British Columbia--Atlin, September 9; Okanagan Landing, October 23.
Washington--Semiahmoo, October 8. Oregon--Prospect, October 8.
Alberta--Glenevis, October 5. Montana--Fort Keogh, September 22.
Wyoming--Laramie, October 25. Utah--St. George, October 12. New
Mexico--Gallinas Mountains, October 9. Saskatchewan--East End, September
16. Manitoba--Aweme, October 14. North Dakota--Fargo, October 19. South
Dakota--Aberdeen, October 14. Nebraska--Hastings, October 8.
Kansas--Wichita, November 2. Oklahoma--Norman, October 19.
Minnesota--Minneapolis, October 20. Wisconsin--Milwaukee, October 26.
Iowa--Giard, October 19. Ontario--Kingston, October 6. Michigan--Ann
Arbor, November 1. Ohio--Toledo, October 27. Illinois--La Grange,
October 28. Tennessee--Dover, October 26. Massachusetts--Lynn, November
30. New York--Rochester, October 9. Pennsylvania--Harrisburg, November
19 (bird was banded).
Early dates of fall arrival are: North Dakota--Ryder, August 18. South
Dakota--Faulkton, August 23. Nebraska--Hastings, September 16.
Texas--Lytle, August 29. Minnesota--Lanesboro, August 3. Wisconsin--New
London, August 24. Iowa--National, August 28. Michigan--Blaney, August
19. Illinois--Chicago, August 28. Ontario--Ottawa, September 7.
Ohio--Columbus, September 9. Tennessee--Clarksville, October 16.
Arkansas--Hot Springs, September 11. Louisiana--New Iberia, November 19.
Mississippi--Saucier, October 12. Massachusetts--Concord, October 2.
Pennsylvania--Erie, September 15. West Virginia--Bethany, October 20.
Georgia--Athens, October 12. South Carolina--Frogmore, September 20.
Florida--Key West, October 5.
_Banding._--Two returns of banded orange-crowned warblers seem worth
recording. One banded at Mellette, S. Dak., on September 21, 1939, was
found, probably dead, on December 13, 1940 at Webster, Wis. Another
banded at Eagle Rock, Calif., on April 3, 1940, was found dead, on June
21, 1940 at Wards Cove, Alaska.
_Casual record._--An immature orange-crowned warbler was collected
October 14, 1906, at Lichtenfels, Greenland.
_Egg dates._--Alaska: 10 records, June 8 to July 2.
California: 71 records, April 3 to June 24; 36 records, April 20 to May
12, indicating the height of the season.
Washington: 17 records, April 25 to June 25; 9 records, May 13 to 24.
VERMIVORA CELATA ORESTERA Oberholser
ROCKY MOUNTAIN ORANGE-CROWNED WARBLER
HABITS
Although recognized and described by Dr. Harry C. Oberholser (1905) over
45 years ago, this well-marked subspecies was not accepted by the
Committee for addition to the A. O. U. Check-List until comparatively
recently.
It is described as "similar to _Vermivora celata celata_, but larger and
much more yellowish, both above and below." Dr. Oberholser (1905) adds
the following remarks: "This new form has usually been included with _V.
celata celata_, but breeding specimens recently obtained, principally
from New Mexico and British Columbia, indicate its much closer
relationship, in all respects except size, with the west coast forms.
From _Vermivora celata lutescens_ it may, however, readily be
distinguished by its duller, less yellowish color, both above and below,
and by its much greater size."
He gives its geographical range as: "Mountains of New Mexico, Arizona,
and southeastern California to British Columbia; in migration to
Minnesota and Pennsylvania, south to Texas, and Mexico to Lower
California, Michoacán, Guerrero, and Puebla."
_Nesting._--Stanley G. Jewett (1934) reports a nest within the range of
this race, of which he writes:
On June 18, 1934, a nest of this species was found at 6,000 feet
altitude on Hart Mountain, Lake County, Oregon. The location was a
rather dense mixed grove of aspen, alder, willow, and yellow pine. The
female was on the nest, which was placed on the ground well under a
small leaning willow stump, about five inches in diameter, that had been
cut off about a foot above the ground, leaving the stump leaning at an
angle of about 45 degrees. Weeds had grown over the stump forming a
loose canopy of vegetation which protected the nest and sitting bird
from being easily seen. The nest was composed of coarse dry strips of
willow bark, lined with porcupine hairs. It measured, inside, 50 mm. in
width and 33 mm. in depth.
