Part 23

"It is one of the first of the visitants from the North to arrive in Central America, appearing in Guatemala as early as August 9, reaching Honduras by at least the fourteenth, Costa Rica by the seventeenth, and Panamá by the twenty-second of the month. These early dates are for the Caribbean lowlands, along which it appears to migrate. It arrives later on the Pacific side of the Isthmus, especially in Costa Rica, where it has not been recorded before August 24, at San José, and not until September 11 in the Térraba Valley, still more isolated from the Caribbean flyway by lofty, forested mountains. But by the end of September, it is well distributed as a winter resident over both coasts of Central America, and in the interior up to at least 5,000 feet, becoming rarer at the upper limit of its altitudinal range. Much above 5,000 feet it apparently does not winter; but it is occasionally seen in September in the high mountains as a bird of passage. A heat-loving warbler, it is most common in the lowlands where, in the plantation districts of northern Central America during the winter months, it is among the most abundant birds, whether resident or migratory.

"Although a number of wood warblers which winter in the Central American highlands are gregarious, those that center in the lowlands are typically solitary. In this, the yellow warbler is no exception. Each wintering bird appears to have its own territory, from which it attempts to drive others of its kind. Trespassers are scolded with insistent _chips_; or more rarely, soon after his arrival, a male will sing while defending his claim. Near San Miguel de Desamparados, Costa Rica (4,600 feet), on October 1, 1935, I made the following note: 'This morning, which for a change was bright and calm, I heard a yellow warbler singing in the low fig trees near the house. Upon going out to look, I found that there were two yellow warblers in the trees. One was trying to drive the other away; but the pursued always circled around and returned. I watched them for a long time; but this indecisive action continued without any change in the situation. In the intervals of the pursuit, the warblers (or at least one of them) would sing, but in a low and imperfect fashion, far inferior to the yellow warbler's summer song.' Again, on October 31: 'After the Wilson warbler, the most abundant winter visitor is the yellow warbler. The bird who on October 1 drove its competitor out of the fig trees beside the house still retains these trees and the surrounding _Inga_ trees as its domain.'

"The yellow warbler sings far less while in Central America than many other wintering species. Exceptionally, one will be found singing profusely. In early October, 1934, I came upon such a bird among the coffee groves of a great plantation on the lower Pacific slope of Guatemala. His behavior was so far out of the ordinary that I am tempted to copy in full the notes I made upon it at the time: October 5--On the afternoon of my arrival at 'Dolores,' I went out for a walk through the coffee groves. From among the 'chalum' (_Inga_) trees which shaded the coffee bushes, I heard a bird's song which seemed to belong to a warbler; but I did not recognize it as the utterance of any species I knew. After searching for a time among the tree-tops, I spotted the singer, and was surprised to find him a yellow warbler. He was apparently a young bird, for he lacked the chestnut splashes along the sides which distinguish the mature males. He repeated over and over again his little song of four or five notes, which was so unlike the familiar song of the yellow warbler in the eastern United States that I did not at first recognize it; but once I had identified the singer, I realized that I was listening to a shortened and modified form of the typical song.

"As I stood watching and listening to this eccentric warbler, the rain clouds which had been gathering darkly in the west began to surrender their pent-up waters; and the sudden shower approached across the plantation with the roar of a myriad fat drops striking against the large leaves of the Ingas and the far larger ones of the bananas which shaded the plantation. I took refuge from the rain beneath the broad expanse of a banana leaf, which completely shielded me from the beating downpour. Soon the heavy shower exhausted itself; and I emerged from beneath my green roof. The warbler, who had taken shelter from the shower somewhere in the foliage above me, resumed his cheerful singing.

"'On the next two days, I passed by the spot where I had heard the warbler singing, on the way to and from my botanical collecting ground. Morning and afternoon, I heard the same voice in the same part of the coffee plantation, where the bird seemed to have fixed his residence.'

"Yellow warblers may sing in Central America in the spring as well as the fall. Last year, the male yellow warbler that wintered about my house in Costa Rica sang briefly in the early morning from April 12 to 24. After April 28, I saw no more of his kind in the vicinity.

"From November 1936 until February of the following year, a yellow warbler slept every night in a bush of _Hibiscus mutabilis_ beside my cabin in Rivas, Costa Rica. He rested upon one of the long leaf-stalks, where the broad blades of the higher leaves formed a roof above him, but he was exposed on the sides and easily visible from the ground. He always slept alone.

