "was six (3)

While several authors have referred to _virens_ as a tame bird, the same cannot be said for _waynei_. In years of experience with the latter, I have always found it shy and retiring. Singing freely enough if unaware of observation, it often ceases when it detects an intruder, and since the song is one of the surest means of locating it, great care has to be taken in moving about, particularly near the nest.

The nest is impossible to find without watching the female, for it is more often than not completely invisible from the ground. _D. v. waynei_ is found in the same habitat with yellow-throated and parula warblers, but, unlike them, never utilizes the hanging clumps of Spanish moss (_Tillandsia_) in which they invariably nest. I have climbed a tall cypress and collected a nest and eggs of _D. d. dominica_ while _waynei_ was singing in the near vicinity. The preference of _waynei_ for heavy, old-growth swamp forests is so marked that if this timber is cut out, the bird disappears from the area completely, even though other growth is left standing. In the South Carolina Low Country, this characteristic is shared by both Bachman's and Swainson's warblers, both of which nest in heavy swamps.

_Voice._--Though it was the cuckoo which Bryant characterized as "a wandering voice," he might well have written the words with respect to this tiny warbler for the bird is heard far more readily than it is seen. As a songster it is all but indefatigable. Perhaps this is because the depths of the cypress swamps and the old "backwaters" are cooler than the surrounding highlands, but no matter how warm the day, or close the atmosphere, the constantly reiterated, seven-note song resounds through the air most of the day. The ornithologists I have guided to the haunts of _waynei_ all agree that the song is very close to that of _virens_. Perhaps it is a shade more deliberate and studied, as might be expected of a southerner! However, to all intents and purposes, it is the same song. I am inclined to describe it as slower and more pronounced, but after all the difference is minor.

Arthur H. Howell (1932) describes the song of _virens_ as "a drowsy, drawled ditty of four or five notes, _wee-wee-wee-su-see_, the next to last note on a lower pitch and the final one distinctly higher." This portrays quite well the song of _waynei_, except for the number of notes, which are much oftener seven than less, the first five being exactly alike, the sixth descending, and the seventh ascending.

Frank M. Chapman (1907), quoting Gerald Thayer, says of _virens_ that "most of the individuals in a region sing nearly alike ... but about one in forty does queer tricks with its voice. Among the commonest of these tricks is the introduction into all parts of the song of a pronounced quaver or tremulo.... The song is sometimes disguised almost past recognition." He states further that the "deliberate song of five (sometimes six or eight) notes, is the one usually described in books."

I have never noted any "quaver or tremulo" in the song. It may occur, but in the scores of times I have heard the song it has not taken place. Nor can I recall any song of eight notes. Occasionally, _waynei_ will utter only five notes, but this is the marked exception and not the rule. Certainly, individuals in a given region sing exactly alike, and indeed, all the specimens I ever heard sounded alike, except for the occasional slight variation in number of notes.

_Fall._--The length of stay of _waynei_ in its summer range has not yet been determined with certainty. Few departure dates have been recorded, but in all probability the bird is a rather early migrant. Occurrence of the song decreases markedly after the nesting season, making the birds' movements much more difficult to trace. It will be recalled that young were noted flying on May twenty-fourth, in the Dismal Swamp of Virginia. South Carolina birds were seen to fly "a few feet" on April twenty-eighth, almost a month earlier. The North Carolina records show that young were noted "in June", probably early in the month. That multiple broods are raised is also something of an open question, though it seems that in South Carolina two are raised. Henry H. Kopman (1904) states that on July 30, 1897, he took one at Beauvoir, Miss., on the Gulf coast, and later comments (1905) that "Professor Cooke [W. W.] is inclined to think" that the Beauvoir bird was a stray. Probably it was a stray, and in view of what we know today, the chances are that the bird was a specimen of _waynei_. Many of the birds of course linger much later than that; on September 29, 1935, Earle R. Greene [MS.] noted one at Lake Mattamuskeet, N.C. This is doubtless a rather late date and may be taken as about the limit of its stay along the Atlantic coast.

Enough remains to be learned about this most interesting race to keep students busy. The highly attractive type of habitat, the marked isolation of nesting pairs even in a restricted range, the active character and handsome appearance of the bird itself, all these combine to render Wayne's warbler distinctive and appealing.

DENDROICA CHRYSOPARIA Sclater and Salvin

GOLDEN-CHEEKED WARBLER

HABITS

This elegant warbler is confined in the breeding season to a very narrow range in south-central Texas, the timbered parts of the "Edwards Plateau" region. It has been reported as breeding in Bandera, Bexar, Comal, Concho, Kendall, Kerr, and Tom Green Counties, and rarely north to Bosque and McLennan Counties. It winters in the highlands of southern Mexico and Guatemala.

The golden-cheeked warbler was entirely unknown to early American ornithologists. William Brewster (1879) gives the following brief account of its early history: "The original specimens were procured by Mr. Salvin in Vera Paz, Guatemala. Since that time, with the exception of a male obtained by Mr. Dresser, near San Antonio, Texas, about 1864, no additional ones have apparently been taken. The specimen mentioned by Mr. Purdie was taken by George H. Ragsdale in Bosque County, Texas, April, 1878." The bird is now well known in the limited region outlined above, and many specimens of the birds, their nests, and their eggs have found their way into collections.

