Part 27

_Certhia pinus_, LINN. Syst. Nat. I, 1766, 187. _Sylvia pinus_, LATH., VIEILL. (not of WILSON). _Helminthophaga pinus_, BAIRD, Birds N. Am. 1858, 254; Rev. 174.—SCLATER & SALVIN, Ibis, 1, 1859, 11 (Guatemala).—SCLATER, Catal. 1861, 28, no. 176. _Sylvia solitaria_, WILSON, Am. Orn. II, pl. xv.—AUD. Orn. Biog. I, pl. xx. _Sylvicola sol._ RICH. _Vermivora sol._ SW. _Helinaia sol._ AUD. Birds Am. II, pl. cxi. _Helmitherus sol._ BON.—SCLATER, P. Z. S. 1856, 291 (Cordova). _Helminthophaga sol._ CAB.

SP. CHAR. Upper parts and cheeks olive-green, brightest on the rump; the wings, tail, and upper tail-coverts, in part, bluish-gray. An intensely black patch from the blue-black bill to the eye, continued a short distance behind it. Crown, except behind, and the under parts generally, rich orange-yellow. The inner wing and under tail-coverts white. Eyelids, and a short line above and behind the eye, brighter yellow. Wing with two white bands. Two outer tail-feathers with most of the inner web, third one with a spot at the end, white. _Female_ and _young_ similar, duller, with more olivaceous on the crown. Length, 4.50; wing, 2.40; tail, 2.10.

HAB. Eastern United States and Mexico to Guatemala (Cordova; Coban). Not noted from West Indies.

HABITS. The Blue-winged Yellow Warbler is not known so far to the north as New England, and is rare even in Eastern and Southern New York. It seems to be distributed through the United States from Pennsylvania to Florida, and from the Mississippi Valley eastward. It has also been taken in Central America. Mr. Trippe states that it breeds in the vicinity of Orange, N. Y. Mr. Audubon found it abundant in the barrens of Kentucky, and as far north on the Mississippi as St. Genevieve.

In regard to the song of this bird, Mr. Trippe states that its notes are very forcible and characteristic. Once heard, they will always be remembered. He describes them as a rapid chirrup resembling _chūūchich, k´-a-re-r´r´r´r´r_, uttered very quickly. According to Mr. Ridgway, they are wonderfully similar to the rude lisping chirrup of the _Coturniculus passerinus_.

Wilson says that these Warblers come from the South early in May, frequenting thickets and shrubberies in search of insects, which they seek in the branches. They are also fond of visiting gardens and orchards, gleaning for insects among the low bushes. They generally build their nests on the edge of sequestered woods. These Mr. Wilson states to have been, in every instance observed by him, fixed on the ground, in a thick tussock of long grass, and built in the form of an inverted cone, the sides being formed of the dry bark of strong fibrous weeds lined with fine dry grasses. These materials, he remarks, are not arranged in the usual circular manner, but shelve downward from the top, the mouth being wide and the bottom narrow. He describes the eggs as five in number, pure white, with a few faint dots of reddish near the larger end. The young appear the first week in June. The nests were always in an open but retired part of the woods, and were all as thus described.

According to Mr. Audubon its song consists of a few weak notes that are by no means interesting. His description of its nest agrees with that of Wilson. He states that it usually has two broods in the season, one in May, the other in July. The young disperse as soon as they are able to provide for themselves.

He describes them as of solitary habits, and adds that they leave Louisiana for the South early in October. Its flight is short, undetermined, and performed in zigzag lines. It will ascend twenty or thirty yards in the air as if about to go to a greater distance, when, suddenly turning round, it will descend to the place from which it set out. It rarely pursues insects on the wing, feeding chiefly on the smaller kind of spiders, and seizing other insects as they come within its reach.

The above accounts of its breeding, and especially of its nest, do not correspond with the observations of Mr. Ridgway, near Mt. Carmel, Ill., where the bird is abundant. A nest collected by him is a very loose open structure, composed chiefly of broad, thin, and flexible strips of the inner bark of deciduous trees, chiefly the bass-wood. It contained five eggs, and was obtained May 8. It was first discovered by noticing the bird with materials in her bill. The situation of this nest “was in no wise,” says Mr. Ridgway, “as described by Wilson, not having any covered entrance.” The nest was very bulky, and so loosely made that only the inner portion could be secured. “I have found other nests,” adds Mr. Ridgway, “all corresponding with this one. There can be no doubt as to its identity, as the birds were seen building the nest, and were closely watched in their movements. Both male and female were seen several times.” (No. 10,140, Smith. Coll.)

