to breed from the District of Columbia southward to Florida and Alabama.
William Brewster (1896), in describing and naming the northern race,
restricted the Linnaean name _americana_ to the southern bird because it
was evidently based on Catesby's excellent plate, drawn from a bird
taken in South Carolina. In his comparative diagnoses of the two forms,
he describes the southern bird as "averaging slightly smaller but with
longer bill. Adult male with more yellow on the under parts and less
black or blackish on the lores and malar region; the dark collar across
the jugulum narrow, obscure, often nearly wanting; the chest pale,
diffuse russet, without obvious markings." He admits that no one of
these characters is quite constant, the best one being the depth and
definition of the reddish brown on the chest. And he suggests that the
distribution of the two forms in the breeding season may be roughly
correlated with the distribution of _Usnea_ in the north and of
_Tillandsia_ in the south, in which the two forms, respectively, seem to
prefer to build their nests. This, however, is not strictly accurate or
universal (for example, see some remarks by M. G. Vaiden, under the
preceding form, on the breeding of this species in two different
localities in Mississippi).
Arthur T. Wayne (1910) says of the haunts of the southern bird in South
Carolina: "As soon as the sweet gum trees begin to bud, the song of this
beautiful bird is heard. It heralds the approach of spring and is one of
the first warblers to arrive which does not winter. The range of this
species in the breeding season is entirely governed by the presence or
absence of the Spanish moss, and where the moss is growing in profusion
the birds are common, but where the moss is absent the birds are
absolutely not to be found."
A. H. Howell (1932) calls this southern subspecies "an abundant spring
and fall migrant [in Florida]; a common summer resident south at least
to Osceola County; and a rare winter resident, chiefly in the central
and southern part. Owing to the presence of a few wintering individuals,
it is difficult to determine when spring migration begins. * * *
Positive evidence of migration is furnished by the appearance of large
numbers striking the light on Sombrero Key, March 3, 1889, when 250
birds were observed and 30 were killed. This species is one of the most
numerous and regular visitants at the lighthouses on the east coast and
on the Keys." Many of these were, of course, the northern race. Of the
haunts of the southern race, he says: "The dainty little Parula Warbler
is found most frequently in cypress swamps or heavily timbered
bottom-lands, and to a lesser extent in the upland hammocks. The
abundant Spanish moss on the trees furnishes ideal nesting sites for the
birds."
_Nesting._--Except for the fact that the so-called Spanish moss
(_Tillandsia_) replaces the beard moss (_Usnea_), the nesting habits of
the two races are very much alike. A. T. Wayne (1910) says that in South
Carolina "the nest is always built in the festoons of the Spanish moss,
from eight to more than one hundred feet from the ground, and is
constructed of the flower of the moss and a few pieces of fine,
dry grass." The nesting habits in Florida are very similar.
In southeastern Virginia, according to Harold H. Bailey (1913) this
southern race is:--
a most common breeding bird in its favorite haunts, the cypress or
juniper swamps of the southeastern section; Cape Henry southward. These
trees seem to furnish particularly fine feeding grounds, and wherever
you find one festooned with the long, hanging Spanish moss, here also
you are likely to find one or more nests. In this section I should call
them a colony bird, for in days past I have seen on the trees in and
surrounding one small lake, as many as two hundred pair breeding in
company. The Dismal Swamp and its surrounding low territory has been
an ideal spot for a feeding and breeding home in years past, but of
late, the cutting of the juniper for commercial purposes, and the
disappearance of the moss to a great extent, has driven the majority
of the birds elsewhere.
_Eggs._--These are indistinguishable from those of the northern parula
warbler. The measurements of 50 eggs average 16.2 by 12.0 millimeters;
the eggs showing the four extremes measure =19.5= by =12.7= and =14.0=
by =11.0= millimeters (Harris).
_Food._--Howell (1932) reports: "Examination of the stomachs of four
birds taken in Florida in February showed the contents to consist almost
wholly of insects and spiders, with a few bud scales. Hymenoptera (ants,
bees and wasps) composed the largest item, amounting in two instances to
approximately half the total contents. Other insects taken in smaller
quantities were lepidopterous larvae, fly larvae, beetles, weevils,
scale insects, bugs, and grouse locusts. Spiders were found in three
stomachs, and amounted to about 20 per cent of the total food."