The first comprehensive account of its habits was given to Dr. Chapman (1907) by H. P. Attwater, of San Antonio, Tex. He says of its summer haunts in the counties named above:

The Golden-cheek is not a bird of the forest, being seldom met with in the tall timbered areas in the wilder valleys along the rivers, or in the tall trees which fringe the streams in the cañons; but its favorite haunts are among the smaller growth of trees, on the rough wooded hillsides, and which covers the slopes and "points" leading up from the cañons, and the boulder strewn ridges or "divides" which separate the heads of the creeks. The trees which compose this growth consist chiefly of mountain cedar (juniper), Spanish or mountain oak, black oak, and live oak on the higher ground, and live oak and Spanish oak clumps or thickets on the lower flats among the foothills, interspersed in some localities with dwarf walnut, pecan and hackberry. All these trees grow on an average from 10 to 20 feet high, the cedar often forming almost impenetrable "brakes". Whatever space remains among the oaks and cedars is generally covered with shin oak brush, which is a characteristic feature of the region. The cedar or juniper appears to possess some peculiar attraction for this bird for they are seldom found at any great distance from cedar localities, and they seem to divide the greater part of their time between the cedars and Spanish oaks, searching for Insects, with occasional visits to other oaks, walnuts, etc., but seldom descending as low as the shin oak brush, which averages four to five feet. It is quite probable that future observations will show, that some favorite insect food which comprises a portion of their "bill of fare," is found among the cedar foliage.

_Spring._--The golden-cheeked warblers arrive in central Texas about the middle of March, sometimes a little earlier or later. The adult males precede the young males and females by about 5 days. Mr. Attwater (Chapman, 1907) says: "The song of the male is the first unmistakable notification of its arrival and within a few days it is quite common and the females are also observed. In the localities described the Golden-cheeked Warbler is by no means a rare bird, and it is by far the most abundant of the few Warblers, which breed in the same region."

_Nesting._--W. H. Werner was apparently the first to find the nest of the golden-cheeked warbler, in Comal County, Tex., in 1878, about which he wrote to Mr. Brewster (1879): "The four nests that I have found were similar in construction, and were built in forks of perpendicular limbs of the _Juniperus virginiana_, from ten to eighteen feet from the ground. The outside is composed of the inner bark of the above-mentioned tree, interspersed with spider-webs, well fastened to the limb, and in color resembling the bark of the tree on which it is built, so that from a little distance it is difficult to detect the nest." Two of these nests were examined by Mr. Brewster both so much alike that the following description of one will suffice:

It is placed in a nearly upright fork of a red cedar, between two stout branches to which it is firmly attached. Although a large, deep structure, it by no means belongs to either the bulky, or loosely woven class of bird domiciles, but is, on the contrary, very closely and compactly felted. In general character and appearance it closely resembles the average nest of the Black-throated Green Warbler (_Dendroica virens_). It is, however, of nearly double the size, in fact, larger than any Wood Warbler's nest (excepting perhaps that of _D. coronata_) with which I am acquainted. It measures as follows: external diameter, 3.50; external depth, 3.45; internal diameter, 1.60; internal depth, 2.00. The exterior is mainly composed of strips of cedar bark, with a slight admixture of fine grass-stems, rootlets, and hemp-like fibres, the whole being kept in place by an occasional wrapping of spider-webs. The interior is beautifully lined with the hair of different quadrupeds and numerous feathers; among the latter, several conspicuous scarlet ones from the Cardinal Grosbeak. The outer surface of the whole presents a grayish, inconspicuous appearance, and from the nature of the component materials is well calculated to escape observation. Indeed, it must depend for concealment upon this protective coloring, as it is in no way sheltered by any surrounding foliage.

Attwater (Chapman, 1907) says:

Of over fifty nests of this bird which I have examined, most of them were securely placed in perpendicular forks of the main limbs of cedar trees, about two-thirds up in the tree; average fifteen feet from the ground. My highest record is twenty-one feet, and lowest six feet. I have also found them in similar positions in small black oak, mountain oak, walnut and pecan trees. * * * The favorite nesting haunts are isolated patches or clumps of scrubby cedars, with scant foliage, on the summits of the scarped cañon slopes, and in the thick cedar "brakes." In cedar the older growth of trees is always selected, and no attempt at concealment is made. I have never found a nest in a young thrifty cedar with _thick_ foliage.

The male is always to be heard singing in the vicinity of the nest, and the old nesting localities, and occasionally the same tree is selected apparently and returned to one year after another.

Nearly all the nests reported by others were in cedars and were similar in construction to those described. There are five nests of the golden-cheeked warbler in the Thayer collection in Cambridge, of which only one was in a cedar; two were in Spanish or mountain oaks and two in live oaks; four of these had more or less admixture of lichens, mosses, bits of dry leaves, and plant down in the bases, and feathers of quail, cardinal and other birds in the linings. The smallest nest in the series measures externally 2-1/2 inches in diameter and 2 inches in height; it is very neatly and firmly woven.

_Plumages._--Ridgway (1902) describes the juvenal plumage of the golden-cheeked warbler as follows: "Pileum, hindneck, back, scapulars, rump, and upper tail-coverts plain grayish brown or brownish gray; sides of head, chin, throat, chest, and sides pale brownish gray; rest of under part white, the breast very indistinctly streaked with pale gray; wings and tail essentially as in adults, but middle coverts with a mesial wedge-shaped mark of dusky."

Apparently there is a partial postjuvenal molt early in the summer, which is similar to that of other wood warblers. This produces the first winter plumages, in which the sexes are recognizable and much like the respective adults at that season. In the young male the upper parts are streaked with olive-green and black, the upper tail coverts are margined with olive-green and gray, and the white tips of the median wing coverts have narrow, black shaft streaks instead of the dusky wedges seen in the juvenal coverts. Ridgway (1902) says of the young female: "Similar to the adult female but pileum, hindneck, back, scapulars, rump, and upper tail-coverts plain olive-green, or with very indistinct narrow streaks of dusky on pileum and back; throat and chest pale grayish (the feathers dusky beneath surface), the former tinged with yellow anteriorly; sides and flanks indistinctly streaked with dusky."

