Part 8

_Behavior._--A favorite locality for the golden-winged warbler to spend the summer in eastern Massachusetts may be the border of a wooded swamp where tall elm and maple trees shade a dense undergrowth of ferns and other moisture-loving plants, a swamp which runs out toward drier ground where abounds a growth of gray birches or a tangle of raspberry canes, wild grapevines, and goldenrod. Such a spot furnishes countless situations for hiding the nest in the thick vegetation growing in the half-wet half-dry ground, and also a source of food near at hand in the high branches of the trees. Much the same conditions exist along the course of a brook winding through second growth, or near orchards or old neglected weedy pastures.

Sometimes, as William Brewster (1906) points out, the bird may frequent "dry hillsides covered with a young sprout growth of oak, hickory or maple."

In a more southern latitude the habitat may be quite different. Maurice Brooks (1940), speaking of the bird in the central Allegheny Mountain region, says: "Shunning the swamps which it frequents in other portions of its range, it is highly characteristic of the 'chestnut sprout' association, where the males choose dead chestnuts for perches from which to sing. It is also fairly common in the pitch and scrub pine regions on the hills just back of the Ohio river, but becomes less common toward the eastern portion of the territory with which this paper deals. It ascends to at least 4,000 feet in Giles Co., Va."

We can watch the little golden-winged warblers best, and often at very short range, when they are feeding their fledglings recently from the nest. The little birds sit quietly in the shrubbery near the ground, waiting for their parents. We can find them easily, for they frequently utter their characteristic "cricket note," and we can approach them closely, for they scarcely heed us. The parents, too, when they are feeding the young birds, pay little attention to us and come fearlessly to them even when we stand near. At such times they work in a seeming panic of hurry, flying about in the low growth searching for food, or visiting the smallest branches high up in the trees, where they cling to the terminal twigs, hanging like chickadees as they probe among the curled up leaves (insect nests) for food hidden there, then back to the waiting young, seemingly in continuous motion and without the slightest pause in their nervous activity. At this season when the parents are busy with the young birds, about the third week in June in eastern Massachusetts, they are so occupied in searching for food that the male rarely sings.

In two particulars--their tameness, or indifference to our presence, and the almost complete cessation of singing thus early in the season--the goldenwing differs from the other common birds which breed in much the same regions, the chestnut-sided warbler, redstart, northern yellow-throat, ovenbird, and veery.

Jacobs (1904) speaks of the anxiety of the parent birds if the nest is disturbed when the nestlings are nearly ready to fly. He says: "If the hand is placed near the nest at this period of their growth, they will scramble out and flutter away, all giving vent to their chipping note, which brings down upon the intruder the wrath of both old birds, who fly close to his face, snapping their beaks and chipping loudly; then down upon the ground they fall and feign the broken wing act as long as one of the young continues to chirp."

_Voice._--The song of the golden-winged warbler is an inconspicuous little buzzing sound which one might pass by unnoticed, or hearing it for the first time, might ascribe it to a mechanical sound made by some insect, not suspecting it to be the song of a bird. Only after we have become thoroughly familiar with the song do we grasp its definite character, so that we can pick it out even when we hear it in the distance among a medley of other voices. In this particular it resembles the songs of Henslow's and the grasshopper sparrows, which are scarcely audible, and pass unregarded until well known.

The male goldenwing sings generally from a high perch, often from a branch bare of leaves; hence, once we find him, we can see him plainly. When he sings he throws his head back so far that his bill points almost to the zenith, and sings with it widely open, as if he were pouring out a great volume of sound. The bird sings freely from his arrival in spring until mid-June, about a month, often devoting himself to long periods of singing from the same perch. Later in the season, after the young have hatched, he sings only fitfully.

The song most often heard is composed of four notes, the first prolonged, and followed, after an almost imperceptible pause, by three shorter notes on a lower pitch. All four notes are delivered in a leisurely manner, drawling in tempo, and might be written _zeee, zer-zer-zer_. The first note takes up about half the time of the song. The quality of the voice is buzzing, and when heard near at hand, slightly rasping, with a lisping suggestion throughout. The song carries well; curiously it seems little louder when heard at close range, but from a distance it sounds smoother and, losing much of the buzzing quality, suggests a long drawn out _thth_, _th-th-th_, like a whispering wind. Occasionally there may be four short notes, and sometimes only two following the long initial note.

