(Mazatlán); Nayarit (Tepic); southern Veracruz (Tlacotalpan); Yucatán
(Progreso); and Quintana Roo (Cozumel Island). =East= to Quintana Roo
(Cozumel Island and Xcopén); British Honduras (Belize); central
northern Honduras (Ruatán Island and Puerto Castilla); southeastern
Nicaragua (Greytown); and central Costa Rica (San José and Cartago).
=South= to Costa Rica. =West= to western Costa Rica (Cartago); western
Guatemala (Dueñas and Totonicopán); western Guerrero (Acapulco); western
Michoacán (Coahuayana); Colima (Colima); and southwestern Sinaloa
(Mazatlán). It also winters in small numbers in Cameron County, Tex.
_Migration._--Late dates of departure from the winter home are:
Puerto Rico--Ponce, February 26. Haiti--Île à Vache, April 29.
Cuba--Cienfuegos, April 15. Bahamas--New Providence, April 15.
Veracruz--Tres Zapotes, March 25.
Early dates of spring arrival are: Alabama--Greensboro, March 10.
Georgia--Augusta, March 2. South Carolina--Columbia, March 23. North
Carolina--Raleigh, March 13. Virginia--Lawrenceville, March 19. District
of Columbia--Washington, March 24.
Late dates of fall departure are: Ohio--Toledo, September 28.
Indiana--Bloomington, October 9. Missouri--St. Louis, October 11.
Kentucky--Bowling Green, October 5. Tennessee--Nashville, October 3.
Arkansas--Helena, October 10. Mississippi--Biloxi, October 12.
Louisiana--Monroe, October 16. Texas--Brownsville, October 8. District
of Columbia--Washington, September 27. Virginia--Lynchburg, October 6.
North Carolina--Chapel Hill, October 6. Georgia--Athens, October 11.
Early dates of fall arrival are: Bahamas--Nassau, July 26.
Cuba--Guantánamo, July 11. Jamaica, August 16. Dominican Republic--Monte
Viejo, August 26. Puerto Rico--Fortuna, August 28. Mexico--Chiapas,
Ocote, August 13. Guatemala--San Lucas, August 7. Honduras--Truxillo,
September 26. Costa Rica--San José, September 17.
_Casual records._--A number of specimens of the sycamore warbler have
been taken on the Atlantic seaboard.
_Egg dates._--Florida: 11 records, April 17 to June 9; 7 records, April
20 to 29.
South Carolina: 31 records, April 2 to May 22; 21 records, April 14 to
26, indicating the height of the season (Harris).
DENDROICA DOMINICA ALBILORA Ridgway
SYCAMORE YELLOW-THROATED WARBLER
PLATE 44
HABITS
This western form of the yellow-throated warbler makes its summer home
in the Mississippi Valley, from southern Wisconsin and southern Michigan
southward, and it winters in Mexico and Central America. Although its
winter range is so widely separated from that of the eastern form and
its summer range, mainly west of the Alleghenies, is quite distinct, the
two forms are very much alike in characters and habits. Ridgway (1902)
describes it as similar to the yellow-throated warbler, "but with much
smaller bill, the superciliary stripe more rarely yellow anteriorly, and
with white areas on inner webs of lateral rectrices averaging decidedly
larger."
Allison wrote to Dr. Chapman (1907) that in southern Louisiana, "it has
a strong liking for woods shrouded in heavy festoons of Spanish moss,
and, therefore, keeps much to the cypress swamps; but it is common in
the less damp woods in the same regions; on the northern shores of Lake
Pontchartrain it spreads slightly from the cypress swamp into the pines.
It is essentially a bird of the larger trees, and swampy forest may be
considered its typical habitat." M. G. Vaiden, of Rosedale, Miss., tells
me that he always looks for the sycamore warbler in the cypresses, and
that it is seldom found elsewhere, except on migrations.
