Part 31

_Motacilla coronata_, LINN. Syst. Nat. I, 1766, 333. _Sylvia coronata_, LATH.; VIEILLOT; WILS.; NUTT.; AUD. Orn. Biog. II, pl. cliii. _Sylvicola coronata_, SWAINS.; BON.; AUD. Birds, Am. II, pl. lxxvi.—JONES, Nat. Bermuda, 59 (abundant in April). _Dendroica coronata_, GRAY, Genera, 1842, 2.—BAIRD, Birds N. Am. 1858, 272; Rev. 187.—MARCH, P. A. N. Sc. 1863, 292 (Jamaica, in summer; breeding).—GUNDL. Cab. Jour. 1861, 326 (Cuba; common).—COOPER & SUCKLEY, P. R. R. XII, ii, 1859, 180 (Puget Sound).—SAMUELS, 226.—DALL & BANNISTER (Alaska).—COOPER, Orn. Cal. 1, 1870, 89. _Rhimanphus cor._ CAB. Jour. 1855, 473 (Cuba). _Motacilla canadensis_, LINN. 12th ed. 1766, 334 (_Ficedula canadensis cinerea_, Br. III, 524, pl xxvii, fig. 1). _Parus virginianus_, LINN. 12th ed. Syst. Nat. I, 1766, 342. _Motacilla umbria, cincta, pinguis_, GM. _Sylvia xanthopygia_, VIEILL. _Sylvia xanthoroa_, VIEILL. Localities quoted: _S. Greenland_, REINHARDT, Ibis, 1861, 5. _Cordova_, SCL. P. Z. S. 1856, 291. _Xalapa_, IB. 1859, 363. _Guatemala_, SCL. & SALV. 1859, 11. _Panama_, LAWR. Ann. N. Y. Lyc. VIII, 63. _Cuba_, winter, CAB. Jour. III, 473. _Bahamas_, winter, BRYANT, Bost. Pr. VII, 1859. _Jamaica_, GOSSE, Birds Jam. 155. _St. Domingo_, SALLÉ, P. Z. S. 1857, 231. _Costa Rica_, LAWR. _Orizaba_, winter, SUMICHRAST.

SP. CHAR. Above bluish-ash, streaked with black. Under parts white. The forepart of breast and the sides black, the feathers mostly edged narrowly with white. Crown, rump, and sides of breast yellow. Cheeks and lores black. The eyelids and a superciliary stripe, two bands on the wing and spots on the outer three tail-feathers, white. _Female_ of duller plumage and browner above. Length, 5.65; wing, 3.00; tail, 2.50.

HAB. Eastern Province of North America, and northward, extending sparsely along United States boundary to Pacific Ocean; Denver City, Colorado; Fort Yukon; Greenland; Eastern Mexico to Panama R. R.; Western West Indies and Bermuda. Breeds in Jamaica!

Autumnal and winter birds are very much duller and more obscurely colored, the upper parts of an umber cast with the streaks almost obsolete; the black of the breast wanting or but just indicated, and the yellow patches on crown almost concealed by the brown tips to the feathers, and those on side of breast quite dull.

A spring male (52,283) from Washington is remarkable in having the adjoining series of feathers down the middle of the back with their inner webs broadly edged with yellow. In this respect it differs from all others that we have noticed.

HABITS. The Yellow-crowned Wood Warbler is one of the most common species of this genus, as well as one of the most widely distributed. It is found, at different seasons, throughout the eastern part of the continent, as far west as the Great Plains, extending at the far north to the Pacific Ocean. It has been found in Greenland, three specimens having been taken within twenty years, and on the shores of the Arctic Ocean, and during the winter in the West India Islands, Mexico, and Central America. Specimens from Florida and Fort Steilacoom, Panama, Guatemala, and Jamaica, and from Fort Rae, Anderson River, and the Yukon, in the collection of the Smithsonian Institution, attest its wide distribution. In Jamaica, in the neighborhood of Spanishtown, this species has been known to breed. In view of the fact that this bird is regarded, with good reason, as one of our most northern species, breeding to the very shores of the frozen seas, the occurrence seems erratic and remarkable. Yet it is not without corresponding vagaries in other species, the _cærulescens_ breeding in Cuba and the _tigrina_ in St. Domingo and Jamaica.