Like some of the other warblers, notably the black-and-white, chestnut-sided, and black-throated green, the goldenwing sings two distinct songs. In the second form the buzzing tone is nearly or wholly absent. It begins with about half a dozen short notes given in a quick series on the same pitch, and ends with one long note on a higher key, _th-th-th-th-th-th-theee_.

I have heard two males singing antiphonally, the responses repeated with perfect regularity for several minutes.

Of the minor notes the commonest is a short, slightly roughened _dz_. When much excited both adults use a chattering _tchu-tchu-tchu_, suggesting in manner of delivery the song of the short-billed marsh wren, although it is higher pitched and not so loud.

Francis H. Allen (MS.) mentions two other songs, only slightly different from the above. One goes something like "_tick tick chick chick chick chick shree_. The _shree_ is a beady note resembling one of the cedar waxwing's familiar notes." Another song he writes as "_see-see-see-see-see-see-see-see-see-dz'-dsee_."

_Field marks._--The golden-winged warbler is easy to recognize; it is the only warbler that combines a blue-gray back and yellow in the wing. In the two other common warblers with a black throat, the black-throated blue and the black-throated green, the black runs down the sides a little way so that the white of the breast comes up in a peak in the middle of the breast, whereas in the goldenwing the line of division between the black and white runs straight across. From directly below, the goldenwing appears wholly black and white, and from this angle is marked like a chickadee, but a glance at its long, needle-sharp bill proclaims it a warbler of the genus _Vermivora_.

_Enemies._--Prowling mammals, the enemies of ground-nesting birds, and predatory hawks are a danger to the bird. In its relation to the cowbird, Friedmann (1929) reports the bird as "a very uncommon victim." He says: "I have only six definite records, but the species is listed as a molothrine victim by Bendire and by Short. As many as four eggs of the Cowbird have been found in a single nest of this Warbler."

_Fall_ and _winter_.--We lose sight of the goldenwing early in the season. Silent amid the dense foliage of July and August, the bird is rarely seen. During the years between 1907 and 1920, when I kept a daily record of birds seen, I met it only four times in August and only twice in September, the latest September 12.

Dr. Alexander F. Skutch sends to A. C. Bent the following account of the bird in its winter quarters: "I am familiar with the golden-winged warbler in its winter home only in Costa Rica. In this country it winters on the Caribbean slope from the lowlands up to about 6,000 feet above sea-level, and on the Pacific slope at least in the region between 2,000 and 4,000 feet. While it appears to be nowhere abundant, I found it most numerous at Vara Blanca, on the northern slope of the Cordillera Central at an elevation of about 5,500 feet. Here on one day--November 2, 1937--I saw three individuals, the greatest number I have ever recorded. This is a region of dense vegetation, subject to much cloudiness and long-continued, often violent rainstorms--one of the wettest districts of all Central America. Most of the published records are from this generally wet side of the country. Yet the bird winters sparingly in the Basin of El General on the Pacific slope, which during the first 3 months of the year may be nearly rainless. While in the Tropics, it appears never to associate with others of its own kind, but at times may roam about with mixed flocks of other small birds. It may forage among low, fairly dense, second-growth thickets, or among the tangled vegetation at the forest's edge, or at times in the forest itself, or in groves of tall trees, high above the ground. It investigates the curled dead leaves caught up among the branches, and devours such small creatures as it finds lurking in their folds. I have not heard it sing while in its winter home.

"In Costa Rica, it appears to arrive late and to depart early, not having been recorded before September 15, nor later than April 9. Early dates of fall arrival are: Costa Rica--San José (Cherrie), September 15 and October 2; La Hondura (Carriker), September 21; Basin of El General, October 18, 1936; Vara Blanca, October 5, 1937.

"Late dates of spring departure are: Costa Rica--Basin of El General, April 8, 1936, April 7, 1937, March 30, 1939, and April 9, 1943; Vara Blanca, April 9, 1938; Guápiles (Carriker), March 30."

DISTRIBUTION

_Range._--Eastern United States to northwestern South America.