The eggs of this species measure .70 of an inch in length by .53 in breadth. Their ground-color is white, sprinkled with a few reddish-brown spots.

Helminthophaga ruficapilla, BAIRD.

NASHVILLE WARBLER.

_Sylvia ruficapilla_, WILS. Am. Orn. III, 1811, 120, pl. xxvii, fig. 3.—AUD. Orn. Biog. I, 1832, 450, pl. lxxxix. _Helminthophaga ruficapilla_, BAIRD, Birds N. Am. 1858, 256; Rev. 175.—SCLATER, P. Z. S. 1859, 373 (Xalapa).—DRESSER, Ibis, 65, 477 (Texas).—COOPER, Orn. Cal. 1, 1870, 82. _Sylvia rubricapilla_, WILS. Am. Orn. VI, 1812, 15, General Index.—NUTT., BON. _Sylvicola rub._ RICH. _Vermivora rub._ BON.—REINHARDT, Vid. Med. for 1853, 1854, 82 (Greenland).—BREWER, Pr. Bost. Soc. N. H. VI, 1856, 4 (nest and eggs). _Helinaia rub._ AUD. Birds Am. II, pl. cxiii. _Helmitherus rub._ BON.—SCL. P. Z. S. 1856, 291 (Cordova); 1859, 363 (Xalapa). _Helminthophaga rub._ CAB.—SCLATER, P. Z. S. 1858, 298 (Oaxaca; Feb. and Aug.). _Mniotilta rub._ REINHARDT, Ibis, 1861, 6 (Greenland). _Sylvia leucogastra_, SHAW, Gen. Zoöl. X, II, 1817, 622. “_Sylvia nashvillei_,” VIEILLOT.—GRAY. _Sylvia mexicana_, HOLBÖLL.

SP. CHAR. Head and neck above and on sides ash-gray, the crown with a patch of concealed dark brownish-orange hidden by ashy tips to the feathers. Upper parts olive-green, brightest on the rump. Under parts generally, with the edge of the wing, deep yellow; the anal region paler; the sides tinged with olive. A broad yellowish-white ring round the eye; the lores yellowish; no superciliary stripe. The inner edges of the tail-feathers margined with dull white. _Female_ similar, but duller; the under parts paler, and with more white; but little trace of the red of the crown. Length, 4.65; wing, 2.42; tail, 2.05.

HAB. Eastern Province of North America; rare in the Middle Province (Fort Tejon, Cal., and East Humboldt Mountains, Nev.); Greenland (REINHARDT); Oaxaca (February and August, SCLATER); Xalapa and Cordova (SCLATER); Orizaba (winter, SUMICHRAST). Not recorded from West Indies.

It is an interesting fact, that, in this species, we find in the yellow a tendency to become more and more restricted as we pass westward. In adult spring males from the Atlantic States this color invades the cheeks, and even stains the lores and eyelids. In two adult spring males from Chicago it is confined within the maxillæ, the cheeks being clear ash, and the loral streak and orbital ring pure white; while in an adult male (autumnal, however) from the East Humboldt Mountains (Nevada, No. 53,354, U. S. Geol. Expl., 40th par.) the yellow is restricted to a medial strip, even the sides of the throat being ashy; the ash invades the back too, almost to the rump, while in Eastern specimens it extends no farther back than the nape. A male (No. 10,656, J. Xantus) from Fort Tejon, Cal., is much like the Nevada specimen, though the peculiar features of the remote Western form are less exaggerated; it is about intermediate between the other specimen and the specimens from Chicago. As there is not, unfortunately, a sufficiently large series of these birds before us, we cannot say to what extent these variations with longitude are constant.

HABITS. The Nashville Warbler appears to be a species of somewhat irregular occurrence; at one time it will be rather abundant, though never very numerous, and at another time comparatively rare. For a long while our older naturalists regarded it as a very rare species, and knew nothing as to its habits or distribution. Wilson, who first met with it in 1811, never found more than three specimens, which he procured near Nashville, Tenn. Audubon only met with three or four, and these he obtained in Louisiana and Kentucky. These and a few others in Titian Peale’s collection, supposed to have been obtained in Pennsylvania, were all he ever saw. Mr. Nuttall at first regarded it as very rare, and as a Southern species. In that writer’s later edition he speaks of it as a bird having a Northern distribution as far as Labrador. Dr. Richardson records the occurrence of a single straggler in the fur country. So far as known, it occurs as a migrant in all the States east of the Missouri, and is a summer resident north of the 40th parallel. It probably breeds in the high ground of Pennsylvania, though this fact is inferred rather than known. It breeds in Connecticut and Massachusetts, and in Maine in the vicinity of Calais, being more abundant there than anywhere else, as far as has been ascertained.