"Early dates of fall arrival in Central America are: Guatemala--passim (Griscom), August 9; Sierra de Tecpán, 8,500 feet, September 4, 1933; Huehuetenango, 6,500 feet, September 11, 1934. Honduras--Tela, August 14, 1930. Costa Rica--Puerto Limón, August 17, 1935; San José (Cherrie), August 24; Cartago, September 6, 1938; Basin of El General, 2,000-3,000 feet, September 13, 1936 and September 11, 1942. Panamá--Canal Zone (Arbib and Loetscher), August 22, 1934.

"Late dates of spring departure are: [British Guiana (Beebe), April 10.] Panamá--Barro Colorado Island, April 23, 1935; Almirante, April 29, 1929. Costa Rica--Basin of El General, April 30, 1936, April 29, 1937, May 7, 1939, May 3, 1940, April 28, 1942; San José (Cherrie), May 11. Honduras--Tela, May 9, 1930. Guatemala--passim (Griscom), May 6; Los Amates, Motagua Valley, May 11, 1932."

Todd and Carriker (1922), reporting for the Santa Marta region of Colombia, say that the eastern yellow warbler is "a common winter resident throughout the whole of the lowlands and lower foothills, but rare above the coastal plain. It frequents shrubbery, open ground with scattering bushes, the low growth along the banks of streams and the sea-beach, etc.--the same kind of covert in general to which it is so partial in the breeding season."

DISTRIBUTION

_Range._--North America, northern South America and the West Indies.

_Breeding range._--The yellow warblers of North America breed =north= to north-central Alaska (Kobuk River and Fort Yukon); northern Yukon (Potato Creek, 20 miles above Old Crow River); northwestern Mackenzie (Richard Island, Fort Anderson, Lake St. Croix, and Oot-sing-gree-ay-Island, Great Slave Lake); northern Manitoba (Lac Du Brochet, Churchill, York Factory, and Severn House); and central Quebec and Labrador (Richmond Gulf, Grand Falls of the Hamilton River, probably Northwest River, and Cartwright). =East= to eastern Labrador (Cartwright); Newfoundland (St. Anthony, Twillingate, and St. John's); Nova Scotia (Cape Breton Island, Halifax, and Yarmouth); and the Atlantic coastal region south to eastern and central North Carolina (Pine Island, Lake Mattamuskeet, Raleigh, and Charlotte); central South Carolina (Columbia); and central Georgia (Augusta and Macon). =South= to central Georgia (Macon); central Alabama, rarely (Autaugaville); southern Arkansas (Monticello and Arkadelphia); northeastern Texas (Paris, Commerce, and Dallas); west-central Oklahoma (Fort Reno and Thomas); southern New Mexico (Roswell and Silver City); probably southwestern Texas (Fort Hancock and El Paso); northern Sonora (Moctezuma, Magdalena, and Colonia Indepencia); and northwestern Baja California (El Rosario). =West= to the Pacific coast from northern Baja California (El Rosario) to western Alaska (Frosty Peak, Alaska Peninsula; Nushagak, Hooper Bay, Saint Michael, and Kobuk River). Wandering birds have been collected at Icy Cape and Wainwright on the northwest coast of Alaska several hundred miles north of the northernmost breeding record.

_Winter range._--The yellow warbler is found in winter =north= to southern Baja California (La Paz); Jalisco (La Barca); Morelos (Cuernavaca and Yautepec); southern Veracruz (Tlacotalpan); Yucatán (Tunkás); and Quintana Roo (Akumal); occasional or accidental in winter near Brownsville, Tex. =East= to Quintana Roo (Akumal); Honduras (Tela and Ceiba); Nicaragua (Bluefields); Panamá (Almirante and the Canal Zone); Venezuela (Trinidad Island); British Guiana (Georgetown and the Berbice River); Surinam (Paramaribo); Cayenne (Cayenne and Approuague); and northeastern Brazil (Chaves). =South= to northern Brazil (Chaves, and Bôa Vista on the Rio Branco) and central Perú (La Merced). =West= to central western Perú (La Merced); western Ecuador (Guayaquil, Chones, and Esmeraldas); western Colombia (Condoto, Medellín, and Turbo); western Costa Rica (El General, San José, and Bolson); El Salvador (Puerto del Triunfo); western Guatemala (San José and Matzantinango); Chiapas (Huehuetán); Guerrero (Coyuca); Colima (Manzanillo); and southern Baja California (La Paz).