A nest and four eggs of this species, probably _orestera_, is in the
Thayer collection in Cambridge; it was collected at Banff, Alberta, on
June 9, 1902. The nest was said to be "in root of a shrub, a few inches
above the ground". It is compactly made of the finest larch twigs,
yellow birch bark, fine shreds of coarse weed stems, other fine plant
fibers and fine grasses, fine strips of inner bark, and a little plant
down; it is lined with finer pieces of the same materials and some black
and white hairs. The outside diameter is about 3 inches, and the height
about 2 inches; inside, it measures about 1-3/4 inches in diameter and
1-1/4 inches in depth. A set of three eggs in my collection was taken
May 14, 1909, near Glacier National Park, Mont.; the nest was on the
ground, concealed by grass on a hillside. The measurements of the eggs
of this race, which are indistinguishable from those of other races of
the species, are included in those of the type race.
VERMIVORA CELATA LUTESCENS (Ridgway)
LUTESCENT ORANGE-CROWNED WARBLER
HABITS
This brightly colored race of the orange-crowned warbler group is widely
distributed during the breeding season along the Pacific coast regions
from southern Alaska to southern California and migrates in the fall
southward to Baja California, western Mexico, and Guatemala. It differs
from typical _celata_ in being more brightly olive-green above and
distinctly yellow below; in strong light it seems to be a yellow rather
than an olive bird.
Dr. Walter K. Fisher sent the following sketch of it in its California
haunts to Dr. Chapman (1907):
Chaparral hillsides and brushy open woods are the favorite haunts of the
Lutescent Warbler. Its nest is built on or near the ground, usually in a
bramble tangle or under a rooty bank, and the bird itself hunts near the
ground, flitting here and there through the miniature jungle of wild
lilacs, baccharis and hazel bushes. Its dull greenish color harmonizes
with the dusty summer foliage of our California chaparral, and with the
fallen leaves and tangle of stems that constitute its normal background.
It impresses one chiefly by its lack of any distinctive markings, and
the young of the year, particularly, approach that tint which has been
facetiously called "museum color."
Ordinarily the crown-patch is invisible as the little fellow fidgets
among the undergrowth, but at a distance of 3 feet Mr. W. L. Finley was
able to distinguish it when the bird ruffled its feathers in alarm.
In May, 1911, while I was waiting in Seattle, Wash., to take ship to the
Aleutian Islands with R. H. Beck and Dr. Alexander Wetmore, we were
shown by Samuel F. Rathbun the haunts of the lutescent orange-crowned
warbler around Seattle. He says that it is one of the more common
warblers of the region and is widely distributed. It favors small
deciduous growths in more or less open situations, with or without
accompanying evergreens. "It is also partial to the edges of old
clearings fringed with a deciduous growth." He says that it is an early
migrant, arriving early in April or sometimes in the latter part of
March, and departing in September.
On Mount Rainier, according to Taylor and Shaw (1927), it was--
fairly common in the Hudsonian Zone (4,500 feet to 6,500 feet); occurs
also, but more rarely, in the Canadian Zone between 3,500 and 4,500
feet. * * * The lutescent warbler was commonly found in the mountain
ash, huckleberry, azalea, and willow brush, principally in the open
meadow country of the subalpine parks. Warm and sunny south-facing
slopes were favorite places of resort, especially after a period of
cold or fog. Occasionally the bird was found in patches of Sitka
valerian; at other times in the lower branches of alpine firs. His
summer foraging seems for the most part to be done within 10 feet of the
ground, though in the fall, when migrating, he apparently takes to the
tree tops.
_Nesting._--On May 7, 1911, Samuel F. Rathbun took us over to Mercer
Island in Lake Washington. At that time, this interesting island was
heavily forested in some places with a virgin growth of tall firs, in
which we saw the sooty grouse and heard it hooting, later finding its
nest in an open clearing. While walking through another open space among
some scattered groups of small fir trees, Mr. Beck flushed a lutescent
warbler from her nest in a hummock covered with the tangled fronds of
dead brakes (_Pteridium aquilinum_). The nest was so well concealed in
the mass of dead ferns that we had difficulty in finding it. It was made
of dead grasses and leaves, deeply imbedded in the moss of the hummock,
and was lined with finer grasses and hairs. It held four fresh eggs.
Three days later, Dr. Wetmore took a set of five fresh eggs at Redmond.
This nest was located beside a woodland path at the edge of a swamp; it
was well hidden on the ground, under a stick that was leaning against a
log. It was made of similar materials and was lined with white
horsehair.