Ridgway (1889) says of its haunts in Illinois: "The Sycamore Warbler is
a common summer resident in the bottom-lands, where, according to the
writer's experience, it lives chiefly in the large sycamore trees along
or near water courses." In Indiana, according to A. W. Butler (1898),
"the Sycamore Warbler does not depart from the vicinity of streams, even
following small creeks, along which sycamores grow, for quite a distance
towards their source. They seem to prefer these trees, spending much
time among their highest branches, but they may also be found among all
the trees fringing waterways, sometimes quite near the ground, and often
are seen among our orchards, lawns, and even the shade trees along the
streets of towns in the valleys."
It seems to be partial to the large, picturesque, stream-loving
sycamores in other parts of its range, as far north and east as Michigan
and Ohio, thus deserving its well-chosen name. In many places these fine
trees have disappeared, and the warblers have become scarce or have gone
entirely.
_Spring._--The sycamore yellow-throated warbler is one of the earliest
wood warblers to enter the United States from its winter home, arriving
in Louisiana around the first week in March, reaching Indiana about the
middle of April, and appearing in Michigan as early as April 20. In
Ohio, according to Dr. Wheaton (1882), "this is the first of the family
to arrive in spring. It is always to be seen before the Yellow-rumped
and Yellow Warblers make their appearance, sometimes before the last
snow and ice. I have seen them in considerable numbers on the 13th of
April, and have known of its occurrence as early as April 9th. When on
their migrations they confine themselves almost exclusively to the
trees which skirt the streams, and move northward by day with
considerable rapidity."
The main migration route seems to be almost directly northeastward, from
western Mexico and Central America to western North Carolina and Ohio,
and more directly northward through the broad Mississippi Valley to
Michigan and Wisconsin. This is markedly different from the migration
route of the eastern race, which migrates nearly northward along the
Atlantic coast.
_Nesting._--Whether the nest of the sycamore warbler is in a cypress or
in a sycamore, it is always placed at a considerable height from the
ground, for this is a tree-top bird. Nests have been recorded at heights
ranging from 10 to 120 feet above the ground, but probably most of them
are between 30 and 60 feet up. Mr. Butler (1928) describes two Indiana
nests of similar construction. One was--
built about 35 or 40 feet above the ground in a flat crotch, on an
approximately horizontal limb of a large sycamore tree. * * * The nest
measures as follows: Outside diameter 2.50 inches; inside diameter 1.65;
outside height 2 inches; inside depth 1.75 inches. The heavier frame was
composed of shreds of grapevine bark, bits of the covering and coarser
fibre of weeds, mingled with which were many small pieces of cotton cord
or ravelings. The nest was lined and its entire bottom was composed of
the soft down obtained from dry sycamore balls. In fact the nest really
had no foundation for the bottom, the lining material reaching through
to the limb. [The other] was about 75 feet above the ground in a crotch
of small branches toward the end of a sycamore limb which was not strong
enough to bear one's weight. It was so hidden by the foliage that it
could not be seen until some of the leaves fell this autumn.
A set of four eggs is in the Richard C. Harlow collection, taken by W.
C. Avery, Greensboro, Ala., April 24, 1893. The nest was in a
liquidambar tree, 26 feet up and 9 feet out from the body of the tree,
on a horizontal branch and nearly concealed in the _Tillandsia_ in which
it was built. George Finlay Simmons (1925) says that in Texas the nests
are sometimes built in an elm or a pecan tree, from 12 to 35 feet from
the ground.
_Eggs._--The sycamore warbler lays from 3 to 5 eggs; in most cases 4
eggs seem to complete the set. Mr. Simmons (1925) describes them as
"dull greenish gray-white; marked with distinct and clouded blotches,
specks, and under-shell markings of lavender, purplish-gray, umber, and
brownish-red; and sometimes even blackish spots; usually wreathed about
the larger end." The measurements of 10 eggs average 16.9 by 12.7
millimeters; the eggs showing the four extremes measure =17.6= by
=12.1=, =16.2= by 12.8, and 16.6 by =13.0= millimeters.
