Part 45

_Migration._--Late dates of departure from the winter home are: Puerto Rico--Ponce, February 26. Haiti--Île à Vache, April 29. Cuba--Cienfuegos, April 15. Bahamas--New Providence, April 15. Veracruz--Tres Zapotes, March 25.

Early dates of spring arrival are: Alabama--Greensboro, March 10. Georgia--Augusta, March 2. South Carolina--Columbia, March 23. North Carolina--Raleigh, March 13. Virginia--Lawrenceville, March 19. District of Columbia--Washington, March 24.

Late dates of fall departure are: Ohio--Toledo, September 28. Indiana--Bloomington, October 9. Missouri--St. Louis, October 11. Kentucky--Bowling Green, October 5. Tennessee--Nashville, October 3. Arkansas--Helena, October 10. Mississippi--Biloxi, October 12. Louisiana--Monroe, October 16. Texas--Brownsville, October 8. District of Columbia--Washington, September 27. Virginia--Lynchburg, October 6. North Carolina--Chapel Hill, October 6. Georgia--Athens, October 11.

Early dates of fall arrival are: Bahamas--Nassau, July 26. Cuba--Guantánamo, July 11. Jamaica, August 16. Dominican Republic--Monte Viejo, August 26. Puerto Rico--Fortuna, August 28. Mexico--Chiapas, Ocote, August 13. Guatemala--San Lucas, August 7. Honduras--Truxillo, September 26. Costa Rica--San José, September 17.

_Casual records._--A number of specimens of the sycamore warbler have been taken on the Atlantic seaboard.

_Egg dates._--Florida: 11 records, April 17 to June 9; 7 records, April 20 to 29.

South Carolina: 31 records, April 2 to May 22; 21 records, April 14 to 26, indicating the height of the season (Harris).

DENDROICA DOMINICA ALBILORA Ridgway

SYCAMORE YELLOW-THROATED WARBLER

PLATE 44

HABITS

This western form of the yellow-throated warbler makes its summer home in the Mississippi Valley, from southern Wisconsin and southern Michigan southward, and it winters in Mexico and Central America. Although its winter range is so widely separated from that of the eastern form and its summer range, mainly west of the Alleghenies, is quite distinct, the two forms are very much alike in characters and habits. Ridgway (1902) describes it as similar to the yellow-throated warbler, "but with much smaller bill, the superciliary stripe more rarely yellow anteriorly, and with white areas on inner webs of lateral rectrices averaging decidedly larger."

Allison wrote to Dr. Chapman (1907) that in southern Louisiana, "it has a strong liking for woods shrouded in heavy festoons of Spanish moss, and, therefore, keeps much to the cypress swamps; but it is common in the less damp woods in the same regions; on the northern shores of Lake Pontchartrain it spreads slightly from the cypress swamp into the pines. It is essentially a bird of the larger trees, and swampy forest may be considered its typical habitat." M. G. Vaiden, of Rosedale, Miss., tells me that he always looks for the sycamore warbler in the cypresses, and that it is seldom found elsewhere, except on migrations.

Ridgway (1889) says of its haunts in Illinois: "The Sycamore Warbler is a common summer resident in the bottom-lands, where, according to the writer's experience, it lives chiefly in the large sycamore trees along or near water courses." In Indiana, according to A. W. Butler (1898), "the Sycamore Warbler does not depart from the vicinity of streams, even following small creeks, along which sycamores grow, for quite a distance towards their source. They seem to prefer these trees, spending much time among their highest branches, but they may also be found among all the trees fringing waterways, sometimes quite near the ground, and often are seen among our orchards, lawns, and even the shade trees along the streets of towns in the valleys."

It seems to be partial to the large, picturesque, stream-loving sycamores in other parts of its range, as far north and east as Michigan and Ohio, thus deserving its well-chosen name. In many places these fine trees have disappeared, and the warblers have become scarce or have gone entirely.

_Spring._--The sycamore yellow-throated warbler is one of the earliest wood warblers to enter the United States from its winter home, arriving in Louisiana around the first week in March, reaching Indiana about the middle of April, and appearing in Michigan as early as April 20. In Ohio, according to Dr. Wheaton (1882), "this is the first of the family to arrive in spring. It is always to be seen before the Yellow-rumped and Yellow Warblers make their appearance, sometimes before the last snow and ice. I have seen them in considerable numbers on the 13th of April, and have known of its occurrence as early as April 9th. When on their migrations they confine themselves almost exclusively to the trees which skirt the streams, and move northward by day with considerable rapidity."