The range as outlined is divided into several subspecies or geographic races. The Newfoundland warbler (_D. p. amnicola_) breeds from central western Alaska south to central British Columbia, central Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba, central Ontario and Quebec northward and east to Newfoundland; the Alaska yellow warbler (_D. p. rubiginosa_) breeds in the coastal region of southern Alaska; the Rocky Mountain yellow warbler (_D. p. morcomi_) breeds from southern British Columbia and Washington east through the Rocky Mountains south to northern Nevada, northern Utah and northern New Mexico; the California yellow warbler (_D. p. brewsteri_) breeds west of the Sierras in Oregon and California; the Sonora yellow warbler (_D. p. sonorana_) breeds from southeastern California, southern Nevada, and southern New Mexico to northwestern Mexico and western Texas; the eastern yellow warbler (_D. p. aestiva_) breeds from southern Canada east of the Rocky Mountains southward. The Cuban golden warbler (_D. p. gundlachi_) which is resident in Cuba, the Isle of Pines, and adjacent Cays has been found nesting on Bay Key, Fla. The mangrove, or "golden," yellow warbler (_D. p. castaneiceps_) breeds on both coasts of Baja California from about latitude 27° 14´ N. (San Lucas) southward; and on the west coast of Mexico from southern Sonora (Guaymas) south to Nayarit (San Blas). (Apparently it is only slightly migratory, if at all.)

_Migration._--Early dates of spring departure are: Perú--Iquitos, March 11. British Guiana--Abary River, March 25. Venezuela--Rancho Grande, April 8. Colombia--Santa Marta Region, May 1. Panamá--Canal Zone, May 12. Costa Rica--San José, May 11. El Salvador--Chilata, April 24. Guatemala--Quiriguá, May 11. Honduras--Tela, May 9. Mexico--Tabasco, Balancán, May 11; Nuevo León, Montemorelos, May 21. Florida--Seven Oaks, May 27. Mississippi--Deer Island, May 25. Louisiana--Chenier au Tigre, May 21. Texas--Kerrville, May 31.

Early dates of spring arrival are: Florida--Pensacola, April 6. Georgia, Athens, April 7. South Carolina--Charleston, April 3. North Carolina--Windsor, April 4. Virginia--Lawrenceville, April 13. District of Columbia--Washington, April 2. Pennsylvania--Wayne, April 4. New York--New York, April 19. Massachusetts--Taunton, April 24. Vermont--Burlington, April 28. Maine--Portland, May 2. New Brunswick--Scotch Lake, May 1. Nova Scotia--Wolfville, May 8. Quebec--East Sherbrooke, May 6. Prince Edward Island--North River, May 6. Newfoundland--St. Anthony, June 5. Louisiana--Avery Island, March 23. Mississippi--Shell Mound, April 1. Arkansas--Tillar, April 5. Kentucky--Eubank, April 12. Indiana--Richmond, April 14. Ohio--Oberlin, April 12. Michigan--Ann Arbor, April 19. Ontario--London, April 20. Missouri--St. Louis, April 15. Iowa--Cedar Rapids, April 20. Wisconsin--Reedsburg--April 27. Minnesota--Minneapolis, April 27. Texas--Victoria, March 28. Oklahoma--Stillwater, April 16. Kansas--Topeka, April 16. Nebraska--Red Cloud, April 21. South Dakota--Faulkton, April 22. Manitoba--Aweme, April 30. Saskatchewan--Regina, May 4. Arizona--Fort Lowell, March 19. New Mexico--Albuquerque, April 24. Utah--Provo, April 25. Colorado--Littleton, April 23. Montana--Fortine, May 1. Alberta--Camrose, May 3. Mackenzie--Simpson, May 21. California--Diablo, March 12. Oregon--Portland, April 17. Washington--Camas, April 5. British Columbia--Comox, April 25; Atlin, May 15.

Late dates of fall departure are: Alaska--Ketchikan, September 6. British Columbia--Atlin, August 26; Chilliwack, September 9. Washington--Destruction Island, September 23. Oregon--Newport, September 18. California--Berkeley, October 10. Alberta--Edmonton, September 1. Montana--Great Falls, September 25. Wyoming--Yellowstone National Park, September 21. Colorado--Fort Morgan, October 2. Arizona--Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, October 17. Saskatchewan--East End, September 5. Manitoba--Oak Lake, September 18. North Dakota--Fargo, September 19. South Dakota--Aberdeen, September 20. Kansas--Hays, September 23. Texas--Somerset, October 8. Minnesota--Lanesboro, September 10. Wisconsin--Milwaukee, September 20. Iowa--Marshalltown, September 26. Missouri--Bolivar, October 26. Michigan--Grand Rapids, October 8. Ontario--Ottawa, September 29. Ohio--Cleveland, September 30. Illinois--Chicago, September 29. Kentucky--Hickman, September 23. Mississippi--Gulfport, October 20. Louisiana--New Orleans, October 27. Newfoundland--Tompkins, September 9. Quebec--Montreal, September 3. New Brunswick--St. John, September 2. Nova Scotia--Yarmouth, September 11. Maine--Winthrop, September 23. Vermont--St. Johnsbury, September 21. Massachusetts--Stockbridge, October 1. New York--Rochester, October 30. Pennsylvania--Berwyn, October 7. District of Columbia--Washington, October 12. Virginia--Lexington, October 10. South Carolina--Charleston, October 10. Georgia--Milledgeville, October 27. Florida--Fort Myers, October 25.