Mr. Paine, of East Randolph, Vt., states that these Warblers arrive in his vicinity about the first of May, and remain there nearly two weeks, and then all pass north. They do not return on their southern flight until the last of September, when they remain about three weeks. It is a very active, restless bird, chirping continually and very sharply as it flies around in search of insects, but has not, so far as he knows, any song.

In Southern Illinois, as Mr. Ridgway informs me, this bird is a common winter sojourner, remaining late in spring with the migratory species. It is very abundant throughout the winter in woods, orchards, and door-yards.

Mr. Salvin found this species frequenting the more open districts about Duenas, Guatemala, apparently preferring scattered bushes to the denser underwood, and was an abundant species there throughout the winter season.

It is but quite recently that we have known with certainty its place and manner of breeding. Neither Wilson, Nuttall, nor Audubon appear to have met with its nest, though the latter received one from Professor McCulloch of Halifax.

In the summer of 1855, early in July, I obtained a nest of this species in Parsboro’, Nova Scotia. It was built in a low bush, in the midst of a small village, and contained six eggs. The parents were very shy, and it was with great difficulty that one of them was secured for identification. Though late in the season, incubation had but just commenced.

The nest was built on a horizontal branch, the smaller twigs of which were so interlaced as to admit of its being built upon them, though their extremities were interwoven into its rim. The nest was small for the bird, being only two inches in depth and four and a half in diameter. The cavity is one and a half inches deep and two and a half wide. Its base and external portions consist of fine, light, dry stalks of wild grasses, and slender twigs and roots. Of the last the firm, strong rim of the nest is exclusively woven. Within, the nest is composed of soft, fine grasses, downy feathers, and the fine hair of the smaller mammals.

Mr. Audubon, who observed very closely the habits of these birds during a winter in Florida, describes them as very social among themselves, skipping along the piazza, balancing themselves in the air opposite the sides of the house in search of spiders and insects, diving through the low bushes of the garden after larvæ and worms, and at night roosting among the orange-trees. In his visit to Maine he found them very abundant in early May. The woods seemed alive with them, and wherever he landed, on his way to Labrador, he found them in great numbers.

This Warbler is an expert flycatcher, feeds chiefly on insects, and is a great devourer of small caterpillars; but in the winter its food is largely composed of berries, especially those of the _Myrica cerifera_. It will also feed on grass-seeds. In the warmer wintry days in Florida, when insects are abundant, Mr. Audubon states that these birds are particularly active in their pursuit, and the trees seem full of them. At this time they emit, at each movement, a single note, _twēēt_, so very peculiar that they may be at once recognized by the cry.

Wilson states that these Warblers appear in Pennsylvania, from the North, early in October, and stay there several weeks. Some of them remain in the Southern States all winter. They feed with great avidity upon the berries of the red cedar.

In Western Massachusetts it is a very abundant spring and autumn visitant, making but a brief stay in spring, but passing northward in large numbers. In autumn it remains longer, and passes south more leisurely. Mr. B. P. Mann found its nest and eggs in Concord, but this was probably an exceptional instance. In Eastern Maine it arrives May 25, and, as Mr. Boardman thinks, remains to breed. Both Dr. Suckley and Dr. Cooper met with this species in Washington Territory, where it is very rare.

No writers have observed or noted the song of this bird, except Mr. T. M. Trippe (American Nat., II. p. 171), who states that during its spring migrations it has a very sweet song or warble, uttered at short intervals.

It reaches the high northern latitudes late in May, and leaves that region in September. The observations of Mr. McFarlane show that the nests of this bird are moderately common at Anderson River, and are generally built in low spruce-trees four or five feet from the ground. In one or two instances it was placed on the ground.

The eggs of this Warbler vary from .72 to .80 of an inch in length, and from .50 to .55 in breadth. Their ground-color is white, often tinged with a bluish shade, and blotched and spotted with reddish-brown, purple, and darker shades of brown. They are of a rounded oval shape.

Dendroica auduboni, BAIRD.

AUDUBON’S WARBLER; WESTERN YELLOW-RUMP.