The main migration route seems to be almost directly northeastward, from western Mexico and Central America to western North Carolina and Ohio, and more directly northward through the broad Mississippi Valley to Michigan and Wisconsin. This is markedly different from the migration route of the eastern race, which migrates nearly northward along the Atlantic coast.

_Nesting._--Whether the nest of the sycamore warbler is in a cypress or in a sycamore, it is always placed at a considerable height from the ground, for this is a tree-top bird. Nests have been recorded at heights ranging from 10 to 120 feet above the ground, but probably most of them are between 30 and 60 feet up. Mr. Butler (1928) describes two Indiana nests of similar construction. One was--

built about 35 or 40 feet above the ground in a flat crotch, on an approximately horizontal limb of a large sycamore tree. * * * The nest measures as follows: Outside diameter 2.50 inches; inside diameter 1.65; outside height 2 inches; inside depth 1.75 inches. The heavier frame was composed of shreds of grapevine bark, bits of the covering and coarser fibre of weeds, mingled with which were many small pieces of cotton cord or ravelings. The nest was lined and its entire bottom was composed of the soft down obtained from dry sycamore balls. In fact the nest really had no foundation for the bottom, the lining material reaching through to the limb. [The other] was about 75 feet above the ground in a crotch of small branches toward the end of a sycamore limb which was not strong enough to bear one's weight. It was so hidden by the foliage that it could not be seen until some of the leaves fell this autumn.

A set of four eggs is in the Richard C. Harlow collection, taken by W. C. Avery, Greensboro, Ala., April 24, 1893. The nest was in a liquidambar tree, 26 feet up and 9 feet out from the body of the tree, on a horizontal branch and nearly concealed in the _Tillandsia_ in which it was built. George Finlay Simmons (1925) says that in Texas the nests are sometimes built in an elm or a pecan tree, from 12 to 35 feet from the ground.

_Eggs._--The sycamore warbler lays from 3 to 5 eggs; in most cases 4 eggs seem to complete the set. Mr. Simmons (1925) describes them as "dull greenish gray-white; marked with distinct and clouded blotches, specks, and under-shell markings of lavender, purplish-gray, umber, and brownish-red; and sometimes even blackish spots; usually wreathed about the larger end." The measurements of 10 eggs average 16.9 by 12.7 millimeters; the eggs showing the four extremes measure =17.6= by =12.1=, =16.2= by 12.8, and 16.6 by =13.0= millimeters.

_Plumages._--The sequence of plumages and molts is probably the same as for the yellow-throated warbler.

_Food._--Very little seems to have been published on the food of this warbler, but it probably does not differ materially from that of the other wood warblers. Professor Aughey (1878) found remains of 15 locusts and 24 other insects in the stomach of one collected in Nebraska. A. H. Howell (1924) says: "Examination of 9 stomachs of this bird from Alabama showed its food to be mainly flies, beetles, ants and other Hymenoptera, and spiders."

_Behavior._--Ridgway (1889) says that "in its motions, this warbler partakes much of the character of a creeper, often ascending or descending trunks of trees or following their branches, much in the manner of a _Mniotilta_." Butler (1898) says that "its longer flights much resemble those of the Chipping Sparrow. Its shorter ones, as with quivering wings it beats rapid strokes when moving from limb to limb, remind one of the movements of the Kingbird." Referring to its general habits in Texas, Simmons (1925) says it is:--

observed singly or in pairs, moving very slowly about in the tops of the trees, particularly the sycamores along streams, carefully keeping limbs and branches between itself and any chance observer. Movements very deliberate, sometimes stopping for several minutes, _creeping_ along by small hops, among upper branches, never on trunks or larger limbs; thus, in actions, strikingly different from most members of the warbler family. Usually keeps to the tops of the tallest trees; hops from one perch to another very slowly; occasionally comes down among the lower branches. Usually quiet, the song being uttered at wide intervals; however, at times in spring it may be heard almost constantly singing.