Early dates of fall arrival are: Louisiana--New Orleans, July 15. Mississippi--Bay St. Louis, July 7. Florida--St. Marks, July 18. Mexico--Sonora, Sáric, July 31; Oaxaca, Tapanatepec, August 20. Honduras--Lancetilla, August 27. El Salvador--Le Unión, August 1. Nicaragua--Bluefields, August 22. Costa Rica--Puerto Limón, August 17. Panamá--Almirante, August 13. Colombia--Bonda, Santa Marta Region, August 27. Venezuela--Cantaura Anzoatique, September 27. British Guiana--Abary River, September 2. Surinam--Paramaribo, August 28.

_Banding._--The majority of the banding recoveries indicate the return to the place of banding and give records of longevity. Three birds banded as adults at Wilton, N. Dak., were retrapped at the same station in the following year. One banded at Sioux City, Iowa, on May 17, 1929, was killed by an auto at the same place June 18, 1932. One banded at Sault Ste. Marie, Mich., on May 30, 1926, was retrapped on May 29, 1929; another banded at the same station, May 20, 1928, was killed by an auto June 28, 1934. A yellow warbler banded at North Eastham, Cape Cod, Mass., on May 28, 1931, was retrapped at the same station May 15, 1932, May 18, 1936, and August 6, 1937.

_Casual records._--The yellow warbler has twice been collected in Bermuda: November 23, 1875; and October 14, 1903. It has also been observed near Habana, Cuba, on September 3 and 10, 1939. There are three winter records in South Carolina; it was seen at a feeding station at Summerville in the winter of 1939 and on January 21, 1940; and at Charleston on January 18, 1947.

_Egg dates._--California: 110 records, April 16 to July 15; 56 records, May 21 to June 19, indicating the height of the season.

Massachusetts: 113 records, May 19 to June 30; 82 records, May 27 to June 7.

Minnesota: 26 records, May 29 to June 23; 17 records, May 29 to June 8.

New Jersey: 32 records, May 15 to June 24; 24 records, May 26 to June 7.

Utah: 23 records, May 8 to July 16; 12 records, June 6 to 17.

Washington: 21 records, May 28 to June 24; 11 records, June 2 to 7.

Baja California: 11 records, May 8 to June 12; 6 records, May 15 to June 2, indicating the height of the season.

Mexico: 6 records, June 4 to 20 (Harris).

DENDROICA PETECHIA AMNICOLA Batchelder

NEWFOUNDLAND YELLOW WARBLER

HABITS

Based on a series of 14 adult males and 3 adult females from Newfoundland, Charles F. Batchelder (1918) gave the above name to the yellow warblers that breed in that region. After giving a detailed description of the type from Curslet, Newfoundland, he remarks: "When seen in series, the yellow of the under parts is duller, less richly golden, and the chestnut streaks are darker. In comparison with _aestiva_, the female is duskier, less yellowish, throughout the upper parts. * * *

"In general coloring _D. ae. amnicola_ shows a certain similarity to _D. ae. rubiginosa_, but it is readily distinguishable from that race by the yellow forehead which, as in _D. ae. aestiva_, contrasts strongly with the green of the back."

Its breeding range extends from Newfoundland to central Alaska, and from Nova Scotia to British Columbia, which includes nearly all of Canada. It migrates through most of the United States, principally through the Mississippi River Basin, and winters in Mexico and possibly South America.

Only a few nesting data are referable to the Newfoundland yellow warbler. Henry Mousley (1926), at Hatley, Quebec, saw a female yellow warbler leaving a large cedar hedge, and says: "Proceeding to the spot from which she came out, I found the nest, which, unlike the usual run of nests of this species, was heavily lined with feathers, instead of plant down. * * * It was nine feet above the ground, in the forks of a small cedar tree."