_Sylvia auduboni_, TOWNSEND, J. A. N. Sc. VII, II, 1837.—IB. Narrative, 1839, 342.—AUD. Orn. Biog. V, 1839, 52, pl. cccxcv. _Sylvicola auduboni_, BON. List. 1838.—AUD. Birds Am. II, 1841, 26, pl. lxxvii. _Dendroica auduboni_, BAIRD, Birds N. Am. 1858, 273; Rev. 188.—SCLATER, P. Z. S. 1858, 298 (Oaxaca; October); 1860, 250 (Orizaba).—SCLATER & SALVIN, Ibis, 1860, 273 (San Geronimo, Guat.).—COOPER & SUCKLEY, P. R. R. Rep. XII, II, 1859, 181.—SCLATER, P. Z. S. 1864, 172 (City of Mexico).—COOPER, Orn. Cal. 1, 1870, 88.

SP. CHAR. Above bluish-ash, streaked with black, most marked on the middle of the back; on the head and neck bluish-ash. Middle of crown, rump, chin, and throat, and a patch on the side of the breast, gamboge-yellow; space beneath and anterior to the eyes, forepart of breast and sides, black; this color extending behind on the sides in streaks. Middle of belly, under tail-coverts, a portion of upper and lower eyelids, and a broad band on the wings, with a spot on each of the four or five exterior tail-feathers, white; rest of tail-feathers black. _Female_ brown above; the other markings less conspicuous and less black. Length, 5.25; wings, 3.20; tail, 2.25. _Young_, first plumage, whole body, including head all round and rump, conspicuously streaked with slaty-black upon an ashy ground above and white below. No yellow on crown, rump, breast, or throat. Wings and tail as in autumnal adult.

HAB. Western and Middle Provinces of the United States; Cape St. Lucas; Western Mexico and Orizaba? Oaxaca (cold regions, October, SCLATER); Guatemala (SALVIN).

This bird is very closely allied to _D. coronata_, but is distinguished by the yellow (not white) throat; the absence of a superciliary white stripe (the eyelids white, however); the restriction of the black of the face to the lores, and to a suffusion round the eye; and the presence of one broad band on the wings, instead of two narrow ones.

HABITS. This beautiful Warbler, so strikingly simulating the _D. coronata_ in the character of its markings, and now so well known as a common species on the Pacific coast, was first met with by Mr. Townsend near the Columbia River, where he found it very abundant. His account of its habits is inconsistent, and probably not reliable. Mr. Nuttall, who was with Mr. Townsend, differs, also, essentially in his account. He states that he first saw them about the middle of April, and that their song bore a very close resemblance to that of the _D. æstiva_, but was delivered in a much superior style. They remained his summer companions, breeding among the shady firs on the borders of prairie openings, where there was an abundant supply of insect food. By the 8th of June he found their young already out, in small and busy flocks, solicitously attended by their parents. They greatly resembled the young of the _coronata_. These birds frequented large trees, particularly the water-oaks, and the lower branches of gigantic firs.

Dr. Cooper found this Warbler one of the most abundant species of Washington Territory, and believed them to be, to some extent, a resident species, as he met them about the Straits of Fuca in March. He speaks of its song as lively, and heard everywhere on the borders of the woods, even near the coast, where few of the smaller species ever visit. In the fall he noticed straggling flocks of the young wandering about the low shrubbery in large numbers. The same writer also states that this species is in winter a very abundant bird in the southern part of California, flitting about among the bushes and low trees. The males are then in the dull plumage of the females, and do not put on their richer hues until March or April. He saw none south of San Francisco after May 1, but they began to reappear in September. As he found newly fledged young near Lake Tahoe, he thinks they breed throughout the higher Sierra Nevada. At the sea level in latitude 37° they appear late in September, and remain until March 20.

Dr. Suckley regarded this bird as the most abundant species visiting the western portion of Washington Territory. Near Fort Steilacoom it was found principally among the oak-trees on the plains.

Dr. Woodhouse found it abundant in New Mexico, confining itself to the timbered and mountainous districts, and especially plentiful among the San Francisco Mountains, feeding among the tall pines. Dr. Coues found it exceedingly common in Arizona, where some spend the winter, and a few possibly remain in the summer to breed.