I have seen no specimens showing a prenuptial molt, which is probably finished before the birds arrive in Texas. The first and subsequent nuptial plumages may be largely produced by wear, as the fall and winter plumages are much like those of spring birds, but are concealed by the tips and margins of the feathers. However, it would be strange if there were no prenuptial molt, especially in young birds. Young birds in first nuptial plumage can be recognized by the worn and faded wings and tail.

_Eggs._--Four eggs make up the regular set for the golden-cheeked warbler, although sometimes only three and very rarely five are found. They are ovate to short ovate and have only a very slight lustre. They are white or creamy white, finely speckled and spotted with "bay," "auburn," or "chestnut," and occasionally "argus brown," intermingled with spots of "vinaceous drab," "brownish drab," or "light mouse gray." They are generally finely marked, but sometimes eggs will have spots which are large enough to be called blotches, or even a few small scrawls of very dark brown. The markings are concentrated at the large end, where frequently a fine wreath is formed, or the speckles may be so dense as to almost obscure the ground; occasionally the markings are scattered over the entire egg. The measurements of 50 eggs average =17.7= by 13.1 millimeters; the eggs showing the four extremes measure =18.9= by 13.0, 17.8 by =13.7=, and =15.6= by =12.4= millimeters (Harris).

_Young._--We have no information on incubation or on the care and feeding of the nestlings. Attwater (Chapman, 1907) has this to say:

The young birds out of the nest, which are being fed by the parents late in April and in May, are from early nests which have escaped destruction by "northers" on account of their sheltered positions and situations, and it is possible that then another nest is built and a second brood reared. * * * During June the family groups wander about together, chiefly in the cañons and along the lower hillsides, keeping together till the young are old enough to take care of themselves. While being fed by the parents the "twittering" of the young birds is continually heard, with the cautions "tick, tick" alarm notes of the female when enemies approach. Early in July they begin to scatter, as most of the young birds are then able to shift for themselves.

_Food._--Very little has been mentioned regarding the food of this wood warbler beyond the fact that it seems to be mainly, if not wholly, insectivorous. Mr. Attwater (1892) says: "Upon examining the stomachs of a number of young birds which were being fed, I found they all contained (with other insects) a number of small black lice (_Aphis_ sp.) which I watched the old birds collecting from the green cedar limbs."

_Behavior._--Mr. Attwater wrote to Dr. Chapman (1907):

Like most of the same sex of other Warblers, the female of this species is very shy, and seldom noticed except when an intruder disturbs the nest or when feeding the young after leaving it, but the male Golden-cheeked Warbler is by no means a shy bird. He keeps continually flying from tree to tree in search of insects, and on fine days uttering his song at short intervals from early dawn until after sundown, and before nest building begins shows little alarm upon being approached. I have stood under a tree a number of times within five or six feet of a wandering male Golden-cheek, which appeared as pleased and interested in watching _me_ as I was in observing him. Seemingly he was desirous of assisting me to describe his song in my note-book, by very obligingly repeating it frequently for my special benefit.

Mr. Werner told Mr. Brewster (1879) that "their habits were similar to those of _D. virens_; they were very active, always on the alert for insects, examining almost every limb, and now and then darting after them while on the wing."

_Voice._--The song evidently bears a resemblance to that of the black-throated green warbler in quality. Mr. Werner wrote it _tsrr weasy-weasy tweah_, and referred to the notes as soft. Mr. Attwater wrote to Dr. Chapman (1907): "It would be difficult to describe the Golden-cheek's song with any real satisfaction. It varies somewhat, being uttered much more rapidly by some individuals than by others. At a distance only the louder parts are heard, so that it sounds quite different than when heard at close quarters. The hurried song might be given as _tweah, tweak, twee-sy_, with some individuals introducing an extra note or two, and the slower or more deliberate style _twee-ah, eseah, eachy_. After the young leave the nests the males gradually stop singing, and at this period sometimes only use a part of the regular song."

George Finlay Simmons (1925) describes the song as "ventriloquistic, elusive, seeming to come from here, there, everywhere; _ter-wih-zeee-e-e-e, chy_, the first, second, and fourth notes short and soft, the third longest, most distinct, and with the shrill buzzing _z-z-z-z_ quality of the Black-throated Green Warbler's song. * * * Sung by male from conspicuous perch atop a small tree near nest and hidden female; heard commonly in spring in the Golden-cheek habitat; males gradually stop singing when young have left nest. Call, chirping in migration; female, a soft, scolding _check, check, check_ or _tick, tick_, uttered slowly, a note at a time."

_Enemies._--According to Dr. Friedmann (1929), the golden-cheeked warbler is "apparently a rather rare victim of the Dwarf Cowbird." He mentions only three authentic cases.

_Field marks._--The golden-cheeked warbler might at first glance be mistaken for a black-throated green warbler, but the upper parts in the adult male are deep black from crown to tail, instead of olive-green, and the under parts, except for the black throat, are white and not tinged with yellow. The female differs from the eastern bird in the same way.

_Fall._--Golden-cheeked warblers do not remain on their breeding grounds very long and leave for their winter resorts in Mexico and Central America before the end of summer. Mr. Attwater told Dr. Chapman (1907) that "early in July they begin to scatter, as most of the young birds are then able to shift for themselves. By the middle of July most of the old males have stopped singing, and by the end of July old and young have disappeared from their usual haunts. I have noticed a few stragglers during the first two weeks in August, and all probably leave before September first."

DISTRIBUTION

_Range._--Texas to Nicaragua.

