_Motacilla æstiva_, GM. Syst. Nat. I, 1788, 996.—_Sylvia æstiva_,
LATH.; VIEILL. II, pl. xcv.—AUD. Orn. Biog. I, pl. xxxv. 93.
_Sylvicola æst._ SWAINS.—AUD. Birds. Am. II, pl. lxxxviii.
_Rhimamphus æst._ BON.; CAB. Jour. III, 472 (Cuba). _Dendroica
æst._ BAIRD, Birds N. Am. 1858, 282; Rev. 195.—SCLATER, Catal.
1861, 32, no. 194 (Ecuador, Cayenne, N. Granada).—TAYLOR, Ibis,
1864, 81 (Trinidad).—COOPER & SUCKLEY, P. R. R. XII, II, 1859, 181
(N. W. coast).—SAMUELS, 237.—DALL & BANNISTER, (Alaska).—COOPER,
Orn. Cal. 1, 1870, 87. _Sylvia carolinensis_, LATH. Ind. Orn. II,
1790, 551. _? Sylvia flava_, VIEILLOT, II, 1807, 31, pl. lxxxi.
_Sylvia citrinella_, WILS. II, pl. xv, fig. 5. _Sylvia childreni_,
AUD. Orn. Biog. I, 1831, pl. xxxv (young). _? Sylvia rathbonia_,
AUD. Orn. Biog. I, 1831, pl. lxv. _Sylvicola r._ AUD. Birds Am.
II, pl. lxxxix. _Motacilla rubiginosa_, PALLAS, Zoög. Rosso-Asiat.
I, 1831, 496 (Kodiak). _Rhimamphus chryseolus_, BON. Bull. Soc.
Linn. Caen, II, 1851, 32 (_D. æstiva_, from South America;
Cayenne).
Other localities: _Xalapa_, SCLATER, P. Z. S. 1859, 363. _Guatemala_,
SCLATER & SALVIN, Ibis, 1859, page 11. _Panama_, winter, LAWR.
Ann. N. Y. Lyc. 1861, 322. _Turbo, N. Granada_, CASS. Pr. A. N.
Sc. 1860, 191. _Bogota_, SCLATER, Pr. 1855, 143. _City of Mexico_,
IB. 1864, 172.
SP. CHAR. Bill lead-color. Head all round, and under parts generally,
bright yellow; rest of upper parts yellow-olivaceous, brightest on the
rump. Back with obsolete streaks of dusky reddish-brown. Fore breast
and sides of the body streaked with brownish-red. Tail-feathers bright
yellow; the outer webs and tips, with the whole upper surfaces of the
innermost one, brown; extreme outer edges of wing and tail-feathers
olivaceous like the back; the middle and greater coverts and tertials
edged with yellow, forming two bands on the wings. _Female_ similar,
with the crown olivaceous like the back, and the streaks wanting on
the back, and much restricted on the under parts. Tail with more
brown. Length of male, 5.25; wing, 2.66; tail. 2.25. (No. 940.)
_Young._ Dull brownish-olive above; pale ochraceous-yellow beneath,
with the throat more whitish; the yellow of tail restricted to inner
half of inner webs. The latter feature will serve to distinguish it
from any other North American species.
HAB. Entire North America, and in winter into South America as far as
Ecuador, Cayenne, and Trinidad. Not recorded from West Indies, where
replaced by allied species.
In the great abundance of this species and its wide range of
distribution, there are many variations in size and color, though none
that are not readily understood. In young birds the yellow of the
tail-feathers is more restricted, sometimes confined to the edge of
the inner webs. In adults there is occasionally a tinge of orange in
the forehead.
_Sylvia rathbonia_ of Audubon is described with even tail, and the
tail-feathers brown, edged externally with yellow; the reverse of
_æstiva_. It is generally, however, considered a synonyme.
Birds of this type (“Golden Warblers”) of six or eight additional
species are known to occur in the West Indies, the Galapagos, and in
Middle America; one of them, _D. bryanti_, possibly to be met with in
Southern Arizona. (See Baird, Review Am. Birds, 193.)
After comparing a series of about one hundred and twenty North and
Central American specimens (the latter being winter visitors to the
region where obtained), nothing really characteristic of any
particular region can be detected. Specimens from the Pacific coast of
the United States are perfectly identical in colors with those from
the Atlantic States; and they agree in size and proportions, except of
the bill, which is appreciably longer and broader in the Eastern than
in the Western birds. The most highly colored examples are from the
interior regions, along the Mississippi Valley from Louisiana to
Northern Illinois, and over the plains north to Fort Simpson. The
majority of the specimens from this region are just appreciably
different from others, in having the yellow more intense and
prevalent, almost subduing the olive shades above; the crown more
tinged with orange. Sometimes (as in No. 4,301, Calcasieu Pass, La.)
the rump and upper tail-coverts are absolutely _pure_ yellow, only a
medial stripe on the feathers being olivaceous like the back. The
orange-rufous tinge on the crown is deepest in Nos. 4,665, Fort
Lookout, and 4,300, Calcasieu Pass.
Three adult summer males from Alaska (Nos. 54,429, Kodiak; 54,425,
Yukon River; and 27,267, Fort Yukon), as well as one from Maine
(52,378, Calais), differ from others in having the olive pervading the
whole surface above, even to the bill, the forehead being only tinged
with yellow, and the edges of wing-coverts merely inclining to this
color. The lower parts are much as in Southern specimens, though the
yellow is less intense.
Females from Arizona (as 49,712, Camp Grant, May; 40,664, Fort
Whipple, May; and 34,340, Los Pinos, New Mexico, June) differ from
others in very bleached plumage, the lower parts being almost white,
and the upper surface quite ashy. But this is, in fact, an actual
bleaching, frequently to be seen in birds from that region.
HABITS. The geographical range of the common Summer Yellow-Bird is
very nearly coextensive with North America. In its northern
distribution it is found as far toward the arctic shores as any of our
land birds. Richardson speaks of it as well known throughout the fur
countries as far as the woods extend, and mentions meeting with it
among the earliest arrivals in spring, coming in company with the
equally well-known Robin and the Grakle. At Fort Franklin, latitude
66°, he saw it the 15th of May, about the time of its first appearance
in New England. This was supposed to be the limit of its northern
range, but more recent observations give abundant evidence of its
presence, in considerable numbers, to the very shores of the Arctic
Ocean. The late Mr. Hepburn, in manuscript notes, states it to be a
common summer visitant both of California and Vancouver’s Island, and
that along the coast he has traced it as far north as the frontier
line of 54° 40′, where it arrives at the beginning of May, but does
not nest until the end of the month.
Mr. Dall, in his notes on the birds of Alaska, states that this
Warbler is a rather common bird all through that territory, and gives
its arrival as about the 10th of May.
Its extreme southern limit is not so distinctly traced, but is at
least as far as the northern portions of South America, inclusive of
Cayenne and Ecuador. In all of the West Indies except Trinidad it is
replaced by several closely allied species or local races. In
Trinidad, Mr. E. C. Taylor states that he found this species common,
and could perceive no difference from North American specimens. In
Guatemala it is abundant in the winter.
Dr. Coues found this Warbler abundant in Arizona, where it is a summer
resident, from April 25 to the middle of September. There, as
elsewhere, its preference for watercourses was noticed. Wherever
found, it is always most abundant in alluvial meadows, and more rare
in other localities.
Dr. Samuel Cabot found this Warbler common in Central America, and Dr.
Cragin, of Surinam, sent the Boston Society several specimens from
Guiana. Dr. Woodhouse found it abundant in Texas and New Mexico, as
did Drs. Suckley and Cooper in Washington Territory and California. It
breeds over the whole area of North America, from Georgia on the
southeast and from Mexico, northward. Dr. Sumichrast found it, only as
a migratory bird, abundant on the plains of Mexico.
The notes of Mr. Kennicott and the memoranda of Messrs. McFarlane,
Ross, and Lockhart attest the extreme abundance of this species in the
farthest Arctic regions. In nearly every instance the nests were
placed in willows from two to five feet from the ground, and near
water. In one instance Mr. Ross found the eggs of this species in the
nest of _Turdus swainsoni_, which had either been deserted or the
parent killed, as the eggs were in it, and would probably have been
hatched by the Warbler with her own.
Dr. Cooper found this Warbler very abundant in Washington Territory,
and noticed their arrival in large numbers at the Straits of Fuca as
early as April 8.
The Summer Yellow-Bird arrives in New England with great uniformity
from the first to the middle of May. Its coming is usually the
harbinger of the opening summer and expanding leaves. Unlike most of
its family, it is confiding and familiar, easily encouraged, by
attention to its wants, to cultivate the society of man. It
confidingly builds its nest in gardens, often in close vicinity to
dwellings, and in the midst of large villages and cities, among the
shrubbery of frequented parks. This Warbler, soon after its arrival,
begins the construction of its nest. It is usually placed in low
bushes, three or four feet from the ground. Occasionally very
different positions are chosen. Hedges of buckthorn and hawthorn,
barberry-bushes, and other low shrubs, are their favorite places of
resort. On one occasion the nest was placed some forty feet from the
ground, in the top of a horse-chestnut tree overhanging the main
street of a village. Such high positions are, however, not very
common.