PACULA PITIAYUMI NIGRILORA (Coues)
SENNETT'S OLIVE-BACKED WARBLER
HABITS
This northern race of a wide-ranging species is represented by a number
of allied races in Central and South America. From its range in
northeastern Mexico it rarely crosses our border into the valley of the
lower Rio Grande in southeastern Texas. For its introduction into our
fauna and for most of our knowledge of its habits we are indebted to
George B. Sennett (1878 and 1879) and to Dr. James C. Merrill (1878).
The discovery of the bird in Texas in 1877 is thus described by Mr.
Sennett:
On April 20th, soon after reaching Hidalgo, I was directed up the river
some four miles by road, and there shot the first three specimens of
this new species. On May 3d, another was shot among the mesquite timber
of the old resaca, within a mile of town.
On May 8th, another was shot in a dense forest about half a mile from
where the first three were obtained. Several more were seen; in fact,
they were more abundant than any other Warbler. * * * All of the
specimens obtained are males, and I remember of seeing none in pairs.
They were seen usually in little groups of three or four. They are by no
means shy, but frequenting, as they do, the woods, cannot be readily
seen.
He visited the locality again the following year and says in his report
(1879):
It is truly a bird of the forest, and delights to be in the upper
branches of the tallest trees. The song of the male is almost continuous
as it flies about, and is so clear that it can be heard at a long
distance and readily distinguished from all other birds. By its notes we
could locate the bird, and this accounts for our securing so many more
males than females. Were it not for its song, I doubt if we would have
taken many, owing to their diminutive size and habit of frequenting the
tops of the forest-trees. As it was, by only taking such as came in our
way, we shot over twenty specimens, and could have taken any number more
had we set out for them alone. In feeding habits I could see nothing
different from our familiar Blue Yellow-back, _P. americana_.
Dr. Merrill (1878) says of its haunts: "Arrives about the third week in
March, and passes the summer among thick woods and near the edges of
lagoons where there is Spanish moss." We found Sennett's warbler fairly
common around Brownsville, especially on the edges of the resacas,
partially dry old river beds where the trees, mostly small mesquites,
are more or less draped with _Usnea_ and suggest the places where we
would look for parula warblers in the north.
In appearance and behavior they were strikingly reminiscent of our
northern friends. Sutton and Pettingill (1942) found this warbler up to
2,000 feet elevation in southwestern Tamaulipas, in full song on March
14, and a pair copulating on March 20.
_Nesting._--Dr. Merrill sent to Mr. Sennett (1878) the following
description of a nest he found near Brownsville after Mr. Sennett left:
"My nest of _Parula_ was taken July 5th, about five miles from here. It
was placed in a small thin bunch of hanging moss, about ten feet from
the ground, in a thicket; was simply hollowed out of the moss, of which
it was entirely composed, with the exception of three or four
horsehairs; entrance on side; contained three young about half fledged.
Parents very bold, but thinking they were _americana_ I did not shoot
them."
The next year, his Mexican guide brought him a nest and a broken egg,
which Mr. Sennett (1879) describes as follows:
The nest is exceedingly interesting and beautiful. It is made in a gray
mistletoe-like orchid, an air-plant very common on the Rio Grande, which
establishes itself on the small branches of trees, and varies in size up
to eight or ten inches in diameter. This one is six inches long by four
and one-half inches wide, quite firm in texture, and was fastened some
ten feet from the ground, to the end of a drooping branch of a
brazil-tree in open woodland. The nest is constructed very simply, being
formed by parting the gray leaves of the orchid and digging into its
centre from the side, a cavity some two inches in diameter being made,
with an opening of one and one-quarter inches. The bottom and sides are
lined pretty well up with short cotton wood fibres, forming a fine
matting for the eggs to rest upon. A firmer and more secure nest is
seldom seen, although so easily made. I imagine a day would complete
one, and certainly but little time need be wasted in selecting a site,
for thousands of orchids stand out on the partially dead branches on
trees with little foliage. That they build also in the hanging trusses
of Spanish moss, so abundant everywhere, is true, the young before
referred to being found in a nest in one.
