Part 19

It creeps along the branches and hops from twig to twig, often clinging to the under side of a cluster like a chickadee, an action that led some of the early writers to refer to it as a small titmouse, and it sometimes clings to the trunk of a tree like a nuthatch in its search for food. The birds are fearless and confiding, and are easily approached. Even when their nest is disturbed they come within a few feet of the intruder, making little, if any, protest or demonstration. George B. Sennett (1878) tells the following story, illustrating the confiding nature of the bird:

Just before we sighted land, imagine our surprise and joy to see a little Blue Yellow-backed Warbler on our mast. It soon flew down to the sail and thence to the deck, where, after a few moments, it felt quite at home. Our sailor caught him, and he was passed around for all to admire and pet. It would nestle in our hands and enjoy the warmth without the least fear. When allowed his freedom, he would hop upon us, fly from one to another, and dart off over the side of the boat as if taking his departure; when lo! back he would come with a fly or moth he had seen over the water and had captured. Several flies were caught in this way. He searched over the whole boat and into the hold for insects. Often he would fly to one or the other of us, as we were lying on the deck, and into our hands and faces, with the utmost familiarity. He received our undivided attention, but could have been no happier than we. Upon reaching shore, amid the confusion of landing we lost sight forever of our pretty friend.

_Voice._--The parula warbler has a simple, but to my ears a very distinctive, song. In 1900 I recorded the song in my notes as "_pree-e-e-e-e-e-e, yip_, a somewhat prolonged trill like a pine warbler's, but fainter and more insect-like, ending abruptly in the short _yip_ with a decided emphasis." I have always been able to recognize it by the explosive ending, which I never heard from any other wood warbler.

Gerald Thayer wrote to Dr. Chapman (1907) as follows:

The Parula is weak-voiced, and its call notes, as far as I know, are slight and barely peculiar; but it has at least three main songs, with great range of variations.

All may be recognized, or at least distinguished from the weak songs of the _Dendroicae_, like the Blackburnian and Bay-breast, by their beady, buzzy tones. In phrasing, in everything but tone-quality, certain variations of the Parula's and of the Blackburnian's songs very nearly meet and overlap; but the tell-tale tones remain unchanged,--wheezy and beady in the one, smooth as glass in the other. Commonest of the Northern Parula's three main songs is probably the short, unbroken buzz, uttered on an evenly-ascending scale, and ending abruptly, with a slight accentuation of the final note. Next is that which begins with several notes of the same beady character, but clearly separated, and finishes, likewise on an ascending scale, with a brief congested buzz. The third main song is based on an inversion of the second--a buzz followed by a few separate drawled notes, high-pitched like the buzz-ending of the two other songs. All these vary and intervary perplexingly.

Aretas A. Saunders contributes the following notes on the song of this warbler: "The parula warbler has two distinct types of song. One is a simple buzzy trill rising in pitch, and frequently terminated by a short, sharp note of lower pitch. Of 12 records of this song, 7 have the terminal note and 5 do not. The other form has the same buzz-like quality, but begins with three or four short notes on the same pitch, followed by a longer, higher note that is frequently, but not always, slurred upward. Both songs are similar in length and in pitch intervals. They vary from 1-1/5 to 1-3/5 seconds in length. The rise in pitch varies from one to four and a half tones, and averages about two tones. The actual pitch is exceedingly variable in individuals and varies from A´´´ to D´´´´´. Songs vary considerably in loudness, many of them becoming suddenly louder toward the end.

"The species sings throughout migration, and on the breeding grounds till late July. At that season I have seen males still singing while feeding young just out of the nest."

_Enemies._--Dr. Friedmann (1929) writes; "This bird is practically free from that greatest enemy of most of the warblers, the Cowbird. Occasionally, however, parasitic eggs are found in the dainty pensile nests of the Parula Warbler. Stone found a nest on May 26, 1892, at Cape May Point, New Jersey, containing three eggs of the Warbler and one of the Cowbird. * * * Five other records have come to my notice, from Long Island, New York, Pennsylvania and Connecticut, and the bird is listed as a victim of the Cowbird by several writers, as Bendire, Davie, and Chapman." Mrs. Nice (1931) records two more cases in Oklahoma.

Harold S. Peters (1936) records two lice, _Myrsidea incerta_ (Kellogg) and _Ricinius_ sp., as external parasites on this species.