Dr. Heermann found them remaining in the Sacramento Valley throughout the winter, and quotes Dr. Kennerly as finding these birds on the Boca Grande and at different points in Sonora. Mr. Gambel found these Warblers on all his route from New Mexico to California in great abundance, their habits greatly resembling those of the _D. coronata_. They display a great deal of familiarity, entering the towns, resorting to the gardens and hedge-rows, and even the corrals of the houses, descending also to the ground in company with Blackbirds and Sparrows.

This Warbler is thus shown to have a very extended distribution. It is now known to be found, at different seasons, from Central America to British Columbia, and from New Mexico to the Pacific.

We are indebted to the late Mr. Hepburn for all the knowledge we possess in reference to its nests, eggs, and breeding-habits. He procured their nests and eggs in Vancouver’s Island. They were built in the forked branches of small shrubs. Around these the materials of which they were built were strongly bound, and to it the nests were thus securely fastened. They were quite long and large for the bird, being four inches in height, and three and a half in diameter. The cavity is small, but deep. The external periphery of the nest is made of coarse strips of bark, long dry leaves of wild grasses, and strong stalks of plants, intermingled with finer grasses, pieces of cotton cloth, and other materials. The inner nest is also a singular combination of various materials, yet carefully and elaborately put together. It is made up of fine grasses, feathers, lichens, mosses, fine roots, etc., all felted together and lined with a warm bedding of fur and feathers. Mr. Hepburn’s observations, so far as they go, seem to show that this bird does not usually build in such lofty positions as Nuttall and others conjectured.

According to Mr. Hepburn, they arrive in Vancouver’s Island in the middle of April, and generally frequent high trees, constructing their nests in the upper branches, though also frequently building in low bushes, a few feet from the ground. The number of their eggs is four. These, he states, have a pure white ground, and are spotted, usually chiefly about the larger end, with red markings.

Mr. Salvin met with both this species and the _D. coronata_ at San Geronimo, November, 1859. They congregated together on the ground, where they principally obtained their food.

Dr. Cooper, in his paper on the fauna of Montana, mentions this Warbler as the only one of the genus seen by him between Fort Benton and Fort Vancouver. It was very common throughout the mountains, and he found it in every portion of the country west of them, even where scarcely a bush was to be seen.

According to the careful observations of Mr. Robert Ridgway, this Warbler, during the summer months, in the Great Basin, chiefly inhabits the pines of the high mountain ranges, as well as the cedar and piñon woods of the desert mountains. In winter it descends to the lower portions, being then found among the willows, or, in small roving companies, hopping among the tree-tops in the river valleys. In manners it is said by him to resemble the _coronata_, but in their notes they differ very widely. A nest, containing three young, was found by Mr. Ridgway near the extremity of a horizontal branch of a pine-tree, about ten feet from the ground.

The eggs of the Audubon Warbler do not resemble those of any _Dendroica_ with which I am acquainted, but are most like those of the Hooded Warbler. They measure .70 by .50 of an inch, have a reddish or pinkish white ground, and are sparingly marked with fine brown markings, tinted with a crimson shading.

Dendroica maculosa, BAIRD.

BLACK AND YELLOW WARBLER.

_Motacilla maculosa_, GM. Syst. Nat. I, 1788, 984. _Sylvia m._ LATH.; VIEILL.; BON.; NUTT.; AUD. Orn. Biog. I, II, V, pl. 1. 123. _Sylvicola m._ SWAINS.; BON.; AUD. Birds Am. II, pl. xcvi. _Rhimanphus m._ CAB. Jour. III, 1855, 474 (Cuba). _Dendroica m._ BAIRD, Birds N. Am. 1858, 284; Review, 206.—SCLATER, P. Z. S. 1859, 363, 373 (Xalapa).—BRYANT, Pr. Bost. Soc. VII, 1859 (Bahamas).—SCLATER & SALVIN, Ibis, 1859, 11 (Guatemala).—LAWRENCE, Ann. N. Y. Lyc. 1861, 322 (Panama; winter).—GUNDLACH, Cab. Jour. 1861, 326 (Cuba; very rare).—SAMUELS, 238. _Sylvia magnolia_, WILS. III, pl. xxiii, fig. 3.