Two individuals of this species have been taken in Greenland: one at Godthaab, in 1835; and the other at Fiskenæsset, August 31, 1840.

In Massachusetts it has so far been found in only a few restricted localities, Andover, Lynn, and Hudson, though it undoubtedly occurs elsewhere. About the time Wilson obtained his first specimen, a living bird of this species flew into the parlor of the late Colonel Thomas H. Perkins of Brookline, and is now in the collection of his grandson, Dr. Cabot. The latter gentleman states that when he first began making collections this Warbler was a very rare visitant to his neighborhood, but has of late become much more common, though varying greatly in this respect in different seasons. Specimens have been obtained in Western Iowa by Mr. H. W. Parker, of Grinnell.

A few instances of its occurrence west of the Mississippi Valley are known. One of these was by Xantus near Fort Tejon; another near Lake Tahoe, in the Sierra Nevada, by Mr. Gruber; and in the East Humboldt Mountains, Nevada, by Mr. Ridgway. Specimens of this Warbler were obtained in the winter by M. Boucard at Oaxaca, Mexico.

In the summer of 1854, Mr. Charles S. Paine found it breeding in Randolph, Vt., but was unable to discover the nest. “They spend the summer,” he wrote, “among low bushes, and probably build their nests among the thickets. I have watched their movements on several occasions. Once I detected an old bird with food in her bill about to feed her young. I could hear the young birds, yet was unable to find the nest.” Two years later, Mr. George O. Welch, of Lynn, found the nest of this Warbler on the ground in a small thicket. It contained young partially fledged, and one egg unhatched. The nest was built in a slight depression, in a dry place, among fallen leaves and in the shelter of a thicket of young oak-trees. This egg in shape was of a rounded oval, and measured .59 by .50 of an inch; one end was slightly more pointed than the other. The ground-color was white, slightly tinged with pink, and marked over the entire surface with purplish-brown dots. Around the larger end these spots form a beautiful wreath of confluent markings. Since then other nests have been found in the same locality, all on the ground and built in like situations. They have a diameter of four and a height of two inches. The cavity has a diameter of two and a depth of one and a quarter inches. The outer portions are built of dry mosses, intermingled with strips of the bark of the wild grape and the red cedar and a few herbaceous twigs, and lined with a thick layer of dried carices, small leaves of the white pine, and fine grasses. The whole structure is loosely put together. The nests are generally concealed by overarching leaves, which, however, form no part of the nest itself.

The late Elijah P. Barrow, of Andover, Mass., a young naturalist of much promise, found several nests of this rare Warbler, all of which were concealed by grass. The eggs he found varied in length from .59 to .61 of an inch, and in breadth from .50 to .51 of an inch. Both parents, as observed by him, were entirely silent.

The Nashville Warbler has been said to be a comparatively silent and songless bird, rarely giving forth any sounds, and these are compared by Dr. Richardson to the creaking noise made by the whetting of a saw. Wilson compares these sounds to the cracking of dry twigs or the striking together of small pebbles. Mr. J. A. Allen speaks of its song as being similar to that of the Chestnut-sided Warbler, which latter bird, as is well known, has notes so closely resembling those of the Summer Yellow-Bird that it is difficult to distinguish one from the other by their notes. Mr. T. M. Trippe states, also, that this Warbler has a very fine song, resembling that of the Summer Yellow-Bird more nearly than any other.

These Warblers arrive in Massachusetts about the first of May, and remain about three weeks, when the larger portion move farther north.

More recently Mr. Paine writes me that the Nashville Warbler has of late years become a common bird in certain localities in Central Vermont. They come and keep company with the Canada Warbler, but are more restless than that species at the time of their first appearance. They always in the breeding-season take up their abode in thickets, where there are also tall trees. Mr. Paine adds that their song consists of repetitions of single notes, the last terminating somewhat abruptly. Their song ceases by the 10th of June. After their young are ready to fly, they disperse about the woods and fields, and are then not readily discovered.

Helminthophaga virginiæ, BAIRD.

ROCKY MOUNTAIN WARBLER; VIRGINIA’S WARBLER.

_Helminthophaga virginiæ_, BAIRD, Birds N. Am. under explanation of plates, 1860, xi, pl. lxxix, fig. I (Fort Burgwyn, N. M.); Rev. 177.—COOPER, Orn. Cal. 1, 1870, 85.