_Field marks._--The parula, is one of our smallest warblers. The adult male is well marked, with its blue upper parts, the yellow back being inconspicuous, two conspicuous white wing bands, black lores, yellow breast and chestnut or blackish throat band. The female is duller in all colors, more greenish above and has little or no throat band. Young birds are even less conspicuously marked, as noted in the description of plumages.

_Fall._--As soon as the young are strong on the wing the family parties desert their breeding grounds, and after the molting season is finished they resort to the deciduous woods and join the migrating hosts of warblers and other small birds drifting southward through the tree-tops or along the roadside shade trees. The fall migration is apparently a reversal of the springtime routes, as they travel to their winter haunts in Mexico and the West Indies. Professor Cooke (1904) says that this warbler "passes through Florida in countless thousands, being second only to the black-throated blue warbler in the frequency with which it strikes the lighthouses. * * * By the middle of September the great flights begin and continue in full force for a month."

DISTRIBUTION

_Range._--Southern Canada to Nicaragua and the West Indies.

_Breeding range._--The Parula warbler breeds =north= to southern Manitoba (Shoal Lake and Caddy Lake); central Ontario (Off Lake, Rossport, and Lake Abitibi); and southern Quebec (Lake Timiskaming, Blue Sea Lake, Gaspé Peninsula, and Anticosti Island). =East= to Anticosti Island (Fox Bay); Prince Edward Island (Tignish); Nova Scotia (Halifax and Yarmouth); and the Atlantic coast south to central Florida (Deer Park, Lake Gentry, and St. Lucie). =South= to central Florida (St. Lucie, Bull Creek Swamp, and Tarpon Springs) and the Gulf coast to south-central Texas (Houston and San Antonio). =West= to central Texas (San Antonio and Kerrville); eastern Oklahoma (Caddo, red Oak, and Copan); eastern Kansas (Neosha Falls, Topeka, and Leavenworth); central Iowa (Des Moines); north-central Minnesota (Cass Lake and Itasca); and southeastern Manitoba (Shoal Lake).

_Winter range._--The parula warbler winters =north= to southern Tamaulipas (Tampico); occasionally southern Florida (Tarpon Springs, Sanibel Island, and Miami); the Bahamas Islands (Nassau and Caicos); Hispaniola (Tortue Island and Samaná); Puerto Rico; the Virgin Islands (St. Thomas); and the Lesser Antilles (Saba). =East= to the Lesser Antilles (Saba, St. Christopher, Guadaloupe, and Barbados). =South= to the Lesser Antilles (Barbados); Jamaica (Kingston); and Nicaragua (Río Escondido). =West= to Nicaragua (Río Escondido); El Salvador (Barra de Santiago); western Guatemala (San José and Escuintla); southern Oaxaca (Tehuantepec); Veracruz (Tlacotalpan); and Tamaulipas (Tampico).

The above range is for the species as a whole, of which two geographic races are recognized: the southern parula warbler (_P. a. americana_) breeds in southeastern United States from Maryland southward, east of the mountains; the northern parula warbler (_P. a. pusilla_) breeds in the western and northern portion of the range.

_Migration._--Late dates of spring departure from the winter home are: El Salvador--Barra de Santiago, April 18. Guatemala--San José, March 7. Yucatán--San Felipe, April 4. Virgin Islands--St. Croix, April 30. Puerto Rico--Mayagüez, May 7. Haiti--Port au Prince, April 4. Cuba--Habana, May 4. Bahamas--Cay Lobos, May 14.

Early dates of spring arrival are: Florida--Daytona Beach, March 3. Alabama--Coosada, March 25. Georgia--Savannah, March 8. South Carolina--Frogmore, March 5. North Carolina--Washington, March 26. West Virginia--Bluefield, April 9. District of Columbia--Washington, April 6. Pennsylvania--Carlisle, April 25. New York--Shelter Island, April 23. Massachusetts--Stoughton, April 25. Vermont--St. Johnsbury, April 21. Maine--Portland, April 29. Nova Scotia--Wolfville, May 8. New Brunswick--St. Stephen, May 9. Quebec--Quebec, May 10. Louisiana--New Orleans, February 15. Mississippi--Bay St. Louis, March 5. Arkansas--Helena, March 24. Tennessee--Athens, April 3. Kentucky--Eubank, April 4. Indiana--Bloomington, April 21. Ohio--Columbus, April 28. Michigan--Ann Arbor, April 29. Ontario--Toronto, May 2. Missouri--Columbia, April 5. Iowa--Grinnell, April 28. Wisconsin--Madison, April 30. Minnesota--Red Wing, May 5. Texas--Hidalgo, March 5. Oklahoma--Caddo, March 25. Kansas--Independence, April 8. Nebraska--Havelock, April 20.