_Breeding range._--The golden-winged warbler breeds =north= to central Minnesota (Detroit Lakes, Onamia, and Cambridge); central Wisconsin (St. Croix Falls, New London, and Shiocton); northern peninsula or Michigan (McMillan and Mackinac Island); southern Michigan (Kalamazoo, Locke, and Detroit); southern Ontario (London and Port Rowan, has occurred north to Collingwood and Bowmanville); central New York (Medina, Rochester, and Waterford); central Vermont (Rutland), and northern Massachusetts (Winchendon, Newton, and Lynn). It has been found in summer and may possibly breed in southern New Hampshire (Concord and Durham); and southwestern Maine (Emery Mills and Sandford). =East= to eastern Massachusetts (Lynn, Boston, and Rehoboth); southern Connecticut (New Haven and Bridgeport); northern New Jersey (Morristown); central Pennsylvania (near State College); and south through the mountains to western North Carolina (Weaverville, Waynesville, and Highlands); northwestern South Carolina (Caesars Head and Highlow Gap); and northern Georgia (Young Harris, Margret, and Oglethorpe Mountain). =South= to northern Georgia (Oglethorpe Mountain and Rising Faun); central Tennessee (Maryland); northern Ohio (Steuben, Port Clinton, and Wauseon); northern Indiana (Waterloo); and northern Illinois (Riverside). =West= to northern Illinois (Riverside); central and western Wisconsin (Baraboo Bluffs and Durand); and central Minnesota (Minneapolis, Elk River, and Detroit Lakes). It has been noted in summer, or in migration, west to St. Louis, Mo.; Lake Quivira and Lawrence, Kans.; and Omaha, Nebr.

_Winter range._--In winter the golden-winged warbler is found =north= to central Guatemala (Cobán); and northern Honduras (Lancetilla); casually or in migration to the Yucatán Peninsula (Campeche and Mérida). =East= to Honduras (Lancetilla); eastern Nicaragua (Escondido River); Costa Rica (Guápiles and Guayabo); central Panamá (Lion Hill, Canal Zone); and central Colombia (Santa Marta region, Bogotá, and Villavicencio); rare or accidental in western Venezuela (Mérida). =South= to central Colombia (Villavicencio and El Eden). =West= to northwestern Colombia (El Eden, Medellín, and Antioquia); western Panamá (Chiriquí); Costa Rica (El General and Nicoya); and central Guatemala (Cobán).

_Migration._--Late dates of spring departure are: Colombia--Fusagasugá, March 24. Panamá--Volcán de Chiriquí, April 16. Costa Rica--Vara Blanca, April 9. Florida--Pensacola, April 22. Alabama--Hollins, May 7. Georgia--Athens, May 13. South Carolina--Clemson College, May 3. North Carolina--Raleigh, May 7. District of Columbia--Washington, May 20. Mississippi--Gulfport, April 18. Missouri--St. Louis, May 25.

Early dates of spring arrival are: Florida--Pensacola, April 5. Alabama--Barachias, April 22. Georgia--Milledgeville, April 12. South Carolina--Clemson College, April 21. North Carolina--Asheville, April 23. Virginia--Lynchburg, April 19. West Virginia--Bluefield, April 19. District of Columbia--Washington, April 24. Pennsylvania--Beaver, April 24. New York--Rochester, April 29. Massachusetts--Belmont, April 28. Louisiana--Grand Isle, April 6. Mississippi--Gulfport, April 10. Tennessee--Memphis, April 12. Illinois--Olney, April 17. Indiana--Sedan, April 27. Michigan--Plymouth, April 30. Ohio--Youngstown, April 27. Ontario--London, April 30. Missouri--St. Louis, April 18. Iowa--Keokuk, April 27. Wisconsin--Sheboygan, April 30. Minnesota--Minneapolis, April 30. The golden-winged warbler ranges west to central Iowa in migration, and in the lower Mississippi Valley is much less abundant in spring than in fall.

Late dates of fall departure are: Minnesota--Minneapolis, September 30. Wisconsin--Madison, October 11. Ontario--Point Pelee, September 2. Ohio--Ellsworth Station, September 23. Michigan--Ann Arbor, October 6. Indiana--Lyons, September 27. Illinois--Chicago, October 7. Missouri--La Grange, September 30. Kentucky--Versailles, September 25. Tennessee--Athens, September 29. Louisiana--New Orleans, September 25. Mississippi--Gulfport, October 8. Massachusetts--Danvers, September 7. New York--Brooklyn, October 2. Pennsylvania--Jeffersonville, October 2. District of Columbia--Washington, September 14. West Virginia--French Creek, September 15. North Carolina--Piney Creek, October 3. South Carolina--Chester, September 22. Georgia--Atlanta, October 9. Alabama--Greensboro, October 4.