The nest is invariably fastened to several twigs with great firmness,
and with a remarkable neatness and skill. A great variety of materials
is employed in the construction of their nests, though not often in
the same nest, which is usually quite homogeneous. The more common
materials are the hempen fibres of plants, fibrous strips of bark,
slender stems of plants and leaves, and down of asclepias. Interwoven
with these, forming the inner materials, are the down from willow
catkins, the woolly furze from fern-stalks and the _Eriophorum
virginicum_, and similar substances. These are lined with soft, fine
grasses, hair, feathers, and other warm materials. Cotton, where
procurable, is a favorite material; as also is wool, where abundant. I
have known instances where nests were built almost exclusively of one
or the other material. A pair of these birds, in 1836, built their
nest under a parlor window in Roxbury, where all their operations
could be closely watched. When discovered, only the framework, the
fastening to the supporting twigs, had been erected. The work of
completion was simple and rapid. The female was the chief builder,
taking her position in the centre of the nest and arranging the
materials in their places as her mate brought them to her.
Occasionally, with outstretched wings and expanded tail, she would
whirl herself round, giving to the soft and yielding materials their
hemispherical form. At intervals she arrested her revolutions to stop
and regulate with her bill some unyielding portion. When her mate was
dilatory, she made brief excursions and collected material for
herself, and when the materials brought her were deemed unsuitable,
they were rejected in a most summary and amusing manner. The important
part of the tail-feathers in shaping the nest and placing the
materials in position was a striking feature in this interesting
performance. The greater portion of the nest was thus constructed in a
single day.
The wonderful sagacity displayed by this Warbler in avoiding the
disagreeable alternative of either having to abandon its own nest or
of rearing the young of the intrusive Cow Blackbird, when one of these
eggs is dropped in her nest, was first noticed by Mr. Nuttall. The egg
of the parasite, being too large for ejectment, is ingeniously
incarcerated in the bottom of the nest, and a new lining built over
it. Occasionally, either by accident or design, the intrusive egg has
been fractured. Mr. Nuttall states that where the parasitic egg is
laid after her own, the Summer Yellow-Bird acts faithfully the part of
a foster-parent. This, however, is not according to my observations.
In several instances I have known the Summer Yellow-Bird utterly
refuse to act the part of a foster-parent, and, rather than do so,
sacrifice her own eggs. So far as I know, this Warbler will never sit
upon or hatch out the egg of the Cowbird, under any circumstances.
Some powerful instinct, bordering closely upon reason, seems to teach
these intelligent Warblers the character of the intruder, and they
sacrifice their own eggs rather than rear the parasite. In this
dilemma they will always, so far as I know, incarcerate their own eggs
with the Cowbird’s and reconstruct the nest above them. In one
instance the same pair of Yellow-Birds twice, in the same nest,
covered up alien eggs in this manner, building, in fact, three nests
one above the other, between the walls of which had been successively
included two eggs of the Cowbird. This three-storied nest measured
seven inches in length, and was built almost exclusively of raw
cotton. The covering of the imprisoned eggs was about two thirds of an
inch thick. In both instances the Cowbird’s eggs had been broken,
apparently by design.
So far as I am aware this Warbler raises but one brood in
Massachusetts in a season. In Pennsylvania it is said to raise two,
and even three. The eggs are usually five and occasionally six in
number.
This Warbler is conspicuous in its devotion to its young, evincing a
strong attachment and an anxiety in regard even to an unoccupied nest,
and betraying the site by this solicitude. They will also resort to
various expedients to draw one away from their nest, by feigned
lameness and other stratagems and manœuvres.
The song of the Summer Yellow-Bird is simple but pleasing, and is
easily recognized when once known, though liable to be confounded with
that of the Maryland Yellow-Throat, and also said to resemble the song
of several other Warblers.
In confinement they usually become very tame, confiding, and
reconciled to their imprisonment, and have been known to perch on an
outstretched finger, and to catch flies in a room.
Their eggs vary in length from .61 to .70 of an inch, and in breadth
from .49 to .52. They have a ground-color of a light green. Their dots
and blotches vary greatly in number, size, and manner of distribution.
Their colors are light purple, darker purplish-brown, and other shades
of brown and lilac.
Dendroica coronata, GRAY.