SP. CHAR. _Male, in spring._ Bill dark bluish-black, rather lighter beneath. Tail dusky. Top of head light grayish-blue. Front, lore, cheek, and a stripe under the eye, black, running into a large triangular patch on the back between the wings, which is also black. Eyelids and a stripe from the eye along the head white. Upper tail-coverts black, some of the feathers tipped with grayish. Abdomen and lower tail-coverts white. Rump and under parts, except as described, yellow. Lower throat, breast, and sides streaked with black; the streaks closer on the lower throat and fore breast. Lesser wing-coverts, and edges of the wing and tail, bluish-gray, the former spotted with black. Quills and tail almost black; the latter with a square patch of white on the inner webs of all the tail-feathers (but the two inner) beyond the middle of the tail. Two white bands across the wings (sometimes coalesced into one) formed by the middle and secondary coverts. Part of the edge of the inner webs of the quills white. Feathers margining the black patch on the back behind and on the sides tinged with greenish. Length, 5 inches; wing, 2.50; tail, 2.25. Autumnal males differ in absence of black of back, front, sides of head, and to a considerable degree beneath, and in much less white on the wings and head.

_Female in spring._ Similar, but all the colors duller. Black of the back restricted to a central triangular patch.

HAB. Eastern Province of North America to Fort Simpson; Eastern Mexico to Guatemala and Panama; Bahamas; Cuba (very rare).

HABITS. The Black and Yellow Warbler, one of the most beautiful of this attractive family, was supposed by our earlier writers to be exceedingly rare. Wilson never met with more than two specimens,—one in Ohio, the other on the Mississippi,—and spoke of it as a very scarce species. In regard to its song he was quite at fault, denying to it any notes deserving the name of song. Nuttall, who had only seen it occasionally in Massachusetts, in the middle of May, regarded it as rare, and was unacquainted with its notes. Its history is now much better known, and neither its great rarity nor its deficiency as to melody can any longer be admitted.

At certain seasons and in particular places it is a very common species. It may be found during the breeding-season throughout North America east of the Great Plains, between latitude 44° and Fort Simpson in the fur country. During its migrations it may be met with in most of the Eastern States, in Eastern Mexico, and the northern portions of South America. It has been found in the Bahamas, and also in Cuba, where it is not common. Specimens have been received from Mexico, Guatemala, and Panama, and from Fort Resolution, Rupert House, and Fort Simpson, in Arctic America, and as far to the west as the mouth of Vermilion River. Dr. Bryant met with it in the Bahamas as early as the 15th of March, where it was quite common. M. Boucard found it at Playa Vicente, in the hot portion of the State of Oaxaca, Mexico.

In Western Massachusetts, Mr. Allen found it a common spring and autumn visitor, occurring in its northern flights from the middle of May to the first of June, and in the autumn as late as September 20. Professor Verrill found it in Western Maine, but not common, both in spring and fall, but had no reason to believe that it bred there. Mr. Boardman does not include it in his list of Calais birds, and I did not find it among the islands in the Bay of Fundy. In the vicinity of Halifax, during the months of June and July, it is one of the most common of the Warblers, occurring in every direction.

Mr. Audubon observed these Warblers in Louisiana, in their migrations, as early as the middle of March; but its appearance there, as well as in Kentucky and Ohio, appeared to be occasional and accidental. In autumn he has met with them in large numbers among the mountains of Northern Pennsylvania, They were passing southward with their young. While on his way to Labrador he noticed them in Maine, near Eastport, in May, very abundant along the roads, the fields, and the low woods, as well as in the orchards and gardens. The season was then not advanced, the weather cold; and these birds sheltered themselves by night among the evergreens, and were often so chilled as to be readily taken by the hand. He also met them wherever he landed in the neighboring islands in the Bay of Fundy and at Labrador.

The song of this Warbler is clear and sweetly modulated, and surpasses that of most of this family. It seems to prefer the interior of low woods, where its notes may chiefly be heard during the early summer, as it sings while it is searching for its food among the branches, in the manner of the Vireos.

Like nearly all the members of this family, in its search for food it blends the habits of the Creepers with those of the Flycatchers, feeding upon insects in their every form, running up and down the trunks for the ova, larvæ, and pupæ, expertly catching the insect on the wing, and equally skilful in hovering over the expanded bud and searching the opening leaves.