_Helminthophaga luciæ_, COOPER, Pr. Cal. Acad. July, 1861, 120 (Fort
Mohave).—BAIRD, Rev. Am. B. 1864, 178.—ELLIOT, Illust. Birds N.
Am. I, v.—COOPER, Orn. Cal. 1, 1870, 84.
SP. CHAR. General form and size that of _H. ruficapilla_. Above
light-cinereous; beneath white, having a soiled, very pale buff,
almost white tinge on the throat, breast, and flanks. A patch on the
vertex, as in _H. ruficapilla_, and the upper tail-coverts, dark
chestnut-brown. Lores to nostrils and region round the eye, like the
throat, in rather decided contrast to the ash of the crown. Quills and
tail-feathers brown, narrowly edged externally with gray. An obsolete
terminal white patch on the inner web of the outer feather; this web
in most of the other tail-feathers likewise narrowly edged with white.
Axillars and inner face of wings white. Iris brown. Tarsi blue.
Length, in life, 4.40; extent, 6.90; wing, 2.40. Length of skin, 3.90;
wing, 2.33; tail, 1.86; tarsus, .64; middle toe and claw, .50; bill
above, .35; gape, .50.
HAB. Fort Mohave, Colorado River (Middle Province of United States);
Fort Whipple, Arizona.
HABITS. This is also a new or recently discovered species of this
interesting group of Warblers. In regard to its nest and eggs nothing
is positively ascertained, yet as all the birds of this genus are
known to build on the ground, and to have a great uniformity in the
characteristics of their eggs, it seems to be a matter of natural
inference that this species also is a ground builder, and has eggs
similar to those of the Nashville Warbler. For the little we know in
regard to its habits and distribution, we are indebted to the
observations of Dr. J. G. Cooper of California, who first discovered
it, and to Dr. Coues, who has since met with it in Arizona.
Dr. Cooper first observed this species near Fort Mohave, where it made
its appearance about the last of March. His attention was called to it
by its peculiar notes, resembling those of some _Dendroicæ_, but
fainter. After considerable watching and scrambling through dense
mezquite thickets in its pursuit, he succeeded in shooting one, and
found it to be a new species. Afterwards they became more numerous,
frequenting the tops of the mezquite-trees in pursuit of insects, and
constantly uttering their short but pleasing notes. About ten days
after the first appearance of the males, Dr. Cooper obtained the first
female, and thinks that without doubt they are much later in their
migrations, as is the case with other Warblers. He was not able to
discover their nest, having to leave the valley late in May.
Mr. Holden obtained other specimens of this bird, near the 34th
parallel, in March of 1863.
Dr. Coues met with three individuals of this species near Fort
Whipple, where it is a summer resident. It arrives there between the
15th and the 20th of April, and remains until the latter part of
September. It mates about the last of April, and the young birds
appear early in June.
Dr. Coues regards its habits as more like those of the true Ground
Warblers than those of the other species of this group. It shows a
decided preference for thickets and copses, rather than for high open
woods, and is also an exceedingly shy and retiring species. To the
extreme difficulty of observing or procuring it Dr. Coues attributes
its having so long remained unnoticed.
It is described as exceedingly active in all its motions, and quite as
restless as a _Polioptila_, to which class, in its colors, it also
bears a close resemblance. The only note Dr. Coues ever heard it utter
was a quick and often repeated _tsip_, as slender and as wiry as that
of a Gnatcatcher. Dr. Cooper, however, has described its song as rich
and pleasing, the little performer being mounted on the top of some
mezquite or other bush. Dr. Cooper supposes this species to breed, not
in the Colorado Valley, but in the more mountainous regions.
Dr. Coues hazards the conjecture that this bird builds in low bushes.
Should it prove so, it would in this respect differ from all the other
members of this well-marked group, and from the other Ground Warblers,
which, in its general habits, it so much resembles.
Helminthophaga celata, var. celata, BAIRD.