_Breeding range._--During the breeding season the golden-cheeked warbler is confined to a few counties in south central Texas: =North= to Kerr (Ingram and Kerrville) and Travis (Austin) Counties; =south= to Bexar (San Antonio) and Medina (Castroville) Counties; and =west= to Real County (West Frio Canyon). It is probably not so narrowly confined as the definite records indicate. It has been recorded in summer, but with no indication of breeding, at Waco, Hunt, and Commerce.

_Winter range._--Little is known of the golden-cheeked warbler in winter. At that season it has been found at Teziutlán, western Veracruz; Tactic, central Guatemala; and Matagalpa, central northern Nicaragua. On November 23, 1939, and January 8, 1940, a male was observed on the island of St. Croix, Virgin Islands. It has been observed in Tamaulipas and Nuevo León in March, probably on migration.

_Migration._--The golden-cheeked warbler is an early migrant both in spring and fall. It has arrived at Kerrville, Tex., as early as March 5, and the majority of the birds have left by the middle of July; latest, Ingram, August 18.

_Egg dates._--Texas: 29 records, April 1 to June 27; 10 records, April 11 to 24; 10 records, May 18 to 28 (Harris).

DENDROICA OCCIDENTALIS (Townsend)

HERMIT WARBLER

PLATE 39

HABITS

This well-marked wood warbler lives in summer in the high coniferous forests of the west, from British Columbia southward to the southern Sierra Nevadas in California, and spends the winter in Mexico and Central America. This is another of those species discovered by J. K. Townsend along the Columbia River, of which he wrote to Audubon (1841): "I shot this pair of birds near Fort Vancouver, on the 28th of May, 1835. I found them flitting among the pine trees in the depth of a forest. They were actively engaged in searching for insects, and were frequently seen hanging from the twigs like Titmice. Their note was uttered at distant intervals, and resembled very much that of the Black-throated Blue Warbler, _Sylvia canadensis_."

In northwestern Washington the hermit warbler is not common and is decidedly local in its summer haunts, being regularly found in certain favored regions and entirely absent in other somewhat similar localities. It is partial to a certain type of coniferous forest, and when one learns to recognize the proper environment he is quite likely to find it. D. E. Drown and S. F. Rathbun showed me some typical haunts of this warbler near Tacoma, where J. H. Bowles has found it nesting. This is level land covered with a more or less open growth of firs and cedars, the largest trees, giant Douglas firs, are somewhat scattered and tower above the rest of the forest, some reaching a height of 200 feet or more. As the warblers spend most of their time in the tops of these great trees and are very active, it is difficult to identify them even with a good glass, and still more difficult to follow them to their nests.

Chester Barlow (1901) says that in the central Sierra Nevada, in California, "the hermit warbler is pre-eminently a frequenter of the conifers, although it feeds in the bushes and black oaks in common with other species." In the Yosemite region, according to Grinnell and Storer (1924), "the Hermit Warbler is a bird of the coniferous forests at middle altitudes. Pines and firs afford it suitable forage range and safe nesting sites. The birds keep fairly well up in the trees, most often at 20 to 50 feet from the ground. The Hermit may thus be found in close association with the Audubon Warbler, although the latter ranges to a much greater altitude in the mountains."

_Spring._--Dr. Chapman (1907), outlining the migration of the hermit warbler, says that it "enters the United States in April being reported from Oracle, Arizona, April 12, 1899, and the Huachuca Mountains, Arizona, April 9, 1902. Records of the earliest birds seen in California are Campo, April 27, 1877, and Julian, April 25, 1884. A Hermit Warbler was noted at Burrard Inlet, British Columbia, April 20, 1885." Swarth (1904) says that the first arrivals in the Huachucas "appeared in the very highest parts of the mountains, but a little later they could be found in all parts of the range, and on April 17, 1902, I saw a few in some willows near the San Pedro River." Mrs. Amelia S. Allen's notes from the San Francisco Bay region, give dates of arrival from April 24 to May 10. In northwestern Washington, according to Bowles (1906), "the hermits make their first appearance early in May and the fact is only to be known thru their notes; for they frequent the tops of the giant firs which cover large sections of our flat prairie country."

_Nesting._--The first undoubted nests of the hermit warbler were found by C. A. Allen in Blue Cañon, California, two in 1886 and one about eight years previously, about which he wrote to William Brewster (1887): "All three nests were similarly placed;--in 'pitch pines,' from twenty-five to forty feet above the ground, on thick, scraggy limbs, where they were so well concealed that it would have been impossible to find them except by watching the birds, as was done in each instance." One of these nests held two eggs on June 4, but they were destroyed before they could be collected; the other two nests contained three young each. One of the nests with three young was sent to Brewster, who writes:

The nest with young, taken June 7, 1886, is now before me. It is composed of the fibrous stalks of herbaceous plants, fine dead twigs, lichens (_Evernia vulpina_), and a little cotton twine, and is lined with soft inner bark of some coniferous tree and fine long hairs, apparently from the tail of a squirrel. The bright, yellow _Evernia_, sprinkled rather plentifully about the rim, gives a touch of color to the otherwise cold, gray tone of the exterior and contrasts agreeably with the warm, reddish-brown lining. Although the materials are coarse and wadded, rather than woven, together, the general effect of this nest is neat and tasteful. It does not resemble any other Warbler's nest that I have seen, but rather recalls the nest of some Fringilline bird, being perhaps most like that of the Lark Finch. It measures externally 4.50 inches in width by 2 inches in depth. The cavity is 1.25 inches deep by 2.50 inches wide at the top. The walls at the rim average nearly an inch in thickness.