Early dates of fall arrival are: Mississippi--Bay St. Louis, July 23. District of Columbia--Washington, August 8. Virginia--Naruna, August 23. North Carolina--Highlands, August 15. South Carolina--Charleston, August 20. Georgia--Athens, August 14. Alabama--Greensboro, August 11. Florida--Pensacola, August 14. Costa Rica--San José, September 15. Colombia--Bonda, September 6.

_Casual record._--One reported seen at Fort Thorn, N. Mex., in April 1854 by Dr. Joseph Henry. Since no specimen was taken this remains on the hypothetical list for the State.

_Egg dates._--Massachusetts: 14 records, May 27 to June 24; 9 records, May 30 to June 7, indicating the height of the season.

Michigan: 33 records, May 13 to June 10; 18 records, May 17 to 30.

New York: 6 records, June 3 to 24.

New Jersey: 7 records, May 25 to June 5 (Harris).

VERMIVORA PINUS (Linnaeus)

BLUE-WINGED WARBLER

PLATES 12, 13

HABITS

Bagg and Eliot (1937) write: "According to Wilson, this species was discovered by William Bartram, who gave it the descriptive name _Parus aureus alis caeruleis_ (Blue-winged Golden Tit), and sent a specimen to 'Mr. Edwards' by whom it was drawn and etched. Edwards suspected its identity with the Pine Creeper of Catesby: hence its present inappropriate name, _pinus_." As there are other warblers whose wings are more distinctly blue, those of this warbler being only bluish gray, the old familiar name, blue-winged yellow warbler, which stood for many years, seems more appropriate and more truly descriptive.

The blue-winged warbler is a bird of the so-called Carolinian Life Zone, with a rather restricted breeding range in the Central States and not quite reaching our northern borders. Its center of abundance in the breeding season seems to be in southern Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, northern Kentucky, northern Missouri, and southern Iowa. Its range extends northeastward to New Jersey, southeastern New York, and southern Connecticut. It is fairly common in the latter State, and I know of one small colony in eastern Rhode Island within a mile or two of the Massachusetts line. North of these points in New England it occurs only as a straggler or casual breeder. In southern New England I have found it in rather open situations, in neglected pastures where there is low shrubbery, brier patches, and bushy thickets around the edges; or in similar growth along the borders of woods, usually on dry uplands; and sometimes in the rank growth of tall grasses and weeds near the borders of swamps or streams.

Frank L. Burns wrote to Dr. Chapman (1907) of its haunts in Pennsylvania: "This species is here an inhabitant of the rather open swampy thickets, upland clearings, neglected pastures and fence rows, where the grass and weeds have not been choked out by a too thick growth of briers, bushes, saplings and vines." Dr. Lawrence H. Wilkinshaw tells me that, in southern Michigan, "this species loves deep swampy woods, where the golden-winged warbler and cerulean warbler are found." This is quite different from the haunts in which we find it in the east, though Dr. Chapman (1907) says: "It is not, as a rule, a deep woods warbler, though I have found it nesting in heavy forest, but prefers rather, bordering second growths, with weedy openings, from which it may follow lines or patches of trees to haunts some distance from the woods."

_Spring._--From its winter home in Central America the blue-winged warbler seems to migrate from Yucatán straight across the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf States and along the eastern coast of Texas to Louisiana. It is apparently very rare anywhere in Florida or the Keys, and along the Atlantic coast, where it is comparatively rare, it is found at low elevations. It migrates northward mainly west of the Alleghenies, seeming to avoid the mountains; the main body of the species seems to travel through the Mississippi Valley to the centers of abundance in the central States. Perhaps the birds that settle in southern New York and New England travel up the Ohio River, drifting through Pennsylvania and New Jersey to their destination. According to Milton B. Trautman (1940) this warbler seems to be a rare or uncommon spring migrant in central Ohio, and "in some migrations only 2 individuals were noted" at Buckeye Lake; this adds support to the theory that the birds follow the river along the southern border of the State.