_Voice._--Butler (1898) writes: "The song of the Sycamore Warbler, as I catch it, is as follows: _Twit, che-e, che-e, che-e, che-e, che-e, che-á_. This is about its usual length. The first syllable is abrupt, with rising inflection, then, after a slight pause, the remainder is uttered at the same pitch until the last syllable, which ends sharply with a slight rise in tone. The whole song is very unique. Its notes are clear and distinct, and it is pitched in such a key that it may be heard under favorable circumstances over a quarter of a mile."

Mr. Allison wrote to Dr. Chapman (1907) as follows: "The call-note is a rather lively chipping, like that of an agitated Parula Warbler, or perhaps somewhat more like that of Pine Warbler. The song is like the Indigo Bunting's, much softened, and with a falling cadence all the way through; thus: _See-wee, see-wee, see-wee, swee, swee, swee, swee_--the last four notes uttered more rapidly, but becoming fainter, until the last one is very indistinct."

Mrs. Nice (1931) writes: "The songs of this lovely warbler made one think of evergreen forests; they gave a wistful, haunting touch to the somber, leafless woods, where most of the bird notes were loud and ringing. The bird in the Oliver's woods in 1927 had two songs. 'A' was in a continuously descending scale except for the last note which was slightly higher than that preceding--_see see see see see see chérwer_; the ending was abrupt. 'B' was more musical; it consisted of four notes on the same pitch, then three descending, ending with one on a somewhat higher pitch. Both songs were given five and six times a minute."

_Winter._--Dr. Skutch contributes the following note: "The sycamore warbler is a rare winter resident in Central America, infrequently recorded in both the highlands and the Caribbean lowlands. Although Griscom states that in Guatemala it is a common winter visitant, the statement scarcely seems supported by the paucity of published records. Carriker knew of but one specimen taken in Costa Rica. I have myself seen this bird only thrice during 12 years in Central America. On January 22, 1935, I found one in a flock of Townsend's and black-throated green warblers in the pine woods on the Finca Mocá, on the Pacific slope of Guatemala at 3,500 feet. My one Honduran record is of a bird seen among the coconut trees by the shore at Puerto Castilla, on January 27, 1931. Peters secured a single specimen from a coconut palm near Tela, in the same general region, on January 18, 1928. In Costa Rica, I found one of these rare warblers in the garden of the hacienda Las Cóncavas, near Cartago, at 4,600 feet above sea-level, on November 3, 1935.

"Griscom's record of the sycamore warbler at San Lucas, Guatemala, on August 7, indicates early arrival. The single published Costa Rican date is of a bird collected by Underwood at San José on September 17. The date of the spring departure appears to be quite unknown."

DENDROICA GRACIAE GRACIAE Baird

NORTHERN GRACE'S WARBLER

HABITS

This pretty little warbler was discovered by Dr. Elliott Coues (1878) and named by him in honor of his sister and for whom, as he expresses it, "my affection and respect keep pace with my appreciation of true loveliness of character." Of its discovery, he states: "While journeying through New Mexico, _en route_ to Fort Whipple, Arizona, in July, 1864, I found Grace's Warbler on the summit of Whipple's Pass of the Rocky Mountains, not far from the old site of Fort Wingate, and secured the first specimen on the second of the month just named." He afterwards found it to be "the most abundant bird of its kind, excepting Audubon's Warbler," in the pine forests on the mountains of Arizona, and says that Henshaw found it to be "one of the commonest of the summer Warblers in the White Mountains. * * * His observations confirm my own in regard to the pine-loving character of the birds; he found them almost invariably in coniferous forests, passing swiftly along the smaller branches of these tall trees, or darting into the air to capture passing insects; and even in August, when various families had united into small flocks, and were lingering in company with other insectivorous birds, before their departure for the South, their preference for their native pines was still evident."

I found it fairly common in the upper reaches of Ramsey Canyon in the Huachuca Mountains of Arizona, among the tall, scattered yellow pines, at elevations between 6,000 and 7,000 feet, where a nest with young was found on June 4, 1922. Swarth (1904) found it more common there as a migrant than as a breeding bird and rather irregular in its abundance.