There are two nests of Sennett's warbler in the Thayer collection in
Cambridge. One of these was taken for F. B. Armstrong in Tamaulipas,
Mexico, on July 5, 1911, and held three eggs. It is described as a "nest
of hair in bunch of growing moss hanging from limb of cypress tree in
river bottom," 8 feet up; it is built right into the _Tillandsia_ and is
made almost wholly of black and white cattle hair. The other, with a set
of four eggs, was taken by James Johnson near Saltillo, Mexico, on May
27, 1906. It is described by the collector as "dug and hollowed in a
bunch of pipestem mosses." It is a compact little nest made of very fine
rootlets, very fine grasses, shreds of the brown inner bark of the
palmetto or palm, and some weed blossoms; it is lined with finer shreds,
a little plant down, and a few feathers. Externally it measures 2-1/2
inches in diameter and 2 inches in height; the inside diameter is about
1-1/2 inches; and the depth of the cup about 1-1/4 inches.
_Eggs._--Either 3 or 4 eggs seem to constitute the full set, as far as
we now know, for Sennett's warbler. The 7 eggs in the Thayer collection
vary from ovate to short ovate, and have only a slight lustre. They are
white or creamy white and are speckled and spotted with shades of "wood
brown," "cinnamon-brown," or "Brussels brown," with underlying spots of
"pale brownish drab." On some eggs the markings run to much darker
browns, such as "auburn" and "chestnut," and on these the drab spottings
are frequently lacking. Usually a loose wreath is formed where the spots
are concentrated at the large end, but occasionally they are distributed
nearly evenly over the entire surface. The measurements of 36 eggs
average 16.3 by 12.2 millimeters; the eggs showing the four extremes
measure =19.0= by =13.7= and =15.0= by =11.3= millimeters (Harris).
_Plumages._--Young Sennett's warblers that I have examined are uniform
grayish olive above, inclining to olive-green on the back; the black
lores and cheeks are lacking; the median wing coverts are narrowly
tipped with whitish, and the greater coverts more broadly so; the chin
is pale yellow; the chest and upper breast are shaded with pale gray and
centrally tinged yellowish; the abdomen is dull white; and the sides and
flanks are shaded with pale olive-grayish. I have not seen enough
material to trace subsequent molts and plumages, which doubtless
parallel those of the parula warbler.
_Food._--We have no definite information about the food of Sennett's
warbler, but Clarence F. Smith has sent me the following note: "The
only laboratory report available on the food of the species pertains
specifically to a South American subspecies of the _pitiayumi_ group.
The stomach contents were reported to consist of remains of
hymenopterous insects and two-winged flies (Zotta, 1932)."
* * *
Nothing further seems to have appeared in print regarding the habits of
this warbler. It is much like the well-known parula warbler in
appearance and behavior, but can be recognized in the field by the
conspicuous black lores and cheeks and by the complete absence of any
pectoral band.
DISTRIBUTION
_Range._--The species ranges from southern Texas to northern Argentina
and Uruguay. The race occurring in the United States is found in
southern Texas and northeastern Mexico.
_Breeding range._--Sennett's olive-backed warbler breeds =north= to
northeastern Coahuila (Sabinas); and southern Texas (Hidalgo, Harlingen,
and Point Isabel). =East= to southern Texas (Point Isabel and
Brownsville); and southeastern Tamaulipas (Altamira and Tampico).
=South= to southern Tamaulipas (Tampico); and southern San Luis Potosí
(Valles). =West= to eastern San Luis Potosí (Valles); and eastern
Coahuila (Cerro de la Silla and Sabinas).
_Winter range._--While probably not a sedentary form, its winter range
very nearly coincides with its breeding range. It has been found in
winter from Brownsville, Tex., to northern Hidalgo (Jacala).
_Egg dates._--Texas: 6 records, April 28 to May 30; 4 records, May 2 to
12, indicating the height of the season.
Mexico: 2 records, May 27 and July 5.
PARULA GRAYSONI Ridgway
SOCORRO WARBLER
HABITS
The Socorro warbler is closely related to Sennett's warbler and other
races of _pitiayumi_ but is accepted as a distinct species. It differs
from _nigrilora_ in having gray, instead of black, lores and cheeks, and
in having much less white on the inner webs of the outer rectrices. It
was supposed to be confined to Socorro Island, one of the Revillagigedo
group, about 250 miles southwest of the southern tip of Baja California.
It was added to our fauna by Chester C. Lamb (1925), who states:
On November 3, 1923, I collected one of these birds at Todos Santos, on
the Pacific Ocean side of the peninsula of Lower California, some forty
miles north of Cape San Lucas. * * * On February 5, 1924, I saw another
of these little warblers, within a few feet of me; but my gun was not at
hand, so I had to be content with a sight record. The locality was
inland, at El Oro, on the east side of the Victoria Mountains, about
thirty miles from Todos Santos. The next occurrence, like the first, was
at Todos Santos, where, on July 23, 1924, I secured an adult female
which is now in my collection at the Los Angeles County Museum, Los
Angeles. The taking of these two birds, in the winter and summer of two
successive years, would indicate that the species is of more or less
regular occurrence in the Cape Region of Lower California. The capture
of a specimen in July suggests the possibility of breeding at the point
of record.
Nothing more seems to have been heard of the species since. And we know
nothing of its habits.
DISTRIBUTION
_Range._--Socorro Island and the Cape region of Baja California.
_Breeding range._--The Socorro warbler is known to breed only on Socorro
Island, where it is resident. It has been found in the breeding season
near Todos Santos, Baja California.
This warbler has been found in winter in two localities (Todos Santos
and El Oro) in Baja California, and appears to be resident in small
numbers.
PEUCEDRAMUS TAENIATUS ARIZONAE Miller and Griscom
NORTHERN OLIVE WARBLER
PLATE 23
HABITS
The olive warbler was long classed as a species of _Dendroica_, with
_Peucedramus_ regarded as a subgenus, but it is now properly placed
in a genus by itself, for as Dr. Chapman (1907) points out it differs
from _Dendroica_ chiefly "in its slenderer, more rounded bill,
proportionately longer wings (about 1.00 inch longer than the tail) and
decidedly forked tail, the central tail feathers being more than .25
inches shorter than the other ones. In general color and pattern of
coloration _Peucedramus_ is markedly unlike _Dendroica_, from all the
species of which the male differs in requiring two years to acquire
adult plumage."
For a still longer time it was supposed to be a homogeneous species,
until Miller and Griscom (1925) made a study of it and divided the
species into five subspecies, mostly Mexican and Central American. In
giving this bird the name _P. t. arizonae_, they state that it is
entirely different in coloration from the type race; "upperparts plain
mouse-gray, in spring plumage almost never tinged with olivaceous, even
on the upper tail-coverts, appearing lighter and grayer than typical
_olivaceus_; collar on hind neck not so complete, usually invading the
occiput; primaries rarely if ever edged with olive-green in spring
plumage; head and throat plain ochraceous, duller than in typical
_olivaceus_; underparts lighter, the center of the belly purer white,
more contrasted with the flanks, which are less olivaceous, more grayish
brown; size as in typical _olivaceus_. Throat and side of neck of adult
female and immature pale lemon-yellow." They give as its range
"mountains of southern and central Arizona south at least to Chihuahua
and perhaps east to western Tamaulipas (Miquihuana)."
The species had long been known in Mexico and had been erroneously
reported in Texas, but it remained for Henry W. Henshaw (1875) to record
it definitely as a North American bird by capturing three specimens on
Mount Graham, Ariz., in September, 1874. Since then it has been noted by
numerous observers on several other mountain ranges in southern Arizona,
where it is now known to be fairly common in summer and where a few
remain in winter.
It is a bird of the open pine forests on or near the summits of the
mountains. In the Huachucas we found it breeding at about 9,000 feet
elevation in the open forests of yellow pine, sugar pine, and fir. As
Swarth (1904) says: "I found them only in the pine forests of the
highest parts of the mountains, even in cold weather none being seen
below 8,500 feet; and more were secured above 9,000 feet than below it."
In the Chiricahuas, Frank Stephens collected a fine series of these
warblers for William Brewster (1882a) in March, 1880, in the pine woods
at elevations from 10,000 to 12,000 feet. And it was here that W. W.
Price (1895) found the first nest in 1894; "the region was a dry open
park, thinly set with young pine (_Pinus jeffreyi_), at between nine and
ten thousand feet above the sea."
The olive warbler is not always confined to the pines at all seasons,
for Dr. Walter P. Taylor tells me that he obtained a single specimen
from an oak tree in the Santa Rita Mountains at 5,000 feet on February
4, 1923. It was in the same general locality with bridled titmice and
ruby-crowned kinglets, and was alone, perhaps a winter wanderer,
foraging nervously through the foliage of the oak.
_Spring._--According to Swarth (1904), migrating olive warblers reach
the Huachuca Mountains, from their winter resorts in northern Mexico,
about the first of April. "In 1903 they became fairly abundant,
particularly in April, when many small flocks of five or six birds each,
were seen. * * * They were seldom in company with other warblers, but
when not alone, associated with nuthatches and creepers." Frank C.
Willard (1910) says that "the first few days are spent, as it were, in
staking out their claims anew. The males at this time are quite
pugnacious toward one another, and, tho apparently already mated, they
promptly drive any wanderer of the same sex from their selected bit of
forest. I believe they return each year to the same locality in which
they made their home of the previous year, as I have found them in the
same patch of trees year after year while other places near by, with the
same apparent advantages, never seem to be chosen." Dr. Taylor (MS.) saw
a pair of olive warblers, 20 to 30 feet up in some yellow pines in the
Santa Catalina Mountains on May 13, 1928. They kept giving a whistled
call with descending inflection. "The two birds were courting
apparently, flying about, often facing each other at short range, 6 to
18 inches, calling at very frequent intervals."
_Nesting._--To William W. Price (1895) belongs the honor of finding the
first nest of the Arizona olive warbler. On June 15, 1894, on the
Chiricahua Mountains, he--
saw a female, closely followed by a male, fly from a bush of spirea
(_Spirea discolor_) to the top of a small pine, and busy itself on a
small horizontal limb partially concealed by pine needles. She soon
returned to the spirea, followed by the male, which did not enter the
bush but perched on a pine branch near by. The female again flew with a
dry flower-stem in her bill, from the bush directly to the pine, where a
nest was in process of construction. * * * A few days after, a forest
fire drove me from my camp, and it was not until July 1 that I was able
to visit the nest. The female was sitting, and when frightened from the
nest, kept hovering about, but made no sound. The male did not appear at
all. The nest was compactly built and placed on a small horizontal
branch, about forty feet from the ground, and about six feet from the
top of the tree. The eggs, four in number, were in an advanced state of
incubation. * * * The body and walls of the nest are composed of
rootlets and flower stalks of _Spirea discolor_, and the inner lining
consists of fine rootlets and a very small quantity of vegetable down.
It is a compactly built structure, measuring about 4 inches in outer
diameter by 1-3/4 inches in depth; the inner cup measures 2 inches in
width by 1-1/8 inches in depth.
A few years later, O. W. Howard (1899) reported finding four nests in
the Huachuca Mountains; one was about 30 feet up in the fork of a large
limb of a red fir; another was in a sugar pine near the extremity of a
limb and about 30 feet from the ground; a third was near the end of a
long slender limb of a yellow pine, about 50 feet up, and well concealed
among the long pine needles; the fourth was on a branch of a red fir,
not far from the trunk, and over 60 feet from the ground.
F. C. Willard (1910), collecting in the Huachucas, says that "short-leaf
pines, long-leaf pines and firs are chosen for the nesting sites." One
female that he watched building her nest "was gathering rootlets at the
time and seemed very particular about them, picking up and dropping
several before selecting one which she thought satisfactory. This she
carried into a dense growth at the tip of a branch of a large fir about
one hundred yards away. The male was singing and feeding in a tree
close by. After a few trips with material the female would fly into the
tree where he was and let him feed her. This is the only time I have
observed nest building going on and the male not following the female in
her flights." In his description of the nest, he says: "It is supported
by ten small live twigs from the size of a pencil down, all growing from
a branch about five eighths of an inch in diameter. It is composed
outwardly of moss and pine bud hulls with plant down scattered thruout.
The proportion of this latter increases until the the lining is reacht
where it forms a felt like a hummingbird's nest. This lining is
supplemented with a few very fine rootlets."
He gives an interesting account of his attempts to locate another nest
in "a short-leaf pine whose branches were weighted down with masses of
twigs and cones." He worked from ten in the morning until three in the
afternoon, following the birds about, climbing the suspected tree
several times and cutting off many twigs, before he finally found the
nest. "The tree was not a very large one and I had shaken every branch
and jarred them with my foot, but until I practically toucht the nest
she had stayed on."
While I was in Arizona with Willard he collected for me on May 30 a
beautiful nest of the olive warbler, with four fresh eggs. It was taken
at an altitude of 8,500 feet on the Huachuca Mountains and was built in
a clump of mistletoe near the tip of a branch of a sugar pine about 20
feet out from the trunk and 55 feet from the ground. Its construction
was similar to those described previously (pl. 23). The loftiest nest
that he ever found was 70 feet from the ground in a pine.