_Sylvia castanea_, WILS. Am. Orn. II, 1810, 97, pl. xiv, fig. 4.—BON.;
NUTT.; AUD. Orn. Biog. I, pl. lxix. _Sylvicola castanea_, SWAINS.;
JARD.; RICH.; BON.; AUD. Birds Am. II, pl. lxxx. _Rhimanphus
castaneus_, CAB. _Dendroica castanea_, BAIRD, Birds N. Am. 1858,
276; Rev. 189.—SCLATER & SALVIN, Ibis, 1859, 11 (Guatemala).—CASSIN,
Pr. A. N. Sc. 1860, 193 (Isthmus Darien; winter).—LAWRENCE, Ann.
N. Y. Lyc. 1861, 322 (Isthmus Panama; winter).—SAMUELS, 228.
_Sylvia autumnalis_, WILS. III, pl. xxiii, fig. 2.—AUD. Orn. Biog.
I, pl. lxxxviii.
SP. CHAR. _Male._ Crown dark reddish-chestnut; forehead and cheeks,
including a space above the eye, black; a patch of buff-yellow behind
the cheeks. Rest of upper parts bluish-gray streaked with black, the
edges of the interscapulars tinged with yellowish, of the scapulars
with olivaceous. Primaries and tail-feathers edged externally with
bluish-gray, the extreme outer ones with white; the secondaries edged
with olivaceous. Two bands on the wing and the edges of the tertials
white. The under parts are whitish with a tinge of buff; the chin,
throat, forepart of breast, and the sides, chestnut-brown, lighter
than the crown. Two outer tail-feathers with a patch of white on the
inner web near the end; the others edged internally with the same.
_Female_ with the upper parts olive, streaked throughout with black,
and an occasional tinge of chestnut on the crown. Lower parts with
traces of chestnut, but no stripes. Length of male, 5.00; wing, 3.05;
tail, 2.40.
HAB. Eastern Province of North America to Hudson’s Bay; Guatemala,
south to Isthmus of Darien. Not recorded from Mexico or West Indies.
The female and immature males of this species differ much from the
spring males, and are often confounded with other species, especially
with _D. striata_. A careful comparison of an extensive series of
immature specimens of the two species shows that in _castanea_ the
under parts are seldom washed uniformly on the throat and breast with
yellowish-green, but while this may be seen on the sides of the neck
and breast, or even across the latter, the chin and throat are nearly
white, the sides tinged with dirty brown, even if the (generally
present) trace of chestnut be wanting on the sides. There is a buff
tinge to the under tail-coverts; the quills are abruptly margined with
white, and there are no traces (however obsolete) of streaks on the
breast. In _D. striata_ the under parts are quite uniformly washed
with greenish-yellow nearly as far back as the vent, the sides of the
breast and sometimes of the belly with obsolete streaks; no trace of
the uniform dirty reddish-brown on the sides; the under tail-coverts
are pure white. The quills are only gradually paler towards the inner
edge, instead of being rather abruptly white.
HABITS. The Bay-breasted Warbler is one of the many species belonging
to this genus whose history is yet very imperfectly known. Everywhere
quite rare, it is yet distributed from the Atlantic to the Great
Plains, and from the Gulf of Mexico far into the Hudson Bay Territory.
In the winter it is known to extend its migrations as far to the south
as the northern portions of South America. It has not been traced to
Mexico nor to the West India Islands, but has been procured by Mr.
Salvin in Guatemala. Nearly all the specimens obtained in the United
States have either been taken before the 12th of May or in the autumn,
indicative of a more northern breeding-place. In Eastern Massachusetts
it is exceedingly rare, passing through after the middle of May and
returning in September. Mr. Maynard has obtained a specimen as late as
June 19, which, though not necessarily proving that any breed there,
indicates that the line of their area of reproduction cannot be
distant. In the western part of the same State, Mr. Allen has found it
from May 20 to the 25th, and has obtained one specimen in July. In
Western Maine, Mr. Verrill has noted its occurrence from the middle of
May to June, but it is very rare; and Mr. Boardman reports the same
for Eastern Maine, where it is a summer resident. He writes that he
has several times shot specimens in the early summer, but that he
could never find the nest. It is also given by Lieutenant Bland as one
of the birds found in the vicinity of Halifax. It was not observed by
any of the governmental exploring expeditions, nor found in Arizona by
Dr. Coues. Mr. Lawrence has received specimens from Panama, obtained
in winter, Mr. Cassin from Darien, and Mr. Sclater from Guatemala.