_Plumages._--The sequence of plumages and molts is probably the same as
for the yellow-throated warbler.
_Food._--Very little seems to have been published on the food of this
warbler, but it probably does not differ materially from that of the
other wood warblers. Professor Aughey (1878) found remains of 15 locusts
and 24 other insects in the stomach of one collected in Nebraska. A. H.
Howell (1924) says: "Examination of 9 stomachs of this bird from Alabama
showed its food to be mainly flies, beetles, ants and other Hymenoptera,
and spiders."
_Behavior._--Ridgway (1889) says that "in its motions, this warbler
partakes much of the character of a creeper, often ascending or
descending trunks of trees or following their branches, much in the
manner of a _Mniotilta_." Butler (1898) says that "its longer flights
much resemble those of the Chipping Sparrow. Its shorter ones, as with
quivering wings it beats rapid strokes when moving from limb to limb,
remind one of the movements of the Kingbird." Referring to its general
habits in Texas, Simmons (1925) says it is:--
observed singly or in pairs, moving very slowly about in the tops of the
trees, particularly the sycamores along streams, carefully keeping limbs
and branches between itself and any chance observer. Movements very
deliberate, sometimes stopping for several minutes, _creeping_ along by
small hops, among upper branches, never on trunks or larger limbs; thus,
in actions, strikingly different from most members of the warbler
family. Usually keeps to the tops of the tallest trees; hops from one
perch to another very slowly; occasionally comes down among the lower
branches. Usually quiet, the song being uttered at wide intervals;
however, at times in spring it may be heard almost constantly singing.
_Voice._--Butler (1898) writes: "The song of the Sycamore Warbler, as I
catch it, is as follows: _Twit, che-e, che-e, che-e, che-e, che-e,
che-á_. This is about its usual length. The first syllable is abrupt,
with rising inflection, then, after a slight pause, the remainder is
uttered at the same pitch until the last syllable, which ends sharply
with a slight rise in tone. The whole song is very unique. Its notes are
clear and distinct, and it is pitched in such a key that it may be heard
under favorable circumstances over a quarter of a mile."
Mr. Allison wrote to Dr. Chapman (1907) as follows: "The call-note is a
rather lively chipping, like that of an agitated Parula Warbler, or
perhaps somewhat more like that of Pine Warbler. The song is like the
Indigo Bunting's, much softened, and with a falling cadence all the way
through; thus: _See-wee, see-wee, see-wee, swee, swee, swee, swee_--the
last four notes uttered more rapidly, but becoming fainter, until the
last one is very indistinct."
Mrs. Nice (1931) writes: "The songs of this lovely warbler made one
think of evergreen forests; they gave a wistful, haunting touch to the
somber, leafless woods, where most of the bird notes were loud and
ringing. The bird in the Oliver's woods in 1927 had two songs. 'A' was
in a continuously descending scale except for the last note which was
slightly higher than that preceding--_see see see see see see chérwer_;
the ending was abrupt. 'B' was more musical; it consisted of four notes
on the same pitch, then three descending, ending with one on a somewhat
higher pitch. Both songs were given five and six times a minute."
_Winter._--Dr. Skutch contributes the following note: "The sycamore
warbler is a rare winter resident in Central America, infrequently
recorded in both the highlands and the Caribbean lowlands. Although
Griscom states that in Guatemala it is a common winter visitant, the
statement scarcely seems supported by the paucity of published records.
Carriker knew of but one specimen taken in Costa Rica. I have myself
seen this bird only thrice during 12 years in Central America.
On January 22, 1935, I found one in a flock of Townsend's and
black-throated green warblers in the pine woods on the Finca Mocá, on
the Pacific slope of Guatemala at 3,500 feet. My one Honduran record is
of a bird seen among the coconut trees by the shore at Puerto Castilla,
on January 27, 1931. Peters secured a single specimen from a coconut
palm near Tela, in the same general region, on January 18, 1928. In
Costa Rica, I found one of these rare warblers in the garden of the
hacienda Las Cóncavas, near Cartago, at 4,600 feet above sea-level, on
November 3, 1935.
"Griscom's record of the sycamore warbler at San Lucas, Guatemala, on
August 7, indicates early arrival. The single published Costa Rican date
is of a bird collected by Underwood at San José on September 17. The
date of the spring departure appears to be quite unknown."
DENDROICA GRACIAE GRACIAE Baird
NORTHERN GRACE'S WARBLER
HABITS
This pretty little warbler was discovered by Dr. Elliott Coues (1878)
and named by him in honor of his sister and for whom, as he expresses
it, "my affection and respect keep pace with my appreciation of true
loveliness of character." Of its discovery, he states: "While journeying
through New Mexico, _en route_ to Fort Whipple, Arizona, in July, 1864,
I found Grace's Warbler on the summit of Whipple's Pass of the Rocky
Mountains, not far from the old site of Fort Wingate, and secured the
first specimen on the second of the month just named." He afterwards
found it to be "the most abundant bird of its kind, excepting Audubon's
Warbler," in the pine forests on the mountains of Arizona, and says that
Henshaw found it to be "one of the commonest of the summer Warblers in
the White Mountains. * * * His observations confirm my own in regard to
the pine-loving character of the birds; he found them almost invariably
in coniferous forests, passing swiftly along the smaller branches of
these tall trees, or darting into the air to capture passing insects;
and even in August, when various families had united into small flocks,
and were lingering in company with other insectivorous birds, before
their departure for the South, their preference for their native pines
was still evident."
I found it fairly common in the upper reaches of Ramsey Canyon in the
Huachuca Mountains of Arizona, among the tall, scattered yellow pines,
at elevations between 6,000 and 7,000 feet, where a nest with young was
found on June 4, 1922. Swarth (1904) found it more common there as a
migrant than as a breeding bird and rather irregular in its abundance.
Grace's warbler, now well-known as a summer resident in the mountains of
southern Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, Sonora, and Chihuahua, is
apparently closely related to the yellow-throated warbler of the
southern States and to Adelaide's warbler of Puerto Rico; it has a
slightly differentiated subspecies in Central America.
_Nesting._--What is probably the first authentic nest of Grace's warbler
to be reported was taken in Yavapai County, Ariz., on June 23, 1890, by
H. Keays for H. P. Attwater. This nest is described by Samuel B. Ladd
(1891) as "placed on limb of pine sixty feet from the ground. Nest very
compact; outside diameter 3 in. by 1-1/2 in. high; inside diameter 1-3/4
in. by 1-1/4 in. deep. The body of this nest is composed of horse-hair,
strings and vegetable fibres. The most abundant vegetable material
interwoven consists of the staminate catkins and bud scales of _Quercus
emoryi_. There is also some wool, vegetable down, and insect webbing, in
which are entangled the exuviae of some caterpillar. Attached on the
outside was a small staminate cone of a species of _Pinus_. Nest well
lined with feathers and horse-hair."
O. W. Howard (1899) found two nests in Arizona; one nest was "placed
deep down in the middle in a large bunch of pine needles and was
entirely hidden from view." The other he found "in a red fir tree. It
was placed in a thick bunch of leaves at the extremity of a limb about
fifty feet from the ground." A nest with four eggs, in the Doe Museum in
Gainesville, Fla., taken by O. C. Poling on May 25, 1891, at 8,000 feet
in the Huachuca Mountains, was built in a bunch of pine needles and
cones at the end of a long branch of a red pine, 20 feet from the
ground.