Late dates of fall departure are: Minnesota--St. Paul, October 5. Wisconsin--Milwaukee, October 9. Missouri--St. Louis, October 5. Ontario--Point Pelee, October 5. Michigan--Grand Rapids, October 19. Ohio--Toledo, October 19. Indiana--Richmond, October 14. Tennessee--Nashville, October 3. Arkansas--Monticello, October 2. Louisiana--Covington, October 26. Mississippi--Gulfport, November 2. Quebec--Hatley, September 30. New Brunswick--Scotch Lake, September 28. Maine--Portland, October 24. New Hampshire--Hanover, October 11. Massachusetts--Rockport, October 25. New York--Rhinebeck, October 21. Pennsylvania--Berwyn, October 26. District of Columbia, Washington, October 17. West Virginia--French Creek, October 1. Virginia--Lynchburg, October 17. North Carolina--Rocky Mount, October 23. South Carolina--Charleston, October 22. Georgia--Athens, November 4. Florida--Gainesville, November 19.

Early dates of fall arrival are: Bahamas--Watling Island, September 28. Cuba--Habana, August 10. Dominican Republic--San Juan, October 21. Puerto Rico--Parguera, September 19. Nicaragua--Río Escondido, October 20. Costa Rica--Villa Quesada, October 24.

_Banding._--Only a single migration record is available from banded birds. A parula warbler banded as an adult at Flushing, Long Island, New York, on September 16, 1946, was found dead about October 1, 1947, at La Grange, Maine.

_Casual records._--The parula warbler has been recorded three times in Colorado (in El Paso County, at Kit Carson, and at Denver); and three times in Wyoming (once at Cheyenne and twice at Torrington).

_Egg dates._--Massachusetts: 52 records, May 20 to July 7; 29 records, May 29 to June 10, indicating the height of the season.

Connecticut: 39 records, May 25 to June 25; 25 records, June 1 to 10.

South Carolina: 20 records, April 10 to June 24; 10 records, April 30 to May 11.

PARULA AMERICANA AMERICANA (Linnaeus)

SOUTHERN PARULA WARBLER

PLATE 22

HABITS

This southern race of our well-known blue yellow-backed warbler is said to breed from the District of Columbia southward to Florida and Alabama. William Brewster (1896), in describing and naming the northern race, restricted the Linnaean name _americana_ to the southern bird because it was evidently based on Catesby's excellent plate, drawn from a bird taken in South Carolina. In his comparative diagnoses of the two forms, he describes the southern bird as "averaging slightly smaller but with longer bill. Adult male with more yellow on the under parts and less black or blackish on the lores and malar region; the dark collar across the jugulum narrow, obscure, often nearly wanting; the chest pale, diffuse russet, without obvious markings." He admits that no one of these characters is quite constant, the best one being the depth and definition of the reddish brown on the chest. And he suggests that the distribution of the two forms in the breeding season may be roughly correlated with the distribution of _Usnea_ in the north and of _Tillandsia_ in the south, in which the two forms, respectively, seem to prefer to build their nests. This, however, is not strictly accurate or universal (for example, see some remarks by M. G. Vaiden, under the preceding form, on the breeding of this species in two different localities in Mississippi).

Arthur T. Wayne (1910) says of the haunts of the southern bird in South Carolina: "As soon as the sweet gum trees begin to bud, the song of this beautiful bird is heard. It heralds the approach of spring and is one of the first warblers to arrive which does not winter. The range of this species in the breeding season is entirely governed by the presence or absence of the Spanish moss, and where the moss is growing in profusion the birds are common, but where the moss is absent the birds are absolutely not to be found."