Chester Barlow (1901), who has had considerable experience with the nesting of the hermit warbler in the central Sierra Nevada, refers to the records up to that time as follows:

On June 10, 1896, Mr. R. H. Beck collected a nest and four eggs from a limb of a yellow pine 40 feet up, near the American River at 3,500 feet altitude. The nest was reached by means of a ladder carried a long distance up the mountain. (See _Nidologist_, IV, p. 79). On June 14, 1898, I had the good fortune to discover a nest opposite the station at Fyffe, it being built at the end of a small limb of a yellow pine 45 feet up. The nest was located by searching at random and contained four eggs about one-fourth incubated. This nest was described at length in _The Auk_ (XVI, pp. 156-161.) * * * While walking through the timber at Fyffe on June 8, 1899, Mr. H. W. Carriger came upon a nest of this species but 2-1/2 feet up in a cedar sapling. It contained four eggs, advanced in incubation. (See CONDOR I, pp. 59-60). A nest containing young about four days old found by Mr. Price's assistant at Fyffe on June 11, 1897, was placed twelve feet up near the top of a small cedar, next to the trunk and well concealed. Thus it is probable that Fyffe has afforded more nesting records of this species than has any other part of the state.

Of the nest described in _The Auk_, Barlow (1899) says:

The nest was 45 feet from the ground in a yellow pine, built four feet from the trunk of the tree on an upcurved limb 18 inches from the end. * * * The nest is not fastened to the limb, resting merely upon the limb and pine needles and is wider at the bottom than at the top, its base measuring four inches one way and three inches the other. It is very prettily constructed, the bottom layer being of light grayish weed stems, bleached pine needles and other light materials held securely together by cobwebs and wooly substances. The nest cavity is lined with strips of red cedar bark (_Libocedrus_) and the ends, instead of being woven smoothly, project out of the nest. The inner lining is of a fine brownish fiber resembling shreds of soap-root. The composition of the nest gives it a very pretty effect.

J. H. Bowles (1906) found a nest in northwestern Washington on June 11, 1905, "in a grove of young hundred-foot firs near a small swamp." The female sat so close that he was obliged to lift her from the nest with his hand--

and she then flew only a few feet where she remained chipping and spreading her wings and tail. * * * The nest was placed twenty feet from the ground in a young fir, and was securely saddled on a good sized limb at a distance of six feet from the trunk of the tree. It is a compact structure composed externally of small dead fir twigs, various kinds of dry moss, and down from the cottonwood flowers, showing a strong outward resemblance to nests of _D. auduboni_. But here the likeness between the two is at an end; for the lining consists of fine dried grasses, and horsehair, with only a single feather from the wing of a western bluebird. The measurements are, externally, four inches in diameter and two and three-quarters inches deep; internally, two inches in diameter by one and a quarter inches deep.

A nest in the Thayer collection in Cambridge was collected by O. W. Howard "70 feet above ground, near the end of a limb of a yellow pine, in a bunch of needles," in Tulare County, Calif. Gordon W. Gullion tells me of an Oregon nest that was "about 125 feet above the ground."

_Eggs._--The hermit warbler lays 3, 4, or 5 eggs to a set; 5 are apparently not rare. Bowles (1906) says of his 5 eggs: "They have a rather dull white ground with the slightest suggestion of flesh color, heavily blotched and spotted with varying shades of red, brown and lavender. * * * I think they may be considered the handsomest of all the warblers' eggs." The 4 eggs in the Thayer collection in Cambridge are ovate, with a very slight lustre. They are creamy white, finely speckled and spotted with "chestnut" and "auburn," with intermingling spots of "light brownish drab." The markings are concentrated at the large end, forming a broad, loose wreath. The measurements of 50 eggs average 17.0 by 13.1 millimeters; the eggs showing the four extremes measure =18.0= by 13.4, 17.0 by =13.7=, =15.2= by 12.7, and 16.3 by =11.8= millimeters (Harris).

_Young._--We have no information on the incubation of the eggs, nor on the care and development of the young.

_Plumages._--I have examined the nestlings sent to Brewster by C. A. Allen; they are about two-thirds fledged on the body and wings; the heads still show the long natal down, "hair brown" in color; the feathers of the back are "olive brown"; the wings are "clove brown," with two narrow, white wing bars, faintly tinged with pale yellow; the breasts and sides are pale "hair brown" to "light grayish olive"; and the rest of the under parts are yellowish white. A young bird in fresh plumage, collected July 1, is probably in full juvenal plumage; its body plumage is similar to that of the nestlings, but there is some yellow on the forehead and throat, and the sides of the head and neck are decidedly yellow; however, this may be a bird that has assumed its first winter plumage at an unusually early date.

In first winter plumage, young birds of both sexes are much like the adult female at that season, mainly grayish olive-green above, with black streaks concealed or absent; forehead, sides of the head, and chin pale yellow; and the rest of the under parts buffy white, the sides browner. The broad, white tips of the lesser wing coverts have a black shaft streak or wedge, apparently characteristic of this plumage. There is probably a prenuptial molt involving much of the head and body plumage and the wing coverts, but the dull juvenal wings are retained until the next molt.

The complete postnuptial molt occurs in July and August. The fall plumages of both sexes are like the spring plumages, but the clear blacks and yellows are largely concealed by olive above and by buffy below.

_Food._--The only item I can find on the food of the hermit warbler is the following short statement by Bowles (1906): "Their food consists of small spiders, caterpillars, tiny beetles, and flying insects which they dart out and capture in a manner worthy of that peer of flycatchers the Audubon warbler."

_Behavior._--The most marked trait of the hermit warbler is its fondness for the tree tops, spending much of its time in the tops of the tallest firs, often 200 feet or more above the ground, where it is very active and not easy to follow. But it builds its nest at lower levels, and often comes down to forage in the lower branches, in smaller trees and even in the underbrush, where it is not particularly shy and can be easily approached. It is a close sitter while incubating; Bowles had to lift one off its nest.