_Nesting._--Although Wilson (1831) gave a very good description of the nest of the blue-winged yellow warbler, very little was known of its nesting in southern New England prior to about 1880, when nests were found in southern Connecticut, where it is now known to be a fairly common breeder. I found two nests near West Haven, Conn., on June 8, 1910; both were close to the ground but not quite on it; one was in a clump of blackberry vines, weeds, and grasses, in a swampy corner of a scrubby lot; the other was in a bunch of grass and rank weeds on some sprout land among some mixed bushes. Again, on June 1, 1934, I photographed (pl. 12) a nest near Hadlyme, Conn., on the edge of an open, neglected field and close to the border of some young woods. It was built among and attached to the upright stems of a clump of tall goldenrod. These were all typical of the nests described below.

Massachusetts nests are very rare; Forbush (1929) gives but two nesting records for this State, and only one for Rhode Island, though I am confident that its breeds regularly in the latter State. Horace W. Wright (1909b) gives a very full account of a nest found near Sudbury, Mass., in some mixed woods, placed between the exposed roots of a decayed stump and partially concealed by a growth of ferns.

T. E. McMullen has sent me the data for several Pennsylvania nests, three in old fields, one under a cherry sprout, one under a small bush, and one 6 inches up in a tussock of goldenrod; another was under a birch sprout along the edge of an old woods road.

The nest of the blue-winged warbler is unique and quite distinctive, often shaped like an inverted cone, usually very narrow and very deep and supported by a firm cup of strong, dead leaves. I cannot improve on the excellent description given to Dr. Chapman (1907) by Frank L. Burns as follows:

Outwardly composed of the broad blades of a coarse grass, the dead leaves of the maple, beech, chestnut, cherry and oak trees; the leaf points curving upward and inward forming a deep cuplike nest in which the bird's head and tail seem almost to meet over her back. Occasionally grass stems, coarse strips or wild grapevine bark, shreds of corn fodder, and fragments of beech and wild cherry bark appear in the make-up. Lined most frequently with wild grapevine bark laid across, instead of bent around in a circle, shredded finest on top, to which is added an occasional long black horse-hair or split grass stem, with now and then a final lining of split grass stems in place of fine bark. The shape varies in accordance to situation, outwardly a short cornucopia, a round basket, and once a wall-pocket affair, would best describe the shapes I have noticed.

_Eggs._--From 4 to 7 eggs may be found in the nest of the blue-winged warbler; 5 seems to be the commonest number, and sets of 6 are not very rare. The eggs are ovate, with a tendency to short ovate, and they have only a slight gloss. The white ground color is finely speckled or sparingly spotted with "chestnut brown," "mummy brown," and "sayal brown," with under markings in shades of "drab-gray." Some sets have three or four eggs that are almost immaculate, with one egg sparingly spotted; other sets occasionally are prominently spotted with "drab-gray," "light Quaker drab," and "dark vinaceous-drab," or, less often, with spots of dark "mummy brown." Usually the majority of the markings are confined to the large end. The measurements of 50 eggs average 15.7 by 12.5 millimeters; the eggs showing the four extremes measure =16.8= by =13.0= and =14.2= by =11.6= millimeters (Harris).

_Young._--An egg is laid each day until the set is complete, and incubation generally begins when the last egg is laid. The period of incubation is 10 or 11 days, and the young remain in the nest from 8 to 10 days. Mr. Burns gave Dr. Chapman (1907) the following full account of the nest life:

The task of incubation falls on the female alone. It appears that an airing is taken in the early morning or a little before midday, and again in the early evening, though perhaps not regularly every day. I have not seen the male about the nest with food at this period. The female will allow a close approach, looking into one's eyes with that hunted look so common in wild animals, and often flushing without a protesting note. The period of incubation in the one instance was exactly ten days.

On June 13, at 6.30 p. m., five young just hatched were blind, naked and prostrate from chin to sternum. The shells were disposed of immediately, in what manner I am unable to state; the female was reluctant to vacate.

On June 15, at 2.45 p. m., the young were able to raise their heads slightly and a fluffy bit of down had appeared about the head, also a dark stripe along the back bone. The female appeared, accompanied by the male, and fed the young with small green larvae--such as may be found on the under-side of oak and chestnut leaves--and then shielded the callow young from the hot rays of the sun.