A. H. Howell (1932) calls this southern subspecies "an abundant spring and fall migrant [in Florida]; a common summer resident south at least to Osceola County; and a rare winter resident, chiefly in the central and southern part. Owing to the presence of a few wintering individuals, it is difficult to determine when spring migration begins. * * * Positive evidence of migration is furnished by the appearance of large numbers striking the light on Sombrero Key, March 3, 1889, when 250 birds were observed and 30 were killed. This species is one of the most numerous and regular visitants at the lighthouses on the east coast and on the Keys." Many of these were, of course, the northern race. Of the haunts of the southern race, he says: "The dainty little Parula Warbler is found most frequently in cypress swamps or heavily timbered bottom-lands, and to a lesser extent in the upland hammocks. The abundant Spanish moss on the trees furnishes ideal nesting sites for the birds."

_Nesting._--Except for the fact that the so-called Spanish moss (_Tillandsia_) replaces the beard moss (_Usnea_), the nesting habits of the two races are very much alike. A. T. Wayne (1910) says that in South Carolina "the nest is always built in the festoons of the Spanish moss, from eight to more than one hundred feet from the ground, and is constructed of the flower of the moss and a few pieces of fine, dry grass." The nesting habits in Florida are very similar.

In southeastern Virginia, according to Harold H. Bailey (1913) this southern race is:--

a most common breeding bird in its favorite haunts, the cypress or juniper swamps of the southeastern section; Cape Henry southward. These trees seem to furnish particularly fine feeding grounds, and wherever you find one festooned with the long, hanging Spanish moss, here also you are likely to find one or more nests. In this section I should call them a colony bird, for in days past I have seen on the trees in and surrounding one small lake, as many as two hundred pair breeding in company. The Dismal Swamp and its surrounding low territory has been an ideal spot for a feeding and breeding home in years past, but of late, the cutting of the juniper for commercial purposes, and the disappearance of the moss to a great extent, has driven the majority of the birds elsewhere.

_Eggs._--These are indistinguishable from those of the northern parula warbler. The measurements of 50 eggs average 16.2 by 12.0 millimeters; the eggs showing the four extremes measure =19.5= by =12.7= and =14.0= by =11.0= millimeters (Harris).

_Food._--Howell (1932) reports: "Examination of the stomachs of four birds taken in Florida in February showed the contents to consist almost wholly of insects and spiders, with a few bud scales. Hymenoptera (ants, bees and wasps) composed the largest item, amounting in two instances to approximately half the total contents. Other insects taken in smaller quantities were lepidopterous larvae, fly larvae, beetles, weevils, scale insects, bugs, and grouse locusts. Spiders were found in three stomachs, and amounted to about 20 per cent of the total food."

PACULA PITIAYUMI NIGRILORA (Coues)

SENNETT'S OLIVE-BACKED WARBLER

HABITS

This northern race of a wide-ranging species is represented by a number of allied races in Central and South America. From its range in northeastern Mexico it rarely crosses our border into the valley of the lower Rio Grande in southeastern Texas. For its introduction into our fauna and for most of our knowledge of its habits we are indebted to George B. Sennett (1878 and 1879) and to Dr. James C. Merrill (1878). The discovery of the bird in Texas in 1877 is thus described by Mr. Sennett:

On April 20th, soon after reaching Hidalgo, I was directed up the river some four miles by road, and there shot the first three specimens of this new species. On May 3d, another was shot among the mesquite timber of the old resaca, within a mile of town.

On May 8th, another was shot in a dense forest about half a mile from where the first three were obtained. Several more were seen; in fact, they were more abundant than any other Warbler. * * * All of the specimens obtained are males, and I remember of seeing none in pairs. They were seen usually in little groups of three or four. They are by no means shy, but frequenting, as they do, the woods, cannot be readily seen.

He visited the locality again the following year and says in his report (1879):

It is truly a bird of the forest, and delights to be in the upper branches of the tallest trees. The song of the male is almost continuous as it flies about, and is so clear that it can be heard at a long distance and readily distinguished from all other birds. By its notes we could locate the bird, and this accounts for our securing so many more males than females. Were it not for its song, I doubt if we would have taken many, owing to their diminutive size and habit of frequenting the tops of the forest-trees. As it was, by only taking such as came in our way, we shot over twenty specimens, and could have taken any number more had we set out for them alone. In feeding habits I could see nothing different from our familiar Blue Yellow-back, _P. americana_.