SP. CHAR. Somewhat like _H. ruficapilla_. _Male._ Top and sides of head, back, and wings light ashy-plumbeous; quills and tail-feathers brown, edged with pure ashy-plumbeous, the latter indistinctly and narrowly margined with whitish internally and at the end. Rump, with upper and lower tail-coverts, bright yellow, in vivid contrast with the rest of the body. Crown with a concealed patch of rich chestnut. Rest of under parts brownish-white, with a patch of rich yellow on the jugulum. Inside of wings and axillars pure white. A white ring round the eye. Bill and legs dusky. The colors much duller in autumn.

_Female, spring._ Similar to the male, but chestnut spot on crown obsolete, the yellow jugular patch less distinct, the upper tail-coverts more greenish, and the lower less rich yellow.

Length, 5.00; extent, 7.25; wing, 2.50 when fresh. Dried skin: length, 4.90; wing, 2.50; tail, 2.20; tarsus, .67.

HAB. Southern Rocky Mountains (Middle Province of United States); East Humboldt, Wahsatch, and Uintah Mountains.

A young bird (No. 53,355, East Humboldt Mountains, Nevada, August 5) is olive-gray above, becoming green on the rump and upper tail-coverts; the middle and secondary coverts narrowly tipped with pale grayish-buff, producing two indistinct bands. The lower parts are pale dirty-buff, except the lower tail-coverts, which are lemon-yellow; there is scarcely a tinge of yellow on the jugulum, and not a trace of chestnut on the crown.

HABITS. But little is as yet known in regard to the habits and distribution of this somewhat rare and recently discovered species. It was first met with by Dr. W. W. Anderson, at Fort Burgwyn in New Mexico, and described by Professor Baird in 1860, in a note to the explanation of Vol. II. of the Birds of North America. It was named in honor of Mrs. Virginia Anderson, the wife of its discoverer. An immature individual of this species was obtained August 15, 1864, by Dr. Coues, at Fort Whipple, near Prescott, in the Territory of Arizona. As it bears a close resemblance to the _Helminthophaga ruficapilla_, it is not improbable that its habits bear a very close resemblance to those of that species.

In the summer of 1869, Mr. Robert Ridgway was so fortunate as to meet with the nest and eggs of this bird near Salt Lake, Utah (Smith. Coll. 15,239). This was June 9. The nest was embedded in the deposits of dead or decaying leaves, on ground covered by dense oak-brush. Its rim was just even with the surface. It was built on the side of a narrow ravine at the bottom of which was a small stream. The nest itself is two inches in depth by three and a half in diameter. It consists of a loose but intricate interweaving of fine strips of the inner bark of the mountain mahogany, fine stems of grasses, roots, and mosses, and is lined with the same with the addition of the fur and hair of the smaller animals.

The eggs were four in number, and measure .64 by .47 of an inch. They are of a rounded-ovoid shape, have a white ground with a slightly roseate tinge, and are profusely spotted with numerous small blotches and dots of purplish-brown and lilac, forming a crown around the larger end.

This bird was first observed by Mr. Ridgway among the cedars and pines of the East Humboldt Mountains, where in July it was quite common. It was very abundant in the Wahsatch Mountains near Salt Lake City, throughout the summer chiefly inhabiting the thickets of scrub-oak on the slopes of the cañons in which they nested, and where they were daily seen, but where, owing to the thickness of the bushes, they were with difficulty obtained. He describes its song as almost exactly like that of _Dendroica æstiva_. The usual note is a soft _pit_, quite different from the sharp _chip_ of _H. celata_.

Helminthophaga luciæ, COOPER.

LUCY’S WARBLER.

_Helminthophaga luciæ_, COOPER, Pr. Cal. Acad. July, 1861, 120 (Fort Mohave).—BAIRD, Rev. Am. B. 1864, 178.—ELLIOT, Illust. Birds N. Am. I, v.—COOPER, Orn. Cal. 1, 1870, 84.

SP. CHAR. General form and size that of _H. ruficapilla_. Above light-cinereous; beneath white, having a soiled, very pale buff, almost white tinge on the throat, breast, and flanks. A patch on the vertex, as in _H. ruficapilla_, and the upper tail-coverts, dark chestnut-brown. Lores to nostrils and region round the eye, like the throat, in rather decided contrast to the ash of the crown. Quills and tail-feathers brown, narrowly edged externally with gray. An obsolete terminal white patch on the inner web of the outer feather; this web in most of the other tail-feathers likewise narrowly edged with white. Axillars and inner face of wings white. Iris brown. Tarsi blue. Length, in life, 4.40; extent, 6.90; wing, 2.40. Length of skin, 3.90; wing, 2.33; tail, 1.86; tarsus, .64; middle toe and claw, .50; bill above, .35; gape, .50.