_Eggs._--From 3 to 4 eggs, apparently more often 3, make up the set for
Grace's warbler. They are ovate with a tendency toward elongate ovate,
and are only slightly glossy. They are white or creamy white, finely
speckled and spotted with "auburn," "bay," or "chestnut brown,"
intermingled with "light brownish drab," "deep brownish drab," or "pale
vinaceous drab." The markings are concentrated at the large end, where
they frequently form a distinct wreath, leaving the lower half of the
egg immaculate. Occasionally eggs are speckled all over; and some are
marked with blotches. Generally the drab spots are in the majority, when
the fewer brown spots, which are often as dark as to appear almost
black, are more prominent. The measurements of 38 eggs average 16.9 by
12.7 millimeters; the eggs showing the four extremes measure =18.2= by
13.1, 18.0 by =13.3=, =14.8= by 12.7, and 15.4 by =11.7= millimeters
(Harris).
_Young._--Nothing seems to have been published on incubation or on the
development and care of the young.
_Plumages._--Ridgway (1902) describes the young male in first plumage as
"above plain grayish hair brown or drab-gray, the feathers ash gray
beneath the surface; sides of head similar but rather paler; malar
region, chin, and throat pale brownish gray, minutely and sparsely
flecked with darker, the chest similar, but with rather large roundish
spots of dusky; rest of under parts dull white streaked or spotted with
dusky gray medially, dull grayish laterally."
Swarth (1904) writes of the postjuvenal molt:
A young male taken July 13th is in the brown streaked plumage, but
yellow feathers are beginning to appear along the median line of the
throat and upper breast, and the yellow superciliary stripe is also
beginning to show. Another, a little older, has the streaks of the lower
parts restricted to the sides and flanks, and the yellow markings nearly
perfect. A male taken on July 30th, which has just discarded the
juvenile for the winter plumage, differs from the autumnal adults in
having the white of the under parts more strongly tinged with buff; and
whereas the adult has the back decidedly streaked, though the markings
are overcast by the brownish edgings to the feathers, in the juvenile
these markings are but imperfectly indicated.
Apparently, the nuptial plumage is assumed by wear alone, for no
available specimens show any signs of prenuptial molt and both young
birds and adults in the fall are much like the spring birds, but browner
and with the markings obscured by brownish tips that probably wear away
before spring.
Young birds and females have duller colors than the adult males and are
browner in the fall than in the spring. Adults doubtless have a complete
postnuptial molt in late summer.
_Behavior._--Grace's warbler is a bird of the pines, spending most of
its time in the towering tops of the tallest trees. It is sometimes seen
in other conifers such as hemlocks and spruces, but very seldom on or
even near the ground. Dr. Wetmore (1920) says: "Usually they were found
in the tops of the Yellow Pines where they worked about rather
leisurely, exploring the smaller limbs and at short intervals pausing to
sing. * * * Occasionally one was found working about through the oak
undergrowth at times coming down almost to the ground. The flight was
undulating and rather quick and jerky."
Dr. Coues (1878) writes: "They are seen coursing among the branchlets,
skipping at apparent random through the endless intricacies of the
foliage, hovering momentarily about the terminal bunches of needles, and
then dashing far out into clear space, to capture the passing insect
with a dexterous twist and turn. So the season passes, till the young
are on wing, when the different families, still with bonds unbroken,
ramble at leisure through the woods, the young birds timid and feeble at
first, venturing shorter flights than their parents, who seem absorbed
in solicitude for their welfare, and attend them most sedulously, till
they are quite able to shift for themselves."
We found Grace's warbler to be an active, restless species. We could
often locate one by its song coming from lofty top of some tall pine,
but before we could see its diminutive form, we would hear its song
coming from some distant tree farther up the mountain side; and so we
would follow the little songster from tree to tree, seldom getting more
than a fleeting glimpse of it. At times, however, when it was more
interested in feeding than in singing, we could see it quietly gleaning
its insect food along the smaller branches and twigs after the manner of
the pine warbler. We never saw it on or near the ground.