Dr. Merrill (1878) says of its haunts: "Arrives about the third week in March, and passes the summer among thick woods and near the edges of lagoons where there is Spanish moss." We found Sennett's warbler fairly common around Brownsville, especially on the edges of the resacas, partially dry old river beds where the trees, mostly small mesquites, are more or less draped with _Usnea_ and suggest the places where we would look for parula warblers in the north.

In appearance and behavior they were strikingly reminiscent of our northern friends. Sutton and Pettingill (1942) found this warbler up to 2,000 feet elevation in southwestern Tamaulipas, in full song on March 14, and a pair copulating on March 20.

_Nesting._--Dr. Merrill sent to Mr. Sennett (1878) the following description of a nest he found near Brownsville after Mr. Sennett left: "My nest of _Parula_ was taken July 5th, about five miles from here. It was placed in a small thin bunch of hanging moss, about ten feet from the ground, in a thicket; was simply hollowed out of the moss, of which it was entirely composed, with the exception of three or four horsehairs; entrance on side; contained three young about half fledged. Parents very bold, but thinking they were _americana_ I did not shoot them."

The next year, his Mexican guide brought him a nest and a broken egg, which Mr. Sennett (1879) describes as follows:

The nest is exceedingly interesting and beautiful. It is made in a gray mistletoe-like orchid, an air-plant very common on the Rio Grande, which establishes itself on the small branches of trees, and varies in size up to eight or ten inches in diameter. This one is six inches long by four and one-half inches wide, quite firm in texture, and was fastened some ten feet from the ground, to the end of a drooping branch of a brazil-tree in open woodland. The nest is constructed very simply, being formed by parting the gray leaves of the orchid and digging into its centre from the side, a cavity some two inches in diameter being made, with an opening of one and one-quarter inches. The bottom and sides are lined pretty well up with short cotton wood fibres, forming a fine matting for the eggs to rest upon. A firmer and more secure nest is seldom seen, although so easily made. I imagine a day would complete one, and certainly but little time need be wasted in selecting a site, for thousands of orchids stand out on the partially dead branches on trees with little foliage. That they build also in the hanging trusses of Spanish moss, so abundant everywhere, is true, the young before referred to being found in a nest in one.

There are two nests of Sennett's warbler in the Thayer collection in Cambridge. One of these was taken for F. B. Armstrong in Tamaulipas, Mexico, on July 5, 1911, and held three eggs. It is described as a "nest of hair in bunch of growing moss hanging from limb of cypress tree in river bottom," 8 feet up; it is built right into the _Tillandsia_ and is made almost wholly of black and white cattle hair. The other, with a set of four eggs, was taken by James Johnson near Saltillo, Mexico, on May 27, 1906. It is described by the collector as "dug and hollowed in a bunch of pipestem mosses." It is a compact little nest made of very fine rootlets, very fine grasses, shreds of the brown inner bark of the palmetto or palm, and some weed blossoms; it is lined with finer shreds, a little plant down, and a few feathers. Externally it measures 2-1/2 inches in diameter and 2 inches in height; the inside diameter is about 1-1/2 inches; and the depth of the cup about 1-1/4 inches.

_Eggs._--Either 3 or 4 eggs seem to constitute the full set, as far as we now know, for Sennett's warbler. The 7 eggs in the Thayer collection vary from ovate to short ovate, and have only a slight lustre. They are white or creamy white and are speckled and spotted with shades of "wood brown," "cinnamon-brown," or "Brussels brown," with underlying spots of "pale brownish drab." On some eggs the markings run to much darker browns, such as "auburn" and "chestnut," and on these the drab spottings are frequently lacking. Usually a loose wreath is formed where the spots are concentrated at the large end, but occasionally they are distributed nearly evenly over the entire surface. The measurements of 36 eggs average 16.3 by 12.2 millimeters; the eggs showing the four extremes measure =19.0= by =13.7= and =15.0= by =11.3= millimeters (Harris).

_Plumages._--Young Sennett's warblers that I have examined are uniform grayish olive above, inclining to olive-green on the back; the black lores and cheeks are lacking; the median wing coverts are narrowly tipped with whitish, and the greater coverts more broadly so; the chin is pale yellow; the chest and upper breast are shaded with pale gray and centrally tinged yellowish; the abdomen is dull white; and the sides and flanks are shaded with pale olive-grayish. I have not seen enough material to trace subsequent molts and plumages, which doubtless parallel those of the parula warbler.