This species so far eluded the notice of Mr. Audubon as to prevent him
from giving any account of its habits. He only mentions its occasional
arrival in Pennsylvania and New Jersey early in April, and its almost
immediate and sudden disappearance. He several times obtained them at
that period, and yet has also shot them in Louisiana as late as June,
while busily searching for food among the blossoms of the
cotton-plant.
Wilson also regarded this species as very rare. He reports it as
passing through Pennsylvania about the middle of May, but soon
disappearing. He describes these birds as having many of the habits of
Titmice, and displaying all their activity. It hangs about the
extremity of the twigs, and darts about from place to place with
restless diligence in search of various kinds of larvæ. Wilson never
met with it in the summer, and very rarely in the fall.
Mr. Nuttall noticed this species passing through Massachusetts about
the 15th of April. He regarded it as an active insect-hunter, keeping
in the tops of the highest trees, darting about with great activity,
and hanging from the twigs with fluttering wings. One of these birds
that had been wounded soon became reconciled to its confinement, and
greedily caught at and devoured the flies that were offered. In its
habits and manners it seemed to him to greatly resemble the
Chestnut-sided Warbler.
Mr. T. M. Trippe speaks of this Warbler as one of the last to arrive
near Orange, N. Y. Owing to the fact that at that time the foliage is
pretty dense, and that it makes but a short stay, it is not often
seen. He speaks of it as not quite so active as the other Warblers,
keeping more on the lower boughs, and seldom ascending to the tops of
the trees.
Mr. C. W. Wyatt met with this species at Naranjo, in Colombia, South
America.
Eggs of this bird obtained by Mr. George Bush at Coldwater, near Lake
Superior, are of an oblong-oval shape, measuring .75 by .52 of an
inch, and except in their superior size and fewer markings might be
mistaken for eggs of _D. æstiva_. Their ground-color is a bluish or
greenish white. The markings are very few and fine, except those in
the crown around the larger end, and there the blotches are deeper and
more numerous. Their colors are dark reddish-brown and purple.
Mr. Maynard found this species the most abundant of the _Sylvicolidæ_
at Lake Umbagog, where it breeds. Two nests were taken in June. One
was found June 3, in a tree by the side of a cart-path in the woods,
just completed. It was built in the horizontal branch of a hemlock,
twenty feet from the ground, and five or six from the trunk of the
tree. By the 8th of June it contained three fresh eggs. The other was
built in a similar situation, fifteen feet from the ground, and
contained two fresh eggs.
These nests were large for the bird, and resembled those of the Purple
Finch. They were composed outwardly of fine twigs of the hackmatack,
with which was mingled some of the long hanging _Usnea_ mosses. They
were very smoothly and neatly lined with black fibrous roots, the
seed-stalks of _Cladonia_ mosses, and a few hairs. They had a diameter
of about six inches, and a height of about two and a half inches. The
cavity was three inches wide and an inch and a quarter deep. The eggs
varied in length from .71 to .65 of an inch, and in breadth from .53
to .50. Their ground-color was a bluish-green, thickly spotted with
brown, and generally with a ring of confluent blotches of brown and
lilac around the larger end. Occasionally the spots proved to be more
or less of an umber-brown, and in some specimens the spots were less
numerous than in others.
These birds were found in all the wooded sections of that region,
where they frequented the tops of tall trees. Their song, he states,
in its opening, is like that of the Black-Poll, with a terminal warble
similar to that of the Redstart, but given with less energy.
Dendroica cærulescens, BAIRD.