Roderick MacFarlane (1908) found this warbler abundant in northern Mackenzie, where the nests were "placed on dwarf willows and small scrub pine at a height of a few feet above the ground." Dr. E. W. Nelson (1887) writes:

This is, perhaps, the most abundant warbler throughout Alaska. It is found everywhere in the wooded interior, on the bushy borders of the water-courses, or frequenting the scattered clumps of stunted alders on the shores of Bering Sea, and the coast of the Arctic about Kotzebue Sound. * * * It breeds to the shores of the Arctic Ocean wherever it can find a willow or alder patch wherein to build its nest and shelter its young. * * * In fall, from the last of July to towards the last of August, they come about the houses and native villages to feast on the fare they find provided abundantly in those localities, until, a little later in the season, a few chilling storms send them trooping away with others of their kind to far distant winter quarters.

Dr. Herbert Brandt (1943) writes:

The Newfoundland Yellow Warbler was not observed about Hooper Bay, but as soon as I reached the willows near the mouth of the Yukon River I found it common, and also of like distribution at the other stops that I made on the river as far up as Mountain Village. * * *

The nest of the Newfoundland Yellow Warbler in the Yukon delta is placed usually in a small willow from two to six feet above the ground. The foliage in early July is but partly unfolded, for the alders are yet in their golden curls and the willows in their silver catkins, so the nest is rather conspicuous.

The bird chooses a pronged fork usually with not more than three or four shoots, and in this form constructs its beautiful, trim nest, which is made of plant down and inner bark shreds, all circularly woven and firmly rimmed.

Baird, Brewer, and Ridgway (1874) say: "The notes of Mr. Kennicott and the memoranda of Messrs. McFarlane, Ross, and Lockhart attest the extreme abundance of this species in the farthest Arctic regions. In nearly every instance the nests were placed in willows from two to five feet from the ground, and near water. In one instance Mr. Ross found the eggs of this species in the nest of _Turdus swainsoni_, which had either been deserted or the parent killed, as the eggs were in it, and would probably have been hatched by the Warbler with her own."

As evidence of the late migration of this subspecies, Robie W. Tufts writes to me from Nova Scotia: "The latest date of departure which appears to be normal is October 7, 1936, though they generally leave during the second week of September. On November 25, 1929, a female was collected by me at Wolfville. The bird was searching for food very actively and its general behavior was decidedly abnormal. The bird's body showed slight traces of emaciation." Birds that have been recorded in Massachusetts as late as September 30, long after our local breeding birds have left, were probably of this subspecies.

DENDROICA PETECHIA RUBIGINOSA (Pallas)

ALASKA YELLOW WARBLER

HABITS

This subspecies was formerly supposed to range throughout most of Alaska, but its breeding range is now understood to be restricted to the coast region of southern Alaska and British Columbia, from Kodiak Island (the type locality) southward to Vancouver Island. It migrates through California to Mexico and Central America, and probably spends the winter in South America. In El Salvador, according to Dickey and van Rossem (1938), "this race was found only as a fairly common spring migrant through the upper levels of the Arid Lower Tropical. As with _D. p. aestiva_ the winter range undoubtedly lies farther to the south. It is notable that _rubiginosa_ occurs at somewhat higher elevation than the other three forms and was not found at all in the 'tierra caliente.'" This race has been reported in Kansas and in central Texas, but these birds may have been _amnicola_, which somewhat resembles _rubiginosa_ and which had not been accepted at that time.

Ridgway (1902) describes the Alaska yellow warbler as "similar to _D. ae. aestiva_, but slightly smaller and much duller in color. Adult male darker and duller olive-green above, the pileum concolor with the back or else becoming slightly more yellowish on forehead (very rarely distinctly yellowish on forehead and fore part of crown); wing-edgings less conspicuous, mostly yellowish olive-green, sometimes inclining to yellow on greater coverts. Adult female darker and duller olive-greenish above, duller yellow below." He might have added that the chestnut streaks on the breast are narrower than in _aestiva_.

Nothing seems to have been published on the nest and eggs of the Alaska yellow warbler, nor on its habits, all of which probably do not differ materially from those of the species elsewhere in similar environment.

DENDROICA PETECHIA MORCOMI (Coale)

ROCKY MOUNTAIN YELLOW WARBLER

HABITS

This is another race that was described many years ago by H. K. Coale (1887) but has only recently been accepted by the A. O. U. Coale gave it its scientific name in honor of J. Frean Morcom and called it the western yellow warbler. The following remarks by Dickey and van Rossem (1938) tell the story very well: