Allen; they are about two-thirds fledged on the body and wings; the
heads still show the long natal down, "hair brown" in color; the
feathers of the back are "olive brown"; the wings are "clove brown,"
with two narrow, white wing bars, faintly tinged with pale yellow; the
breasts and sides are pale "hair brown" to "light grayish olive"; and
the rest of the under parts are yellowish white. A young bird in fresh
plumage, collected July 1, is probably in full juvenal plumage; its body
plumage is similar to that of the nestlings, but there is some yellow on
the forehead and throat, and the sides of the head and neck are
decidedly yellow; however, this may be a bird that has assumed its first
winter plumage at an unusually early date.
In first winter plumage, young birds of both sexes are much like the
adult female at that season, mainly grayish olive-green above, with
black streaks concealed or absent; forehead, sides of the head, and chin
pale yellow; and the rest of the under parts buffy white, the sides
browner. The broad, white tips of the lesser wing coverts have a black
shaft streak or wedge, apparently characteristic of this plumage. There
is probably a prenuptial molt involving much of the head and body
plumage and the wing coverts, but the dull juvenal wings are retained
until the next molt.
The complete postnuptial molt occurs in July and August. The fall
plumages of both sexes are like the spring plumages, but the clear
blacks and yellows are largely concealed by olive above and by buffy
below.
_Food._--The only item I can find on the food of the hermit warbler is
the following short statement by Bowles (1906): "Their food consists of
small spiders, caterpillars, tiny beetles, and flying insects which they
dart out and capture in a manner worthy of that peer of flycatchers the
Audubon warbler."
_Behavior._--The most marked trait of the hermit warbler is its fondness
for the tree tops, spending much of its time in the tops of the tallest
firs, often 200 feet or more above the ground, where it is very active
and not easy to follow. But it builds its nest at lower levels, and
often comes down to forage in the lower branches, in smaller trees and
even in the underbrush, where it is not particularly shy and can be
easily approached. It is a close sitter while incubating; Bowles had to
lift one off its nest.
A hermit warbler watched by Miss Margaret W. Wythe, in Yosemite Valley,
"was foraging in the upper parts of the trees and never came to the
lower branches. Starting from near the trunk of a pine it would work out
to the tip of one branch before going to another. Its demeanor while
foraging was much more deliberate than that of any of the other
warblers" (Grinnell and Storer, 1924).
_Voice._--Rathbun (MS.) writes: "The song is quite strong, can be heard
a considerable distance, and when given in full consists of five or six
notes. The first note, rather faint, rises and then falls, with a slight
accent at its close; if one is quite close to the singer, the note has
a light lisping sound. This note is followed by another, similar but
stronger and more prolonged. Then come three or four short, clear
notes quickly given, the song ending with a prolonged rising one
that closes sharply. Our interpretation of the song would be
_zweeo-zweeo-zwee-zwee-zwee-zweeck_. Whenever an additional note is
given, it is of the intermediate kind. One or two of these notes are, to
us, suggestive of some heard in the song of Townsend's warbler. The song
is quite rapidly sung in an energetic way, being very distinctive and is
pleasing. It resembles the song of no other warbler in the region."
Bowles (1906) says that the song of the hermit warbler "consists of four
distinct notes, as a rule, and is described as _zeegle-zeegle,
zeegle-zeek_, uttered somewhat slowly at first but ending rather
sharply." Barlow (1899) states that "though not loud it would penetrate
through the woods quite a distance and very much resembled _tsit, tsit,
tsit, tsit, chee chee chee_, the first four syllables being uttered with
a gradual and uniform speed, ending quickly with the _chee chee chee_."
Grinnell and Storer (1924) write:
The song of the male Hermit Warbler, while varying somewhat with
different individuals, is sufficiently distinct from that of the other
warblers of the region to make possible identification by voice alone.