Grace's warbler, now well-known as a summer resident in the mountains of southern Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, Sonora, and Chihuahua, is apparently closely related to the yellow-throated warbler of the southern States and to Adelaide's warbler of Puerto Rico; it has a slightly differentiated subspecies in Central America.

_Nesting._--What is probably the first authentic nest of Grace's warbler to be reported was taken in Yavapai County, Ariz., on June 23, 1890, by H. Keays for H. P. Attwater. This nest is described by Samuel B. Ladd (1891) as "placed on limb of pine sixty feet from the ground. Nest very compact; outside diameter 3 in. by 1-1/2 in. high; inside diameter 1-3/4 in. by 1-1/4 in. deep. The body of this nest is composed of horse-hair, strings and vegetable fibres. The most abundant vegetable material interwoven consists of the staminate catkins and bud scales of _Quercus emoryi_. There is also some wool, vegetable down, and insect webbing, in which are entangled the exuviae of some caterpillar. Attached on the outside was a small staminate cone of a species of _Pinus_. Nest well lined with feathers and horse-hair."

O. W. Howard (1899) found two nests in Arizona; one nest was "placed deep down in the middle in a large bunch of pine needles and was entirely hidden from view." The other he found "in a red fir tree. It was placed in a thick bunch of leaves at the extremity of a limb about fifty feet from the ground." A nest with four eggs, in the Doe Museum in Gainesville, Fla., taken by O. C. Poling on May 25, 1891, at 8,000 feet in the Huachuca Mountains, was built in a bunch of pine needles and cones at the end of a long branch of a red pine, 20 feet from the ground.

_Eggs._--From 3 to 4 eggs, apparently more often 3, make up the set for Grace's warbler. They are ovate with a tendency toward elongate ovate, and are only slightly glossy. They are white or creamy white, finely speckled and spotted with "auburn," "bay," or "chestnut brown," intermingled with "light brownish drab," "deep brownish drab," or "pale vinaceous drab." The markings are concentrated at the large end, where they frequently form a distinct wreath, leaving the lower half of the egg immaculate. Occasionally eggs are speckled all over; and some are marked with blotches. Generally the drab spots are in the majority, when the fewer brown spots, which are often as dark as to appear almost black, are more prominent. The measurements of 38 eggs average 16.9 by 12.7 millimeters; the eggs showing the four extremes measure =18.2= by 13.1, 18.0 by =13.3=, =14.8= by 12.7, and 15.4 by =11.7= millimeters (Harris).

_Young._--Nothing seems to have been published on incubation or on the development and care of the young.

_Plumages._--Ridgway (1902) describes the young male in first plumage as "above plain grayish hair brown or drab-gray, the feathers ash gray beneath the surface; sides of head similar but rather paler; malar region, chin, and throat pale brownish gray, minutely and sparsely flecked with darker, the chest similar, but with rather large roundish spots of dusky; rest of under parts dull white streaked or spotted with dusky gray medially, dull grayish laterally."

Swarth (1904) writes of the postjuvenal molt:

A young male taken July 13th is in the brown streaked plumage, but yellow feathers are beginning to appear along the median line of the throat and upper breast, and the yellow superciliary stripe is also beginning to show. Another, a little older, has the streaks of the lower parts restricted to the sides and flanks, and the yellow markings nearly perfect. A male taken on July 30th, which has just discarded the juvenile for the winter plumage, differs from the autumnal adults in having the white of the under parts more strongly tinged with buff; and whereas the adult has the back decidedly streaked, though the markings are overcast by the brownish edgings to the feathers, in the juvenile these markings are but imperfectly indicated.

Apparently, the nuptial plumage is assumed by wear alone, for no available specimens show any signs of prenuptial molt and both young birds and adults in the fall are much like the spring birds, but browner and with the markings obscured by brownish tips that probably wear away before spring.

Young birds and females have duller colors than the adult males and are browner in the fall than in the spring. Adults doubtless have a complete postnuptial molt in late summer.

_Behavior._--Grace's warbler is a bird of the pines, spending most of its time in the towering tops of the tallest trees. It is sometimes seen in other conifers such as hemlocks and spruces, but very seldom on or even near the ground. Dr. Wetmore (1920) says: "Usually they were found in the tops of the Yellow Pines where they worked about rather leisurely, exploring the smaller limbs and at short intervals pausing to sing. * * * Occasionally one was found working about through the oak undergrowth at times coming down almost to the ground. The flight was undulating and rather quick and jerky."

