_Sylvia macgillivrayi_, AUD. Orn. Biog. V, 1839, 75, pl. cccxcix.
_Trichas macg._ AUD. _Geothlypis macg._ BAIRD, Birds N. Am. 1858,
244, pl. lxxix, fig. 4; Rev. 227.—SCLATER, Catal. 1861, 27 (Jalapa
and Guat.).—IB. P. Z. S. 1859, 363, 373 (Xalapa, Oaxaca).—CAB.
Jour. 1861, 84 (Costa Rica).—COOPER & SUCKLEY, P. R. R. Rep. XII,
II, 1859, 177.—COOPER, Orn. Cal. 1, 1870, 96. _Sylvicola macg._
MAX. Cab. Jour. VI, 1858, 118. _Sylvia tolmiæi_, TOWNS. J. A. N.
Sc. 1839. _Trichas tolmiæi_, NUTT. Man. I. _Trichas vegeta_
(LICHT.), BP. Consp. 1850, 310; _fide_ Cab. Jour. 1861, 84
(Mexico).
SP. CHAR. _Adult male._ Head and neck all round, throat and forepart
of the breast, dark ash-color; a narrow frontlet, loral region, and
space round the eye (scarcely complete behind), black. The eyelids
above and below the eye (not in a continuous ring) white. The feathers
of the chin, throat, and fore breast really black, with ashy-gray tips
more or less concealing the black. Rest of upper parts dark
olive-green (sides under the wings paler); of lower, bright yellow.
_Female_ with the throat paler and without any black. Length of male,
5 inches; wing, 2.45; tail, 2.45. _Young_ not seen.
HAB. Western and Middle Provinces of United States, to northern
boundary; east to Fort Laramie; south to Costa Rica.
The white eyelids of this species distinguish its males from those of
_G. philadelphia_, in which there is a black jugular patch not seen in
the present species. The females can only be known by the slenderer
bill and more rounded wing, the first quill being intermediate between
the fifth and sixth, instead of being considerably longer than the
fifth.
The autumnal adult male is as described above, except that there is a
faint tinge of green on the crown, and the ashy borders to feathers of
throat and jugulum broader, concealing more the black. The adult
female in autumn is considerably more dully colored than in spring.
HABITS. This comparatively new Warbler was first met with by Townsend,
and described by Audubon in the last volume of his Ornithological
Biography. It has since been found to have a wide range throughout the
western portion of North America, from Cape St. Lucas to British
America, and from the Plains to the Pacific. It has also been obtained
at Choapan in the State of Orizaba, Mexico, by Mr. Boucard, and in
Guatemala by Mr. Salvin, who states that throughout the district
between the volcanoes of Agua and Fuego this was a common species,
frequenting the outskirts of the forests and the edges of the
clearings. It breeds in abundance in Utah, Montana, Idaho, Oregon,
Washington Territory, and probably also in Northern California.
Townsend first met with it on the banks of the Columbia. He states
that it was mostly solitary and extremely wary, keeping chiefly in the
most impenetrable thickets, and gliding through them in a cautious and
suspicious manner. Sometimes it might be seen, at midday, perched upon
a dead twig, over its favorite places of concealment, at such times
warbling a very sprightly and pleasant little song, raising its head
until its bill is nearly vertical.
Mr. Nuttall informed Mr. Audubon that this Warbler is one of the most
common summer residents of the woods and plains of the Columbia, where
it appears early in May, and remains until the approach of winter. It
keeps near the ground, and gleans its subsistence among the low
bushes. It is shy, and when surprised or closely watched it
immediately skulks off, often uttering a loud _click_. Its notes, he
states, resemble those of the _Seiurus aurocapillus_. On the 12th of
June a nest was brought to Mr. Nuttall, containing two young birds
quite fledged, in the plumage of the mother. The nest was chiefly made
of strips of the inner bark of the _Thuja occidentalis_, lined with
slender wiry stalks. It was built near the ground in the dead,
moss-covered limbs of a fallen oak, and was partly hidden by long
tufts of _usnea_. It was less artificial than the Yellow-Throat’s
nest, but was of the same general appearance. On his restoring the
nest to its place, the parents immediately approached to feed their
charge.
Dr. Suckley found this Warbler very abundant between the Cascade
Mountains and the Pacific coast. Like all Ground Warblers it was
entirely insectivorous, all the stomachs examined containing
coleoptera and other insects. He did not find them shy, but as they
frequented thick brush they were very difficult to procure.
Dr. Cooper found this species very common about Puget Sound,
frequenting the underbrush in dry woods, occasionally singing a song
from a low tree, similar to that of the Yellow-Throat. He found its
nest built in a bush, a foot from the ground. It was of straw, loosely
made, and without any soft lining. Dr. Cooper found this species as
far east as Fort Laramie, in Wyoming. They reach the Columbia River by
the 3d of May.
The same writer noticed the first of this species at Fort Mojave,
April 24. He regarded their habits as varying in some respects from
those of the _Trichas_, as they prefer dry localities, and hunt for
insects not only in low bushes but also in trees, like the
_Dendroicæ_. Dr. Cooper twice describes their eggs as white, which is
inaccurate. He thinks that some of them winter in the warmer portions
of California. He regards them as shy, if watched, seeking the densest
thickets, but brought out again by their curiosity if a person waits
for them, and the birds will approach within a few feet, keeping up a
scolding chirp.
The nests of this species obtained by Dr. Kennerly from Puget Sound
were all built on the ground, and were constructed almost exclusively
of beautifully delicate mosses, peculiar to that country. They are
shallow nests, with a diameter of four and a height of two inches, the
cavity occupying a large proportion of the nest. Its walls and base
are of uniform thickness, averaging about one inch. The nests are
lined with finer mosses and a few slender stems and fibres.
Mr. Ridgway found these Warblers breeding in great numbers, June 23,
1869, at Parley’s Park, Utah, among the Wahsatch Mountains. One of
these nests (S. I., 15,238) was in a bunch of weeds, among the
underbrush of a willow-thicket along a cañon stream. It was situated
about eight inches from the ground, is cuplike in shape, two inches in
height, three in diameter, and somewhat loosely constructed of slender
strips of bark, decayed stalks of plants, dry grasses, intermixed with
a few fine roots, and lined with finer materials of the same. The
cavity is one and a half inches in depth, and two in diameter at the
rim.
The eggs, four in number, are .75 of an inch in length and .50 in
breadth. Their ground-color is a pinkish-white, marbled and spotted
with purple, lilac, reddish-brown, and dark brown, approaching black.
The blotches of the last color vary much in size, in one instance
having a length of .21 of an inch, and having the appearance of
hieroglyphics. When these spots are large, they are very sparse.
“This species,” Mr. Ridgway writes, “inhabits exclusively the
brushwood along the streams of the mountain cañons and ravines. Among
the weeds in such localities numerous nests were found. In no case
were they on the ground, though they were always near it; being fixed
between upright stalks of herbs, occasionally, perhaps, in a brier,
from about one to two feet above the ground. The note of the parent
bird, when a nest was disturbed, was a strong _chip_, much like that
of the _Cyanospiza amæna_ or _C. cyanea_.” He also states that it was
abundant in the East Humboldt Mountains in August and in September,
and also throughout the summer. A pair of fully fledged young was
caught on the 21st of July.