HAB. Fort Mohave, Colorado River (Middle Province of United States); Fort Whipple, Arizona.

HABITS. This is also a new or recently discovered species of this interesting group of Warblers. In regard to its nest and eggs nothing is positively ascertained, yet as all the birds of this genus are known to build on the ground, and to have a great uniformity in the characteristics of their eggs, it seems to be a matter of natural inference that this species also is a ground builder, and has eggs similar to those of the Nashville Warbler. For the little we know in regard to its habits and distribution, we are indebted to the observations of Dr. J. G. Cooper of California, who first discovered it, and to Dr. Coues, who has since met with it in Arizona.

Dr. Cooper first observed this species near Fort Mohave, where it made its appearance about the last of March. His attention was called to it by its peculiar notes, resembling those of some _Dendroicæ_, but fainter. After considerable watching and scrambling through dense mezquite thickets in its pursuit, he succeeded in shooting one, and found it to be a new species. Afterwards they became more numerous, frequenting the tops of the mezquite-trees in pursuit of insects, and constantly uttering their short but pleasing notes. About ten days after the first appearance of the males, Dr. Cooper obtained the first female, and thinks that without doubt they are much later in their migrations, as is the case with other Warblers. He was not able to discover their nest, having to leave the valley late in May.

Mr. Holden obtained other specimens of this bird, near the 34th parallel, in March of 1863.

Dr. Coues met with three individuals of this species near Fort Whipple, where it is a summer resident. It arrives there between the 15th and the 20th of April, and remains until the latter part of September. It mates about the last of April, and the young birds appear early in June.

Dr. Coues regards its habits as more like those of the true Ground Warblers than those of the other species of this group. It shows a decided preference for thickets and copses, rather than for high open woods, and is also an exceedingly shy and retiring species. To the extreme difficulty of observing or procuring it Dr. Coues attributes its having so long remained unnoticed.

It is described as exceedingly active in all its motions, and quite as restless as a _Polioptila_, to which class, in its colors, it also bears a close resemblance. The only note Dr. Coues ever heard it utter was a quick and often repeated _tsip_, as slender and as wiry as that of a Gnatcatcher. Dr. Cooper, however, has described its song as rich and pleasing, the little performer being mounted on the top of some mezquite or other bush. Dr. Cooper supposes this species to breed, not in the Colorado Valley, but in the more mountainous regions.

Dr. Coues hazards the conjecture that this bird builds in low bushes. Should it prove so, it would in this respect differ from all the other members of this well-marked group, and from the other Ground Warblers, which, in its general habits, it so much resembles.

Helminthophaga celata, var. celata, BAIRD.

ORANGE-CROWNED WARBLER.

_Sylvia celata_, SAY, Long’s Exp. R. Mts. I, 1823, 169.—BON. Am. Orn. I, pl. v, fig. 2.—AUD. Orn. Biog. II, pl. clxxviii. _Sylvicola cel._ RICH. _Vermivora cel._ JARD. _Helinaia cel._ AUD. Birds Am. II, pl. cxii. _Helmitherus cel._ BON.—SCLATER, P. Z. S. 1857, 212 (Orizaba). _Helminthophaga cel._ BAIRD, Birds N. Am. 1858, 257; Rev. Am. Birds, I, 1865, 176 (in part).—DALL & BANNISTER (Alaska).—SCLATER, P. Z. S. 1858, 298 (Oaxaca, December); 1859, 373; 1862, 19 (La Parada). _H. celata_, var. _celata_, RIDGW. Rept. U. S. Geol. Expl. 40th Par.

SP. CHAR. Above grayish olive-green, rather brighter on the rump. Beneath entirely greenish yellowish-white, except a little whitish about the anus; the sides tinged with grayish-olivaceous. A concealed patch of pale orange-rufous on the crown, hidden by the grayish tips to the feathers. Eyelids and an obscure superciliary line yellowish-white, a dusky obscure streak through the eye. Inner webs of tail-feathers broadly edged with white. _Female_ with little or none of the orange on the crown, and the white edgings to inner webs of tail-feathers. _Young_ lacking the orange entirely, and with two fulvous-whitish bands on the wing. Length, 4.70; wing, 2.25; tail, 2.00.

HAB. Middle Province of North America; Yukon and McKenzie River district. Very rare in the Eastern Province of United States; Mexico in winter; Oaxaca, La Parada, (SCLATER); Orizaba, winter (SUMICHRAST).