_Voice._--Dr. Wetmore (1920) says that the song of Grace's warbler, as
heard by him at Lake Burford, N. Mex., "was a rapid repetition of notes
somewhat reminiscent of the efforts of the Chipping Sparrow, but with
the notes evenly spaced, not blurred at the end, and closing abruptly,
so that the last syllable was as strongly accented as any of the others.
It resembled the syllables _chip chip chip chip chip_ given in a loud
tone."
Dr. Walter P. Taylor has sent me some notes on the song, which he calls
"rather a modest utterance conspicuously lacking in strength. Song,
_tseet tseet tseet tseet zeekle zeet_. A better rendering is _tsew tsew
tsew tsew tsew tsee tsee tsee tsee tseeeip_! The song has something of a
yellow warbler quality. I find it extremely hard to put down on paper
anything that remotely resembles it." Again he writes it "_tchew tchew
tchew_, more slowly uttered, followed by _tsip tsip tsip tsip tsip_,
rapidly repeated."
_Field marks._--Grace's is one of the smallest of our wood warblers, a
tiny bird. It shows a striking resemblance to the yellow-throated
warbler, but it is much smaller, has no black in the cheeks, and it has
a yellow rather than a white mark below the eye. The adult male in
spring is light bluish gray above, marked on the head and back with
black spots, with a bright yellow throat, two white wing bars, and much
white in the tail. Females, young birds, and males in the fall are
similar but browner.
DISTRIBUTION
_Range._--Southwestern United States to central Mexico.
_Breeding range._--Grace's warbler breeds =north= to southern Utah (Zion
National Park); southwestern Colorado (Fort Lewis and Pagosa Springs);
and central northern New Mexico (Tres Piedras; possibly Sierra Grande).
=East= to central New Mexico (Tres Piedras and Mesa Yegua); western
Texas (Guadalupe Mountains); and northwestern Chihuahua (Colonia
García). =South= to northwestern Chihuahua (Colonia García) and
southeastern Sonora (Rancho Santa Bárbara). =West= to western Sonora
(Rancho Santa Bárbara, Moctezuma, and Nogales); eastern central and
western Arizona (Huachuca Mountains, Tucson, Fort Whipple, Hualpai
Mountains, and Mount Trumble); and southwestern Utah (Zion National
Park).
_Winter range._--In winter Grace's warbler seems to be confined to a
small area in central western Mexico, from central Jalisco (Bolaños)
southeast to east central Michoacán (Patambán and Patzcuaro); and west
to south central Jalisco (Zapotitlán); occasional north to northern
Nayarit (Santa Teresa).
_Migration._--Very little information is available regarding the
migratory movements of Grace's warbler. Dates of spring arrival are:
Sonora--Mina Abundancia, April 11. New Mexico--Silver City, April 20.
Arizona--Santa Rita Mountains, March 15. The latest date of one recorded
at Albuquerque, New Mexico, is September 7. A resident race occurs in
Central America.
_Egg dates._--Arizona: 9 records, May 3 to June 27; 5 records, May 30 to
June 8, indicating the height of the season.
New Mexico: 2 records, May 22 and June 13 (Harris).
_PLATES_
[Illustration: PLATE 1
Morristown, N. J. R. T. Peterson
BLACK-AND-WHITE WARBLER]
[Illustration: PLATE 2
Maine, June 29, 1940 Eliot Porter
BLACK-AND-WHITE WARBLER, MALE]
[Illustration: PLATE 3
Dennis, Mass. June 17, 1921 A. C. Bent
Johnson City, Tenn., May 10, 1942 B. P. Tyler
NESTS OF BLACK-AND-WHITE WARBLER]
[Illustration: PLATE 4
Reelfoot Lake, Tenn., July 9, 1940 L. H. Walkinshaw
PROTHONOTARY WARBLER]
[Illustration: PLATE 5
Duval County, Fla., May 8, 1935 S. A. Grimes
PAIR OF PROTHONOTARY WARBLERS]