_Motacilla virens_, GMELIN, Syst. Nat. I, 1788, 985. _Sylvia virens_,
LATH.; VIEILLOT; WILS. II; NUTT.; BON.; AUD. Orn. Biog. IV, pl.
cccxcix.—GÄTKE, Naumannia, 1858, 423 (Heligoland, Europe, an
original description). _Sylvicola virens_, SW.; AUD. Birds Am. II,
pl. lxxxiv.—REINHARDT, Vid. Med. for 1853, 1854, 72, 81
(Greenland). _Rhimanphus virens_, CAB. Mus. Hein. Jour. III, 1855,
474 (Cuba; winter).—SCLATER, P. Z. S. 1856, 291 (Cordova).
_Dendroica virens_, BAIRD, Birds N. Am. 1858, 267; Rev.
182.—SCLATER & SALVIN, Ibis, 1859, 1 (Guatemala).—SCLATER, P. Z. S.
1859, 363 (Oaxaca?); 373 (Xalapa); Ibis, 1865, 89.—LAWRENCE, Ann.
N. Y. Lyc. VII, 1861, 293 (Panama).—GUNDL. Cab. Jour. 1861, 326
(Cuba).—DRESSER, Ibis, 1865, 232.—SAMUELS, 222. _Mniotilta virens_,
REINHARDT, Ibis, III, 1861, 5 (Julianhaab, Greenland).
SP. CHAR. Male. Upper parts, exclusive of wing and tail, clear yellow
olive-green; the feathers of the back with hidden streaks of black.
Forehead and sides of head and neck, including a superciliary stripe,
bright yellow. A dusky olive line from the bill through the eye, and
another below it. Chin, throat, and forepart of the breast, extending
some distance along on the sides, continuous black; rest of under
parts white, tinged with yellow on the breast and flanks. Wings and
tail-feathers dark brown, edged with bluish-gray; two white bands on
the wing; the greater part of the three outer tail-feathers white.
_Female_ similar, but duller; the throat yellow; the black of breast
much concealed by white edges; the sides streaked with black. Length,
5 inches; wing, 2.58; tail, 2.30.
HAB. Eastern Province of United States; Greenland; Heligoland, Europe;
south to Panama R. R. In Mexico, Xalapa, Cordova, and Oaxaca? Cuba
alone in West Indies. Mexico (everywhere in winter, SUMICHRAST).
The autumnal male has the black of throat and breast obscured by
whitish tips. Females are yellowish-white beneath, tinged with grayish
towards the tail.
As shown in the generic chapter, _D. virens_ is the type of a section
of olivaceous Warblers with black chin and throat. The following more
elaborate diagnoses of the group may facilitate its study, the species
being quite closely related:—
COMMON CHARACTERS. Upper parts more or less olivaceous-green, with the
feathers streaked centrally with black (sometimes concealed). Sides of
head yellow. Chin and throat black; rest of the under parts, including
inside of wings, white, with or without yellow on breast. Wings with
two white bands. Inner web of lateral tail-feather almost entirely
white from the base.
Above bright olive-green with concealed black streaks;
tail-coverts ashy. Sides conspicuously streaked with black;
crissum unspotted. Jugulum sometimes faintly tinged with
yellowish. An obscure dusky-olive stripe through the eye, and a
crescentic patch of the same some distance beneath it …
_virens_.
Above olivaceous-ashy (rump pure ash), with more distinct black
spots. Top and sides of head clear yellow, the feathers of the
crown tipped with black, or clouded with dusky plumbeous. No
dark markings or stripes on side of head. No distinct black
streaks beneath; black of throat restricted to front of neck …
_occidentalis_.
Prevailing color of upper parts black, with olivaceous edgings
on the back; rump and upper tail-covert pure black. Sides and
crissum streaked with black. A simple black stripe through the
eye; no patch beneath it … _chrysopareia_.
Above olive-green. Upper tail-coverts ashy, with central black
streaks. Feathers of head above black, with olive-green edges.
A broad olivaceous black stripe through eye from lores,
involving the ears, in which is a yellowish crescentic patch
below the eye. Black feathers of throat and chin edged with
yellow. Jugulum and sides of breast also yellow. Sides streaked
with black. No distinct black streaks on crissum … _townsendii_.
HABITS.—The Black-throated Green Warbler, like nearly all the members
of this highly interesting genus, has, to a very great degree, escaped
the closer observations of our older ornithologists. Wilson only
noticed it as it passed through Pennsylvania in its early spring
migrations. He mentions its frequenting the higher branches of forest
trees in search of the larvæ of the smaller insects that feed upon the
opening buds, and describes it as a lively, active bird, having only a
few chirping notes. All had passed on by the 12th of May. Their return
he was never able to notice, and he became afterwards satisfied that a
few remained all the summer in the higher grounds of that State,
having obtained several in June, 1809.
Audubon met with this bird from Newfoundland to Texas, but never found
it breeding. Nowhere abundant, there were large tracts of country
where he never met with it, or where it was of rare occurrence. He
found it most abundant in the vicinity of Eastport, Me. He also met
with it during summer, in New England generally, Northern
Pennsylvania, and New York, but not in Labrador. He describes its
habits as a mingling of those of the Warblers and of the Vireo, and
its notes as resembling those of the latter. In its search for food he
found it quite regardless of the near presence of man. In its spring
migrations it passes through the woods usually in pairs, in the fall
reappearing in flocks of six or seven. In breeding it occurs only in
single pairs, and each pair appropriates to itself a large tract of
territory within which no other is usually found. After October, all
have passed beyond the limits of the United States.
During the winter months it appears to be quite common in different
parts of Mexico and Central America. In the large collection of
Guatemalan skins collected by Dr. Van Patten, and purchased by the
Boston Natural History Society, this bird was one of the most abundant
of the migratory species. Specimens were taken by Mr. Boucard at Playa
Vicente, in the hot country of Oaxaca, Mexico.
Dr. Woodhouse found this Warbler common in the Indian Territory and in
Texas, and Lieutenant Couch met with it in Tamaulipas, Mexico, in
March, 1853. With these exceptions it has not been observed in any of
the government surveys, or found west of the valley of the Rio Grande.
Besides the points named, it has been obtained in Ohio, Illinois,
Missouri, and in the West Indies, in Central and in the northern
portions of South America. Reinhardt gives it as accidental in
Greenland. A single stray specimen was obtained in Heligoland, Europe,
October 19, 1858.
Mr. Paine, of Randolph, Vt., notes the arrival of this bird about the
10th of May. He speaks of it as a very sweet singer, and as usually
seen in the tops of tall trees, the hemlock being its favorite resort.
There it chants its sweet sad notes through even the heat of the day.
It continues in song nearly throughout the summer. Later in the season
it frequents the open fields, in which it is seldom seen in the
breeding-season. Its food, which it catches on the wing in the manner
of Vireos, consists of the smaller winged insects, caterpillars, and
other larvæ. In the fall, according to Mr. Audubon, it feeds upon
various kinds of small berries.
It reaches Massachusetts the first of May, and is most numerous about
the 15th, when the larger proportion pass farther north. In Western
Maine, Professor Verrill states it to be a summer but not a common
visitant; and near Calais, Mr. Boardman has found it breeding, but
does not regard it as at all common, though in the year 1867 he found
it quite abundant in the thick woods in that neighborhood during its
breeding-season. Dr. Bryant also speaks of it as one of the most
common of the Warblers observed by him near Yarmouth, N. S. A single
specimen was taken at Julianhaab, Greenland, in 1853, and sent to the
Royal Museum of Copenhagen.
In the vicinity of Boston, especially in the high grounds of Norfolk
and Essex Counties, it is a not uncommon species, and its nests are
found in certain favorite localities. Nuttall regards May 12 as the
average of their first appearance. Busy, quiet, and unsuspicious of
man, they were seen by him, collecting, in early October, in small
groups, and moving restlessly through the forests preparatory to
departing south. June 8, 1830, he found a nest of this species in a
solitary situation among the Blue Hills of Milton, Mass. The nest was
in a low and stunted juniper (a very unusual location). As he
approached, the female remained motionless on the edge of the nest, in
such a manner as to be mistaken for a young bird. She then darted to
the ground, and, moving away expertly, disappeared. The nest contained
four eggs, which he describes as white inclining to flesh-color,
variegated at the larger end with pale purplish points interspersed
with brown and black. The nest was formed of fine strips of the inner
bark of the juniper, and tough white fibrous bark of other plants,
lined with soft feathers and the slender tops of grass. The male
bird was singing his simple chant, resembling the syllables
_tē-dē-teritsé-a_, pronounced loud and slow, at the distance of a
quarter of a mile from the nest. He describes his song as simple,
drawling, and plaintive. He was constantly interrupting his song to
catch small flies, keeping up a perpetual snapping of his bill.
Several nests of this bird, given me by Mr. George O. Welch of Lynn,
have been found by him in high trees in thick woods on the western
borders of that city. They are all small, snug, compact structures,
built on a base of fine strips of bark, bits of leaves, and stems of
plants. The upper rims are a circular intertwining of fine slender
twigs, interwoven with a few fine stems of the most delicate grasses.
The inner portions of these nests are very softly and warmly bedded
with the fine down and silky stems of plants. They have a diameter of
three and a quarter inches, and a height of one and a half. The cavity
is two inches in diameter, and one and a half in depth. The eggs
measure .70 by .50 of an inch, have a white or purplish-white ground,
and are blotched and dotted with markings of reddish and purplish
brown, diffused over the entire egg, but more numerous about the
larger end. One end is much more pointed than the other.
Dendroica townsendi, BAIRD.