A hermit warbler watched by Miss Margaret W. Wythe, in Yosemite Valley, "was foraging in the upper parts of the trees and never came to the lower branches. Starting from near the trunk of a pine it would work out to the tip of one branch before going to another. Its demeanor while foraging was much more deliberate than that of any of the other warblers" (Grinnell and Storer, 1924).

_Voice._--Rathbun (MS.) writes: "The song is quite strong, can be heard a considerable distance, and when given in full consists of five or six notes. The first note, rather faint, rises and then falls, with a slight accent at its close; if one is quite close to the singer, the note has a light lisping sound. This note is followed by another, similar but stronger and more prolonged. Then come three or four short, clear notes quickly given, the song ending with a prolonged rising one that closes sharply. Our interpretation of the song would be _zweeo-zweeo-zwee-zwee-zwee-zweeck_. Whenever an additional note is given, it is of the intermediate kind. One or two of these notes are, to us, suggestive of some heard in the song of Townsend's warbler. The song is quite rapidly sung in an energetic way, being very distinctive and is pleasing. It resembles the song of no other warbler in the region."

Bowles (1906) says that the song of the hermit warbler "consists of four distinct notes, as a rule, and is described as _zeegle-zeegle, zeegle-zeek_, uttered somewhat slowly at first but ending rather sharply." Barlow (1899) states that "though not loud it would penetrate through the woods quite a distance and very much resembled _tsit, tsit, tsit, tsit, chee chee chee_, the first four syllables being uttered with a gradual and uniform speed, ending quickly with the _chee chee chee_." Grinnell and Storer (1924) write:

The song of the male Hermit Warbler, while varying somewhat with different individuals, is sufficiently distinct from that of the other warblers of the region to make possible identification by voice alone. The song is most nearly like that of the Audubon Warbler but usually not so clear or mellow. A male bird observed at Chinquapin seemed to say _seezle, seezle, seezle, seezle, zeek, zeek_; just that number of syllables, over and over again. The quality was slightly droning, but not so much so as that of the Black-throated Gray Warbler. Another song, clearer in quality, heard in Yosemite Valley, was written _ter´-ley, ter´-ley, ter´-ley, sic´, sic´_, thus much more nearly like the song of the Audubon Warbler. Other transcriptions ranged between these two as to timbre. A rendering set down at Glacier Point June 16, 1915, was as follows: _ser-weez´, ser-weez´, ser-weez´, ser´, ser´_. The marked rhythm throughout, and the stressed terminal syllables, are distinctive features of the Hermit's song. The call note is a moderate _chip_.

Writing of warbler songs of early dawn, Dawson (Dawson and Bowles, 1909) indulges in the following flowery praise of the hermit's sing: "There is Audubon with his hastening melody of gladness. There is Black-throated Gray with his still drowsy sonnet of sweet content. Then there is Hermit hidden aloft in the shapeless greenery of the under-dawn--his note is sweetest, gladdest, most seraphic of them all, _lilly, lilly, lilly, leê-oleet_. It is almost sacrilege to give it form--besides it is so hopeless. The preparatory notes are like the tinkle of crystal bells, and when our attention is focused, lo! the wonder happens, the exquisite lilt of the closing phrase, _leê-oleet_."

_Field marks._--The yellow head, the black throat, the dark back, and the white, unmarked under parts will distinguish the male in spring. The head of the female, of young birds, and of fall birds is also more or less yellowish and the back is more olivaceous. The two white wing bars are also common to several other species. Its song is said to be distinctive.

_Fall._--The fall migration of the hermit warbler begins early. Bowles (1906) says that, in Washington, "about the middle of July both young and old assemble in good-sized flocks and frequent the water holes in the smaller growths of timber. At such times I have never seen them associating with any other kinds of birds." W. W. Price wrote to Mr. Barlow (1901) of the migration in the Sierra Nevada:

The adults are very rare during June and July in the neighborhood of my camp at Silver Creek, but late in July and early in August a migration of the young birds of the year takes place and the species is very abundant everywhere in the tamaracks from about 6000 to 8000 feet. A hundred or more may be counted in an hour's walk at my camp, 7000 feet, on Silver Creek. They are very silent, uttering now and then a 'cheep,' and always busy searching among the leaves and cones for insects. Among some fifty collected in the first week in August, 1896, there were only two or three adults. The young males have the most coloring, but they in no way approach adult plumage. These great flights of the hermit warbler are intermingled with other species, Hammond flycatcher, Calaveras and lutescent warblers, Cassin vireo, and sometimes Louisiana tanagers and red-brested nuthatches. Each year the flight has been noted, it comes without warning of storm or wind, and after a few days disappears to be seen no more.

In the Huachuca Mountains of Arizona, according to Swarth (1904), "they reappeared in August, but at this time were seen only in the pines above 8500 feet. It is rather singular, and in contradiction to the idea that in the migrations the old birds go first in order to show the way, that the first secured in the fall was a young female, taken August 7th. The young birds then became very abundant, and on August 14th the first adult female was taken; and not until August 19th was an adult male seen. The adults then became nearly as abundant as the juveniles, and both together were more numerous than I have ever seen them in the spring, on several occasions as many as fifteen to twenty being seen in one flock."

_Winter._--Dr. Skutch writes to me: "The hermit warbler is a moderately abundant winter resident in the Guatemalan highlands, found chiefly between 5,000 and 10,000 feet above sea level, but ranging downward to about 3,500 feet on the Pacific slope and possibly somewhat lower on the Caribbean slope, where pine forests push down into the upper levels of the Tropical Zone. These treetop birds are usually found in the mixed flocks of small birds, of which Townsend's warblers form the predominant element. During the early part of their sojourn in Guatemala, I sometimes saw two, three, or more hermits in the same flock; but in February and March, there was as a rule only one. In 1933, I saw the last of these warblers on the Sierra de Tecpán on March 29, and recorded the first fall arrival on September 13, when four individuals were seen."