Mr. Rathbun mentions three nests (MS.), found in that same vicinity; one
was well hidden under some fallen dead brakes; and the other two were
beautifully concealed in the centers of small huckleberry bushes.
William L. Finley (1904b) records six Oregon nests. The first "was
tucked up under some dry ferns in the bank of a little hollow where a
tree had been uprooted. * * * The second nest was on a hillside under a
fir tree, placed on the ground in a tangle of grass and briar." Another
was "in a sloping bank just beside a woodland path. A fourth nest was
tucked under the overhanging grasses and leaves in an old railroad cut."
He found two nests in bushes above ground. He saw a female carrying
"food into the thick foliage of an arrow-wood bush. A cluster of twigs
often sprouts out near the upper end of the branch and here, in the
fall, the leaves collect in a thick bunch. In one of these bunches, 3
feet from the ground, the warbler had tunneled out the dry leaves and
snugly fitted in her nest making a dark and well-protected home." He
found another nest 2 feet up in a bush, within a few yards of the ocean
beach.
Henry W. Carriger, of Sonoma, Calif., (1899) mentions two more elevated
nests of the lutescent warbler. He writes:
On May 31, 1897, I found a nest of the Lutescent Warbler placed three
feet from the ground in a bunch of vines. * * * On May 3, 1899, * * * I
flushed a bird from a nest in an oak tree, and was surprised to see it
was a Lutescent Warbler. The nest was six feet from the ground and three
feet from the trunk of the tree. A horizontal limb branched out from
the tree and a small branch stuck up from it for about eight inches, and
over this was a great quantity of Spanish moss (_Ramalina retiformis_),
which fell over the horizontal limb. The nest is quite bulky, composed
of leaves, grass and bark strips, lined with hair and fine grass, and
was partially supported by both limbs and the moss, which is all about
it and which forms quite a cover for the eggs.
_Eggs._--The lutescent warbler lays from 3 to 6 eggs to a set, probably
most often 4. These are ovate or short ovate and are practically
lusterless. The white or creamy white ground color is speckled, spotted
or occasionally blotched with shades of reddish brown, such as "russet,"
"Mars brown," "chestnut," and "auburn," intermingled with underlying
shades of "light brownish drab." The markings are usually concentrated
at the large end, but some eggs are speckled more or less evenly over
the entire surface. Small scrawls of blackish brown may be found on some
of the more heavily marked types. The measurements of 50 eggs average
16.2 by 12.6 millimeters: the eggs showing the four extremes measure
=17.7= by 12.8, 16.8 by =13.5=, =14.7= by 12.2, and 15.9 by =11.1=
millimeters (Harris).
_Young._--We seem to have no information on incubation or on the care
and development of the young.
_Plumages._--The molts and plumages are evidently similar to those of
the orange-crowned warbler, though the lutescent is, of course,
decidedly more yellow in all plumages.
_Food._--Prof. Beal (1907) examined the contents of the stomachs of 65
California specimens of this species.
Less than 9 percent of the food is vegetable matter, and is made up of
3 percent of fruit and rather more than 5 percent of various substances,
such as leaf galls, seeds, and rubbish. Fruit was found in only a few
stomachs, but the percentage in each was considerable; figs were the
only variety identified. [Of the 91 percent animal matter,] Hemiptera
are the largest item and amount to over 25 percent, mostly leaf-bugs,
leaf-hoppers, plant-lice, and scales. Plant-lice were found in only one
stomach and scales in 5, of which 3 contained the black olive species.
Beetles amount to about 19 percent of the food, and with the exception
of a few Coccinellidae are of harmful families, among which are a number
of weevils. * * * Caterpillars are eaten rather irregularly, though they
aggregate 24 percent for the year. Stomachs collected in several months
contained none, while in others they amounted to more than half of the
food. * * * Hymenoptera amount nearly to 15 percent, and are mostly
small wasps, though some ants are eaten.
Other items were flies, less than 1 percent, and spiders, 7 percent. W.
L. McAtee (1912) says that this is one of only two wood warblers known
to prey upon codling moths. "The lutescent warbler shows a strong liking
for the pupae, two taken in California in May having eaten 10 and 18
pupae, respectively."
_Behavior._--Mrs. Wheelock (1904) writes thus of its feeding activities:
"All day long he flits about through the oak trees, leaning away over
the tips of the boughs to investigate a spray of leaves, or stretching
up his pretty head to reach a blossom just above him; now clinging head
downward underneath a spray, or hovering under the yellow tassels as a
bee hovers beneath a flower."