Dr. Coues (1878) writes: "They are seen coursing among the branchlets, skipping at apparent random through the endless intricacies of the foliage, hovering momentarily about the terminal bunches of needles, and then dashing far out into clear space, to capture the passing insect with a dexterous twist and turn. So the season passes, till the young are on wing, when the different families, still with bonds unbroken, ramble at leisure through the woods, the young birds timid and feeble at first, venturing shorter flights than their parents, who seem absorbed in solicitude for their welfare, and attend them most sedulously, till they are quite able to shift for themselves."

We found Grace's warbler to be an active, restless species. We could often locate one by its song coming from lofty top of some tall pine, but before we could see its diminutive form, we would hear its song coming from some distant tree farther up the mountain side; and so we would follow the little songster from tree to tree, seldom getting more than a fleeting glimpse of it. At times, however, when it was more interested in feeding than in singing, we could see it quietly gleaning its insect food along the smaller branches and twigs after the manner of the pine warbler. We never saw it on or near the ground.

_Voice._--Dr. Wetmore (1920) says that the song of Grace's warbler, as heard by him at Lake Burford, N. Mex., "was a rapid repetition of notes somewhat reminiscent of the efforts of the Chipping Sparrow, but with the notes evenly spaced, not blurred at the end, and closing abruptly, so that the last syllable was as strongly accented as any of the others. It resembled the syllables _chip chip chip chip chip_ given in a loud tone."

Dr. Walter P. Taylor has sent me some notes on the song, which he calls "rather a modest utterance conspicuously lacking in strength. Song, _tseet tseet tseet tseet zeekle zeet_. A better rendering is _tsew tsew tsew tsew tsew tsee tsee tsee tsee tseeeip_! The song has something of a yellow warbler quality. I find it extremely hard to put down on paper anything that remotely resembles it." Again he writes it "_tchew tchew tchew_, more slowly uttered, followed by _tsip tsip tsip tsip tsip_, rapidly repeated."

_Field marks._--Grace's is one of the smallest of our wood warblers, a tiny bird. It shows a striking resemblance to the yellow-throated warbler, but it is much smaller, has no black in the cheeks, and it has a yellow rather than a white mark below the eye. The adult male in spring is light bluish gray above, marked on the head and back with black spots, with a bright yellow throat, two white wing bars, and much white in the tail. Females, young birds, and males in the fall are similar but browner.

DISTRIBUTION

_Range._--Southwestern United States to central Mexico.

_Breeding range._--Grace's warbler breeds =north= to southern Utah (Zion National Park); southwestern Colorado (Fort Lewis and Pagosa Springs); and central northern New Mexico (Tres Piedras; possibly Sierra Grande). =East= to central New Mexico (Tres Piedras and Mesa Yegua); western Texas (Guadalupe Mountains); and northwestern Chihuahua (Colonia García). =South= to northwestern Chihuahua (Colonia García) and southeastern Sonora (Rancho Santa Bárbara). =West= to western Sonora (Rancho Santa Bárbara, Moctezuma, and Nogales); eastern central and western Arizona (Huachuca Mountains, Tucson, Fort Whipple, Hualpai Mountains, and Mount Trumble); and southwestern Utah (Zion National Park).

_Winter range._--In winter Grace's warbler seems to be confined to a small area in central western Mexico, from central Jalisco (Bolaños) southeast to east central Michoacán (Patambán and Patzcuaro); and west to south central Jalisco (Zapotitlán); occasional north to northern Nayarit (Santa Teresa).

_Migration._--Very little information is available regarding the migratory movements of Grace's warbler. Dates of spring arrival are: Sonora--Mina Abundancia, April 11. New Mexico--Silver City, April 20. Arizona--Santa Rita Mountains, March 15. The latest date of one recorded at Albuquerque, New Mexico, is September 7. A resident race occurs in Central America.

_Egg dates._--Arizona: 9 records, May 3 to June 27; 5 records, May 30 to June 8, indicating the height of the season.

New Mexico: 2 records, May 22 and June 13 (Harris).

_PLATES_