DISTRIBUTION

_Range._--Western North America from Puget Sound to Nicaragua.

_Breeding range._--The hermit warbler breeds =north= to northwestern Washington (Lake Crescent and Tacoma). =East= to the Cascades of Washington (Tacoma); Oregon (Prospect); and the Sierra Nevada in California (Meadow Valley, Pinecrest, Yosemite Valley, Taylor Meadow, and the San Bernardino Mountains). =South= to the San Bernardino Mountains and La Honda. =West= to the Pacific coast from central western California northward (La Honda, Cahto, and Garberville); western Oregon (Kerby and Tillamook); and northwestern Washington (Lake Crescent).

_Winter range._--The hermit warbler has been found in winter =north= to central Mexico (Taxco, Cuernavaca, and Mexico City). =East= to Mexico City and central Guatemala (San Gerónimo and Alotepeque). =South= to southern Guatemala (Alotepeque); probably farther south since specimens have been taken at Los Esesmiles, El Salvador, and Metagalpa, Nicaragua. =West= to western Guatemala (Alotepeque, Tecpán, and Momostenango); western Oaxaca (La Parada); and northern Guerrero (Taxco).

The hermit warbler has been taken three times in January in central western California (San Gerónimo and Point Reyes, Marin County; and Pacific Grove, Monterey County).

_Migration._--Late dates of spring departure from the winter home are: Guatemala--Tecpán, March 29. Sonora--Rancho la Arizona, May 8. Arizona--Huachuca Mountains--May 28.

Early dates of spring arrival are: Tampico--Galindo, March 19. Coahuila--Sierra de Guadeloupe, April 20. Arizona--Oracle, April 12. California--Witch Creek, April 10. Washington--Tacoma, April 25.

Late dates of fall departure are: Washington--Edwards, October 19. California--Monterey, October 20. Arizona--Santa Catalina Mountains, September 29. Tamaulipas--Guiaves, October 7.

Early dates of fall arrival are: California--Berkeley, July 9. Arizona--Graham Mountains, July 30. New Mexico--Animas Peak, August 3. Michoacán--Tancitaro, August 16. Guatemala--Tecpán, September 13.

_Casual records._--Specimens of the hermit warbler have been collected in the Huachuca Mountains in Arizona on June 16, 1894; at Basin in the Chisos Mountains in Texas on May 3, 1935; and near Cambridge, Minn., on May 3, 1931.

_Egg dates._--California: 10 records, May 14 to June 25; 6 records, June 3 to 14, indicating the height of the season.

Washington: 3 records, June 5 to 11 (Harris).

DENDROICA CERULEA (Wilson)

CERULEAN WARBLER

PLATE 39

HABITS

This heavenly-blue wood warbler was first introduced to science, figured, and named by Wilson in the first volume of his American Ornithology. Only the male was figured and described from a specimen received from Charles Willson Peale and taken in eastern Pennsylvania. The female was not known until Charles Lucien Bonaparte described it in his continuation of Wilson's American Ornithology. Strangely enough the discovery of this specimen was also made by a member of the famous Peale family, Titian Peale, the bird having been taken in the same general region, on the banks of the Schuylkill, August 1, 1825. Audubon met with it later, but was almost wholly wrong in what he wrote about it, though his plate is good.

The species is now known to occupy a rather extensive breeding range located mainly west of the Alleghenies and east of the Great Plains from southern Ontario and central New York southward to the northern parts of some of the Gulf States and Texas. It is, however, decidedly local in its distribution over much of this range.

This warbler, a bird of the tree-tops in heavy deciduous woods, where its colors make it difficult to distinguish among the lights and shadows of the lofty foliage and against the blue sky, is well named cerulean! In his notes from central New York, Samuel F. Rathbun writes: "The type of growth to which the cerulean warbler is partial appears to be the rather open forests in the lowlands and often along some stream. During the nesting season, it will not be found to any extent in the better class of hardwood trees of the uplands; in fact, this warbler shows a strong liking for areas where large elms and soft maples and black ash are the dominant trees." Verdi Burtch wrote to Dr. Chapman (1907) that near Branchport, N. Y., this warbler is "locally abundant in mixed growths of oak and maple with a few birch and hickory." In other portions of its range, it is found in mixed woods of maples, beech, basswood or linden, elm, sycamore, or oaks. Frank C. Kirkwood (1901) found that, in Maryland, "the species has a decided preference for high open woods clear of underbrush. * * * The trees are principally chestnuts, with oaks, hickorys, tulip trees, etc."

_Spring._--The main migration route of the cerulean warbler is through the Mississippi Valley, from the Alleghenies westward; it is rare in the Atlantic States, especially the more southern ones, and hardly more than casual in Florida and the West Indies. It enters the United States, in Texas and Louisiana, in April, and reaches its breeding grounds in the interior early in May.

Rathbun (MS.) says of the spring migration in central New York: "The cerulean warbler arrives in this region about the middle of May, its coming being announced by its song. With rare exceptions, it is not found in the spring migration with other warblers and it appears to move in very small groups or singly; even in the large springtime movements of warblers known as 'waves,' some of the birds of which remain while others pass through the region, I have observed very few cerulean warblers. Not much time elapses after its arrival before mating takes place and nest building begins."