_Voice._--Samuel F. Rathbun (MS.) gives me his impression of the song of
the lutescent warbler as follows: "Its song is a succession of trilling
notes on a slightly rising then falling key, the latter more lightly
given and faster. There is an apparent ease in this song that is
suggestive of airiness, and, although simple in construction, it is
pleasing to hear and further bears the stamp of distinctiveness."
_Fall._--The fall migration is southward to southern California, western
Mexico, and Guatemala. The movement is apparently leisurely and quite
prolonged, for the earliest birds begin leaving western Washington in
August and September, and Theed Pearse gives me two October dates for
Vancouver Island, with his latest date November 1. Taylor and Shaw
(1927) write of the fall movement on Mount Rainier as follows:
The postnuptial scatter movement was in full swing by the middle of
August. At this time the lutescent warbler was often found in the same
flocks with Shufeldt juncos, western golden-crowned kinglets, or
chestnut-backed chickadees. It is not unlikely that there is some good
reason for this flocking, aside from the companionship involved. The
warblers and the juncos, kinglets, or chickadees probably do not compete
for food as would one warbler with another of the same species. The
individual warbler, attached to a flock of kinglets, let us say, may be
the more surely guided to available food. Then, too, differences in
alertness of the two or more species concerned may afford greater
protection to each than would be the case if they remained separate.
Robert Ridgway (1877) met with these warblers in large numbers in
Nevada:
In the fall, the thickets and lower shrubbery along the streams,
particularly those of the lower cañons, would fairly swarm with them
during the early portion of the mornings, as they busily sought their
food, in company with various insectivorous birds, especially the
Black-capped Green Warbler (_Myiodioctes pusillus_) and Swainson's Vireo
(_Vireosylvia swainsoni_). At such times they uttered frequently their
sharp note of chip. The brightly-colored specimens representing _H.
lutescens_ were prevalent in the western depression of the Basin, but
were not observed eastward of the upper portion of the Valley of the
Humboldt, nor at any locality during the summer; and wherever found,
were associated with individuals of the other form, which is the only
one found breeding on the mountains. It is therefore inferred that all
these individuals were migrants from the northern Pacific Coast region
and the Sierra Nevada, while those of _H. celata_ proper were from the
higher portions of the more eastern mountains, or from farther northward
in the Rocky Mountain ranges, full-fledged young birds being numerous in
the high aspen woods of the Wasatch Mountains in July and August.
VERMIVORA CELATA SORDIDA (Townsend)
DUSKY ORANGE-CROWNED WARBLER
PLATE 15
HABITS
The subspecific characters of this warbler, as given by the original
describer, C. H. Townsend (1890), are: "Adult male: Entire plumage
decidedly darker than _H. celata lutescens_. Feet and bill larger; wings
slightly shorter. There is an appearance of grayness about the upper
plumage, owing to a leaden tinge on ends of feathers. Throat and under
parts slightly streaked."
The principal breeding range of the dusky warbler is on the Santa
Barbara Islands off the coast of southern California, but it has also
been known to breed in San Diego and probably breeds farther south in
Baja California, and on the Todos Santos Islands, off that coast.
The dusky orange-crowned warbler was discovered by Dr. Townsend on San
Clemente Island January 25, 1889, but it does not seem to be so common
there as on some of the other islands. According to A. Brazier Howell
(1917) it has been reported from all of the channel islands except San
Nicholas, which is too barren for it; and its occurrence on Santa
Barbara Island is doubtful, as this precipitous island is not suited for
it. It is probably commonest on Santa Catalina Island, "in the darker
canyons and on the wooded hillsides."
J. Stuart Rowley writes to me: "I found that the weekend nearest the
15th of April was the ideal time to hunt nests of this warbler on
Catalina Island, and after much hiking about this island I finally
located a little ravine, only about a mile or so out of the town of
Avalon, where these warblers nested abundantly, due to the little
trickle of surface water in the bottom of the ravine. Since most of the
ravines here are dry, this one was 'made to order' and I enjoyed the
chance to find many nests in the short time allotted to me. Around the
middle of April this little ravine fairly trilled with the songs of many
males, who were constantly pursuing trespassing individuals out of their
nesting territories, only to return and continue their melodic songs."
_Nesting._--Of its nesting habits, J. Stuart Rowley continues: "I have
found dusky warblers nesting in every conceivable sort of place, ranging
from those placed on the ground in the grass to those placed 15 feet up
in toyon trees. The usual nesting site here seems to be in a small toyon
bush, rather well concealed, but not over 2 to 3 feet from the ground;
the nests are made of fibres and grasses and, although nicely cupped
and lined, are rather bulky affairs externally for a warbler to build."
