Part 12

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

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

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

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

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

DISTRIBUTION

_Range._--Canada to northern South America.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

_Egg dates._--Alberta: 6 records, June 1 to 16.

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

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

VERMIVORA CELATA CELATA (Say)

EASTERN ORANGE-CROWNED WARBLER

HABITS

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Baird, Brewer, and Ridgway (1874) write:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Francis H. Allen tells me that this warbler "has a _chip_ note suggesting that of the tree sparrow but sharper."

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

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

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