_Nesting._--The earlier ornithologists knew nothing about the nesting habits of the cerulean warbler; Audubon's description of its nest was entirely erroneous, and it was about 50 years after the bird was discovered that its nest was reported. This is not strange, as the nest is not easy to find and still more difficult to secure. Rathbun (MS.) writes in his notes: "During our stay in New York State, we found only three of its nests, because they were rather difficult to locate. We found the first at a height of 55 feet in a little cluster of small, twig-like branches growing on the side of a feathered elm; these clusters were close enough together to be of great use in climbing the tree, which was at least 3 feet in diameter. The nest was discovered by seeing the bird fly into the cluster. Within the next week a second nest was found by watching the female bird; it was at a height of 45 feet in a very small, flat crotch of a soft maple. The third nest was at a height of about 30 feet.

"The nests were identical in all respects except as to shape, which varied because of its situation. Each was nicely made but not unusual in appearance. The material used was almost wholly the fine strips of the grayish bark of small weed stalks, neatly interwoven. Each was smoothly and beautifully lined with the fresh stems of ground mosses of a brownish red color, which contrasted nicely with the gray outer material. Of great interest was the smoothness with which the material was woven in."

Burtch wrote to Dr. Chapman (1907) that near Branchport, N. Y., where the bird is locally common, "the nest is usually placed on a horizontal branch or drooping branch of an elm, ranging from twenty-five to sixty feet from the ground, and from four, to fifteen, or eighteen feet from the body of the tree _over an opening_."

W. E. Saunders (1900) reports eight nests found in southern Ontario; two of these were in oaks, 20 and 23 feet up, two in maples, 30 and 35 feet from the ground, and four in basswoods (lindens), from 17 to 50 feet above ground. He gives the measurements of three nests; they measured externally from 1-3/4 to 2 inches in height and 2-3/4 inches in diameter; internally they varied from 7/8 to 1 inch in depth and from 1-7/8 to 1-3/4 inches in diameter. He remarks: "A feature that interested me very much was the extreme shallowness of the nests; all the other warblers with which I am acquainted building a comparatively deep nest, and the query arises, Does the bird build a shallow nest because it places it on a substantial limb, or does it place it on a substantial limb because its nests are shallow? The attachment of the nest, also, is exceedingly frail, and I am inclined to think that few of these nests would remain in position long after the young had left."

A nest found by Kirkwood (1901) in Baltimore County, Md., is described as follows: "The nest is made of brown bark fibre, with some fine grass stems among it, and is finished inside with a few black horse-hairs. Outside it is finished with gray shreds of bark, spider web, and a few small fragments of newspaper that had been water-soaked. * * * As the branch sloped, one part of the rim is within 3/4 of an inch of it, while the opposite part is 1-3/4 inches above it, the material comes down on one side of branch to 2-1/4 inches below the rim. On this side a tiny twig arches out from branch and extending to the rim is embedded in the nest, and the leaves which grew from its top shaded the nest." The nest was 48 feet and 6 inches up from the ground and 15 feet out from the trunk of a tulip tree, with no other limb between it and the ground.

A neat little nest before me is made of materials similar to those mentioned. It is lined with the reddish brown flowering stems of mosses smoothly woven with other very fine brownish fibres into a compact rim, and it is decorated externally with various brown and gray lichens and mosses. Other nests have been reported in sycamores, beeches, rock maples, sugar maples, and white oaks.

_Eggs._--The cerulean warbler lays from 3 to 5 eggs, usually 4. They are ovate to short ovate and have a slight luster. The ground color is grayish white, creamy white, or even very pale greenish white, and they are speckled, spotted or blotched with "bay," "chestnut," or "auburn," intermingled with spots of "light brownish drab," or "brownish drab." Some eggs have spots scattered all over the surface, but usually they are concentrated at the large end, where a loose wreath is formed. Generally the eggs are finely marked, but occasionally are quite heavily blotched. The measurements of 50 eggs average 17.0 by 13.0 millimeters; the eggs showing the four extremes measure =17.9= by 13.0, 17.0 by =13.7=, =16.0= by 12.4, and 17.2 by =12.0= millimeters (Harris).

_Young._--The period of incubation seems to be unknown, and we have no information on the care and development of the young. Incubation is said to be performed by the female alone, but both parents assist in feeding the young. After the young are out of the nest, they may be seen travelling through the woods in family parties with their parents. There seems to be no evidence that more than one brood is raised in a season.

_Plumages._--Ridgway (1902) describes the young cerulean warbler in nestling (juvenal) plumage as "above uniform brownish gray (deep drab gray), the pileum divided longitudinally by a broad median stripe of grayish white; sides of head (including a broad superciliary stripe) and entire under parts white; a narrow postocular stripe of deep drab gray; wings as in adults, but edgings greenish rather than bluish."

The first winter plumage is assumed by a partial postjuvenal molt, involving the contour plumage and the wing coverts, but not the rest of the wings nor the tail. Dr. Dwight (1900) describes the young male in this plumage as "above, deep bice-green, partly concealing cinereous gray which is conspicuous on the rump and upper tail coverts, the latter and the feathers of the back often black centrally. The wing coverts with bluish cinereous gray edgings; two wing bands white, faintly tinged with canary-yellow. Below, white, strongly washed except on the chin, abdomen and crissum with primrose-yellow, the sides and flanks streaked obscurely with dull black. Superciliary line primrose-yellow; lores and orbital regions whitish; a dusky transocular streak."

The first nuptial plumage is acquired by a partial prenuptial molt "which involves much of the body plumage and wing coverts, but not the rest of the wings nor the tail. The grayish cerulean blue, the black streaks on the back and the white wing bands are acquired; below, the plumage is white with a narrow bluish black band on the throat and the sides distinctly streaked. Young and old become practically indistinguishable, except by the duller wings and tail of the juvenal dress."