Howell (1917) writes:
The usual nesting site of the Lutescent Warbler is on the ground, but I
have never heard of _sordida_ building in such a situation. On the
smaller barren islands, such as the Coronados and Todos Santos (where it
is common), they build in a bush or tangle of vines, a foot or so above
the ground, and the nest is always mainly constructed of gray moss,
where this is to be had, lined with a little fine grass. On the larger
islands, where there are good-sized trees, the site chosen may be a
thicket of vines several feet above the bed of a stream, a small shrub,
say four feet up, or perhaps an oak as much as fifteen feet above the
ground. In such case the nest is quite substantially made of leaves,
twigs, bark, rootlets, and often a little sheep wool. Three or four eggs
constitute a set, and at least two broods of young are raised each year.
A most unusual nesting site for a dusky warbler is described by Clinton
G. Abbott (1926). It was--
a decorative fern basket inside a small lath house adjoining the home of
Mrs. A. P. Johnson, Jr., at 2470 C Street, San Diego. * * * Her house is
in one of the older residential sections of the city, known as Golden
Hill. The homes here are large and surrounded by more or less extensive
grounds, but the whole aspect is distinctly urban, with streets
everywhere paved. Broadway, with double trolley tracks, is only one
block away. The lath house, sixteen by twenty-four feet in size, was
filled with a luxuriant growth of cultivated plants. A rectangular path
within was marked at its corners by four wire fern baskets suspended
about four feet from the ground. In one of these were the remains of the
two previous years' nests, and in the basket diagonally opposite was the
inhabited nest, which contained three eggs. Although the eggs were
manifestly not fresh, there was no bird about and they seemed cool to my
touch. I waited about for fully ten minutes and was beginning to fear
that disaster had overtaken the home, when I heard a low, scolding note
overhead. Then down from between the slats hopped the dainty little
warbler, and, with no concern whatsoever, she took her place upon the
eggs, although I was standing in full view close by. [The nest was]
cosily placed in the moss at the base of the ferns.
We soon discovered that not only was the bird practically fearless in
the ordinary sense, but that she would even allow us to touch her
without leaving her nest. She would permit us to raise her from her eggs
with no greater protest than a pecking at the intruding finger. If she
was not sitting sufficiently broadside for a good photograph, it was
possible to arrange her the way we wanted her! Sometimes, if our
familiarity was beyond her patience, she would merely hop among the
foliage behind the nest, wait there for a few minutes, and then nestle
back on her eggs.
_Eggs._--Three eggs seem to constitute the average set for the dusky
warbler, with occasionally only two or as many as four. Mr. Rowley tells
me that, out of at least two dozen nests examined, he found only two
sets of four; one nest had only one newly hatched young, and two or
three nests held two well-incubated eggs. The eggs are apparently
indistinguishable from those of the mainland races. The measurements of
27 eggs average 17.0 by 13.2 millimeters; the eggs showing the four
extremes measure =18.5= by 13.5, 17.6 by =14.0=, and =16.0= by =12.7=
millimeters.
_Winter._--Many of the dusky warblers, perhaps most of them, desert the
islands in the fall when they become dry and uninviting, for the winter
spreading widely on the mainland as far north as the San Francisco Bay
region and inland to Merced County. Dr. Joseph Grinnell (1898) says:
"This subspecies appears in the vicinity of Pasadena in the oak regions
and along the arroyos in large numbers during August, and even by the
middle of July. Remains in diminishing numbers through the winter; the
latest specimen noted in the spring was secured by me, Feb. 29 ('96)."
VERMIVORA RUFICAPILLA RUFICAPILLA (Wilson)
EASTERN NASHVILLE WARBLER
PLATES 16, 17
HABITS
Alexander Wilson discovered this species near Nashville, Tenn., and gave
it the name Nashville warbler. Baird, Brewer, and Ridgway (1874) say of
its early history: "For a long while our older naturalists regarded it
as a very rare species, and knew nothing as to its habits or
distribution. Wilson, who first met with it in 1811, never found more
than three specimens, which he procured near Nashville, Tenn. Audubon
only met with three or four, and these he obtained in Louisiana and
Kentucky. These and a few others in Titian Peale's collection, supposed
to have been obtained in Pennsylvania, were all he ever saw. Mr. Nuttall
at first regarded it as very rare, and as a Southern species."