The song is most nearly like that of the Audubon Warbler but usually not
so clear or mellow. A male bird observed at Chinquapin seemed to say
_seezle, seezle, seezle, seezle, zeek, zeek_; just that number of
syllables, over and over again. The quality was slightly droning, but
not so much so as that of the Black-throated Gray Warbler. Another song,
clearer in quality, heard in Yosemite Valley, was written _ter´-ley,
ter´-ley, ter´-ley, sic´, sic´_, thus much more nearly like the song of
the Audubon Warbler. Other transcriptions ranged between these two as to
timbre. A rendering set down at Glacier Point June 16, 1915, was as
follows: _ser-weez´, ser-weez´, ser-weez´, ser´, ser´_. The marked
rhythm throughout, and the stressed terminal syllables, are distinctive
features of the Hermit's song. The call note is a moderate _chip_.
Writing of warbler songs of early dawn, Dawson (Dawson and Bowles, 1909)
indulges in the following flowery praise of the hermit's sing: "There is
Audubon with his hastening melody of gladness. There is Black-throated
Gray with his still drowsy sonnet of sweet content. Then there is Hermit
hidden aloft in the shapeless greenery of the under-dawn--his note is
sweetest, gladdest, most seraphic of them all, _lilly, lilly, lilly,
leê-oleet_. It is almost sacrilege to give it form--besides it is so
hopeless. The preparatory notes are like the tinkle of crystal bells,
and when our attention is focused, lo! the wonder happens, the exquisite
lilt of the closing phrase, _leê-oleet_."
_Field marks._--The yellow head, the black throat, the dark back, and
the white, unmarked under parts will distinguish the male in spring. The
head of the female, of young birds, and of fall birds is also more or
less yellowish and the back is more olivaceous. The two white wing bars
are also common to several other species. Its song is said to be
distinctive.
_Fall._--The fall migration of the hermit warbler begins early. Bowles
(1906) says that, in Washington, "about the middle of July both young
and old assemble in good-sized flocks and frequent the water holes in
the smaller growths of timber. At such times I have never seen them
associating with any other kinds of birds." W. W. Price wrote to Mr.
Barlow (1901) of the migration in the Sierra Nevada:
The adults are very rare during June and July in the neighborhood of my
camp at Silver Creek, but late in July and early in August a migration
of the young birds of the year takes place and the species is very
abundant everywhere in the tamaracks from about 6000 to 8000 feet. A
hundred or more may be counted in an hour's walk at my camp, 7000 feet,
on Silver Creek. They are very silent, uttering now and then a 'cheep,'
and always busy searching among the leaves and cones for insects. Among
some fifty collected in the first week in August, 1896, there were only
two or three adults. The young males have the most coloring, but they in
no way approach adult plumage. These great flights of the hermit warbler
are intermingled with other species, Hammond flycatcher, Calaveras and
lutescent warblers, Cassin vireo, and sometimes Louisiana tanagers and
red-brested nuthatches. Each year the flight has been noted, it comes
without warning of storm or wind, and after a few days disappears to be
seen no more.
In the Huachuca Mountains of Arizona, according to Swarth (1904), "they
reappeared in August, but at this time were seen only in the pines above
8500 feet. It is rather singular, and in contradiction to the idea that
in the migrations the old birds go first in order to show the way, that
the first secured in the fall was a young female, taken August 7th. The
young birds then became very abundant, and on August 14th the first
adult female was taken; and not until August 19th was an adult male
seen. The adults then became nearly as abundant as the juveniles, and
both together were more numerous than I have ever seen them in the
spring, on several occasions as many as fifteen to twenty being seen in
one flock."
_Winter._--Dr. Skutch writes to me: "The hermit warbler is a moderately
abundant winter resident in the Guatemalan highlands, found chiefly
between 5,000 and 10,000 feet above sea level, but ranging downward to
about 3,500 feet on the Pacific slope and possibly somewhat lower on the
Caribbean slope, where pine forests push down into the upper levels of
the Tropical Zone. These treetop birds are usually found in the mixed
flocks of small birds, of which Townsend's warblers form the predominant
element. During the early part of their sojourn in Guatemala, I
sometimes saw two, three, or more hermits in the same flock; but in
February and March, there was as a rule only one. In 1933, I saw the
last of these warblers on the Sierra de Tecpán on March 29, and recorded
the first fall arrival on September 13, when four individuals were
seen."
DISTRIBUTION
_Range._--Western North America from Puget Sound to Nicaragua.
_Breeding range._--The hermit warbler breeds =north= to northwestern
Washington (Lake Crescent and Tacoma). =East= to the Cascades of
Washington (Tacoma); Oregon (Prospect); and the Sierra Nevada in
California (Meadow Valley, Pinecrest, Yosemite Valley, Taylor Meadow,
and the San Bernardino Mountains). =South= to the San Bernardino
Mountains and La Honda. =West= to the Pacific coast from central western
California northward (La Honda, Cahto, and Garberville); western Oregon
(Kerby and Tillamook); and northwestern Washington (Lake Crescent).
_Winter range._--The hermit warbler has been found in winter =north= to
central Mexico (Taxco, Cuernavaca, and Mexico City). =East= to Mexico
City and central Guatemala (San Gerónimo and Alotepeque). =South= to
southern Guatemala (Alotepeque); probably farther south since specimens
have been taken at Los Esesmiles, El Salvador, and Metagalpa, Nicaragua.
=West= to western Guatemala (Alotepeque, Tecpán, and Momostenango);
western Oaxaca (La Parada); and northern Guerrero (Taxco).
The hermit warbler has been taken three times in January in central
western California (San Gerónimo and Point Reyes, Marin County; and
Pacific Grove, Monterey County).
_Migration._--Late dates of spring departure from the winter home are:
Guatemala--Tecpán, March 29. Sonora--Rancho la Arizona, May 8.
Arizona--Huachuca Mountains--May 28.
Early dates of spring arrival are: Tampico--Galindo, March 19.
Coahuila--Sierra de Guadeloupe, April 20. Arizona--Oracle, April 12.
California--Witch Creek, April 10. Washington--Tacoma, April 25.
Late dates of fall departure are: Washington--Edwards, October 19.
California--Monterey, October 20. Arizona--Santa Catalina Mountains,
September 29. Tamaulipas--Guiaves, October 7.
Early dates of fall arrival are: California--Berkeley, July 9.
Arizona--Graham Mountains, July 30. New Mexico--Animas Peak, August 3.
Michoacán--Tancitaro, August 16. Guatemala--Tecpán, September 13.
_Casual records._--Specimens of the hermit warbler have been collected
in the Huachuca Mountains in Arizona on June 16, 1894; at Basin in the
Chisos Mountains in Texas on May 3, 1935; and near Cambridge, Minn., on
May 3, 1931.
_Egg dates._--California: 10 records, May 14 to June 25; 6 records, June
3 to 14, indicating the height of the season.
Washington: 3 records, June 5 to 11 (Harris).
DENDROICA CERULEA (Wilson)
CERULEAN WARBLER
PLATE 39
HABITS
This heavenly-blue wood warbler was first introduced to science,
figured, and named by Wilson in the first volume of his American
Ornithology. Only the male was figured and described from a specimen
received from Charles Willson Peale and taken in eastern Pennsylvania.
The female was not known until Charles Lucien Bonaparte described it in
his continuation of Wilson's American Ornithology. Strangely enough the
discovery of this specimen was also made by a member of the famous Peale
family, Titian Peale, the bird having been taken in the same general
region, on the banks of the Schuylkill, August 1, 1825. Audubon met with
it later, but was almost wholly wrong in what he wrote about it, though
his plate is good.
The species is now known to occupy a rather extensive breeding range
located mainly west of the Alleghenies and east of the Great Plains from
southern Ontario and central New York southward to the northern parts of
some of the Gulf States and Texas. It is, however, decidedly local in
its distribution over much of this range.
This warbler, a bird of the tree-tops in heavy deciduous woods, where
its colors make it difficult to distinguish among the lights and shadows
of the lofty foliage and against the blue sky, is well named cerulean!
In his notes from central New York, Samuel F. Rathbun writes: "The type
of growth to which the cerulean warbler is partial appears to be the
rather open forests in the lowlands and often along some stream. During
the nesting season, it will not be found to any extent in the better
class of hardwood trees of the uplands; in fact, this warbler shows a
strong liking for areas where large elms and soft maples and black ash
are the dominant trees." Verdi Burtch wrote to Dr. Chapman (1907) that
near Branchport, N. Y., this warbler is "locally abundant in mixed
growths of oak and maple with a few birch and hickory." In other
portions of its range, it is found in mixed woods of maples, beech,
basswood or linden, elm, sycamore, or oaks. Frank C. Kirkwood (1901)
found that, in Maryland, "the species has a decided preference for high
open woods clear of underbrush. * * * The trees are principally
chestnuts, with oaks, hickorys, tulip trees, etc."
_Spring._--The main migration route of the cerulean warbler is through
the Mississippi Valley, from the Alleghenies westward; it is rare in the
Atlantic States, especially the more southern ones, and hardly more than
casual in Florida and the West Indies. It enters the United States, in
Texas and Louisiana, in April, and reaches its breeding grounds in the
interior early in May.
Rathbun (MS.) says of the spring migration in central New York: "The
cerulean warbler arrives in this region about the middle of May, its
coming being announced by its song. With rare exceptions, it is not
found in the spring migration with other warblers and it appears to move
in very small groups or singly; even in the large springtime movements
of warblers known as 'waves,' some of the birds of which remain while
others pass through the region, I have observed very few cerulean
warblers. Not much time elapses after its arrival before mating takes
place and nest building begins."
_Nesting._--The earlier ornithologists knew nothing about the nesting
habits of the cerulean warbler; Audubon's description of its nest was
entirely erroneous, and it was about 50 years after the bird was
discovered that its nest was reported. This is not strange, as the nest
is not easy to find and still more difficult to secure. Rathbun (MS.)
writes in his notes: "During our stay in New York State, we found only
three of its nests, because they were rather difficult to locate. We
found the first at a height of 55 feet in a little cluster of small,
twig-like branches growing on the side of a feathered elm; these
clusters were close enough together to be of great use in climbing the
tree, which was at least 3 feet in diameter. The nest was discovered by
seeing the bird fly into the cluster. Within the next week a second nest
was found by watching the female bird; it was at a height of 45 feet in
a very small, flat crotch of a soft maple. The third nest was at a
height of about 30 feet.
"The nests were identical in all respects except as to shape, which
varied because of its situation. Each was nicely made but not unusual in
appearance. The material used was almost wholly the fine strips of the
grayish bark of small weed stalks, neatly interwoven. Each was smoothly
and beautifully lined with the fresh stems of ground mosses of a
brownish red color, which contrasted nicely with the gray outer
material. Of great interest was the smoothness with which the material
was woven in."
Burtch wrote to Dr. Chapman (1907) that near Branchport, N. Y., where
the bird is locally common, "the nest is usually placed on a horizontal
branch or drooping branch of an elm, ranging from twenty-five to sixty
feet from the ground, and from four, to fifteen, or eighteen feet from
the body of the tree _over an opening_."
W. E. Saunders (1900) reports eight nests found in southern Ontario; two
of these were in oaks, 20 and 23 feet up, two in maples, 30 and 35 feet
from the ground, and four in basswoods (lindens), from 17 to 50 feet
above ground. He gives the measurements of three nests; they measured
externally from 1-3/4 to 2 inches in height and 2-3/4 inches in
diameter; internally they varied from 7/8 to 1 inch in depth and from
1-7/8 to 1-3/4 inches in diameter. He remarks: "A feature that
interested me very much was the extreme shallowness of the nests; all
the other warblers with which I am acquainted building a comparatively
deep nest, and the query arises, Does the bird build a shallow nest
because it places it on a substantial limb, or does it place it on a
substantial limb because its nests are shallow? The attachment of the
nest, also, is exceedingly frail, and I am inclined to think that few of
these nests would remain in position long after the young had left."
A nest found by Kirkwood (1901) in Baltimore County, Md., is described
as follows: "The nest is made of brown bark fibre, with some fine grass
stems among it, and is finished inside with a few black horse-hairs.
Outside it is finished with gray shreds of bark, spider web, and a few
small fragments of newspaper that had been water-soaked. * * * As the
branch sloped, one part of the rim is within 3/4 of an inch of it, while
the opposite part is 1-3/4 inches above it, the material comes down on
one side of branch to 2-1/4 inches below the rim. On this side a tiny
twig arches out from branch and extending to the rim is embedded in the
nest, and the leaves which grew from its top shaded the nest." The nest
was 48 feet and 6 inches up from the ground and 15 feet out from the
trunk of a tulip tree, with no other limb between it and the ground.
A neat little nest before me is made of materials similar to those
mentioned. It is lined with the reddish brown flowering stems of mosses
smoothly woven with other very fine brownish fibres into a compact rim,
and it is decorated externally with various brown and gray lichens and
mosses. Other nests have been reported in sycamores, beeches, rock
maples, sugar maples, and white oaks.
_Eggs._--The cerulean warbler lays from 3 to 5 eggs, usually 4. They are
ovate to short ovate and have a slight luster. The ground color is
grayish white, creamy white, or even very pale greenish white, and they
are speckled, spotted or blotched with "bay," "chestnut," or "auburn,"
intermingled with spots of "light brownish drab," or "brownish drab."
Some eggs have spots scattered all over the surface, but usually they
are concentrated at the large end, where a loose wreath is formed.
Generally the eggs are finely marked, but occasionally are quite heavily
blotched. The measurements of 50 eggs average 17.0 by 13.0 millimeters;
the eggs showing the four extremes measure =17.9= by 13.0, 17.0 by
=13.7=, =16.0= by 12.4, and 17.2 by =12.0= millimeters (Harris).
_Young._--The period of incubation seems to be unknown, and we have no
information on the care and development of the young. Incubation is said
to be performed by the female alone, but both parents assist in feeding
the young. After the young are out of the nest, they may be seen
travelling through the woods in family parties with their parents. There
seems to be no evidence that more than one brood is raised in a season.
_Plumages._--Ridgway (1902) describes the young cerulean warbler in
nestling (juvenal) plumage as "above uniform brownish gray (deep drab
gray), the pileum divided longitudinally by a broad median stripe of
grayish white; sides of head (including a broad superciliary stripe) and
entire under parts white; a narrow postocular stripe of deep drab gray;
wings as in adults, but edgings greenish rather than bluish."
The first winter plumage is assumed by a partial postjuvenal molt,
involving the contour plumage and the wing coverts, but not the rest of
the wings nor the tail. Dr. Dwight (1900) describes the young male in
this plumage as "above, deep bice-green, partly concealing cinereous
gray which is conspicuous on the rump and upper tail coverts, the latter
and the feathers of the back often black centrally. The wing coverts
with bluish cinereous gray edgings; two wing bands white, faintly tinged
with canary-yellow. Below, white, strongly washed except on the chin,
abdomen and crissum with primrose-yellow, the sides and flanks streaked
obscurely with dull black. Superciliary line primrose-yellow; lores and
orbital regions whitish; a dusky transocular streak."
The first nuptial plumage is acquired by a partial prenuptial molt
"which involves much of the body plumage and wing coverts, but not the
rest of the wings nor the tail. The grayish cerulean blue, the black
streaks on the back and the white wing bands are acquired; below, the
plumage is white with a narrow bluish black band on the throat and the
sides distinctly streaked. Young and old become practically
indistinguishable, except by the duller wings and tail of the juvenal
dress."
The adult winter plumage is acquired by a complete postnuptial molt in
July, which he says "differs from first winter in being much bluer and
whiter, the wings and tail blacker and the edgings a bluer gray.
Resembles the adult nuptial, but rather grayer on the back and the
throat band incomplete." The adult nuptial plumage is acquired by a
partial-prenuptial molt as in the young bird.
He says of the plumages of the female: "The plumages and moults
correspond to those of the male. In juvenal plumage the edgings of the
wings and tail are greener tinged than those of the male. In first
winter plumage the green above is duller and the black of the back and
tail coverts is lacking; below there is more yellow and the side streaks
are obscure. The first nuptial plumage is acquired by a moult limited
chiefly to the head and throat which become bluer and whiter
respectively. Later plumages are brighter, but green always replaces the
blue of the male."
_Food._--No thorough study of the food of the cerulean warbler seems to
have been made, but it is known to be insectivorous, foraging among the
foliage, twigs, branches, and even on the trunks of trees. It is an
expert fly catcher, darting out into the air for flying insects. A. H.
Howell (1924) says that "examination of 4 stomachs of this species taken
in Alabama showed the food to consist of Hymenoptera, beetles, weevils,
and caterpillars." Professor Aughey (1878) observed this warbler
catching locusts in Nebraska.
_Behavior._--S. Harmsted Chubb (1919) describes the behavior of the
cerulean warbler as follows: