_Muscicapa pusilla_, WILSON, Am. Orn. III, 1811, 103, pl. xxvi,
fig. 4. _Wilsonia pus._ BON. _Sylvania pus._ NUTT. _Myiodioctes
pus._ BON. Consp. 1850, 315.—SCLATER, P. Z. S. 1856, 291
(Cordova); 1858, 299 (Oaxaca Mts.; Dec.); 1859, 363 (Xalapa);
373.—IB. Catal. 1861, 34, no. 203.—BAIRD, Birds N. Am. 1858, 293
(in part); Rev. 240 (in part).—SCLATER & SALVIN, Ibis, 1859, 11
(Guatemala).—SAMUELS, 246. _Myioctonus pus._ CAB. M. H. 1851,
18.—IB. Jour. 1860, 325 (Costa Rica). _Sylvia wilsoni_, BON.;
NUTT. _Muscicapa wilsoni_, AUD. Orn. Biog. II, pl. cxxiv.
_Setophaga wilsoni_, JARD. _Myiodioctes wilsoni_, AUD. Birds Am.
II, pl. lxxv. _Sylvia petasodes_, LICHT. Preis-Verz. 1830.
SP. CHAR. Forehead, line over and around the eye, and under parts
generally, bright yellow. Upper part olive-green; a square patch on
the crown lustrous-black. Sides of body and cheeks tinged with olive.
No white on wings or tail. Female similar, the black of the crown
replaced by olive-green. Length, 4.75; wing, 2.25; tail, 2.30.
HAB. Eastern portions of United States, west to the Snake and Humboldt
Rivers; north to Alaska, south through Eastern Mexico and Guatemala to
Costa Rica; Chiriqui (SALVIN).
HABITS. Wilson’s Black-Cap is found throughout the United States from
ocean to ocean, and as far to the north as Alaska and the Arctic
shores, where, however, it is not common. Mr. Dall shot a specimen,
May 30, on the Yukon River, where it was breeding. Mr. Bischoff
obtained others with nests and eggs at Sitka, and afterwards found it
more abundant at Kodiak. On the Pacific coast Dr. Suckley found it
very abundant in the neighborhood of Fort Steilacoom, where it
frequented thickets and small scrub-oak groves, in its habits
resembling the _Helminthophaga celata_, flitting about among the dense
foliage of bushes and low trees in a busy, restless manner. He
describes its cry as a short _chit-chat_ call. In California, Dr.
Cooper notes their first arrival early in May, and states that they
migrate along the coast, up at least to the Straits of Fuca. At Santa
Cruz he noted their arrival, in 1866, about the 20th of April. They
were then gathering materials for a nest, the male bird singing
merrily during his employment. As they have been observed in Oregon as
early as this, it has been conjectured that some may remain all winter
among the dense shrubbery of the forests.
This bird winters in large numbers in Central America, where it is
apparently very generally distributed. Mr. Salvin found it very common
at Duenas. It was taken at Totontepec, among the mountains of Oaxaca,
Mexico, by Mr. Boucard.
Mr. Ridgway found it very common during the summer and autumn months
among the willows of the fertile river valleys, and among the rank
shrubbery bordering upon the streams of the cañons of the higher
interior range of mountains. It was found in similar situations with
the _Dendroica æstiva_, but it was much more numerous. During
September it was most abundant among the thickets and copses of the
East Humboldt Mountains, and in Ruby Valley, at all altitudes,
frequenting the bushes along the streams, from their sources in the
snow to the valleys.
Wilson first met with and described this species from specimens
obtained in Delaware and New Jersey. He regarded it as an inhabitant
of the swamps of the Southern States, and characterized its song as “a
sharp, squeaking note, in no wise musical.” It is said by him to leave
the Southern States in October.
Audubon states that it is never found in the Southern States in the
summer months, but passes rapidly through them on its way to the
northern districts, where it breeds, reaching Labrador early in June
and returning by the middle of August. He describes it as having all
the habits of a true Flycatcher, feeding on small insects, which it
catches on the wing, snapping its bill with a sharp clicking sound. It
frequents the borders of lakes and streams fringed with low bushes.
Mr. Nuttall observed this species in Oregon, where it arrived early in
May. He calls it a “little cheerful songster, the very counterpart of
our brilliant and cheerful Yellow-Bird.” Their song he describes as
like _’tsh-’tsh-’tsh-tshea_. Their call is brief, and not so loud. It
appeared familiar and unsuspicious, kept in bushes busily collecting
its insect fare, and only varied its employment by an occasional and
earnest warble. By the 12th of May some were already feeding their
full-fledged young. Yet on the 16th of the same month he found a nest
containing four eggs with incubation only just commenced. This nest
was in a branch of a small service-bush, laid very adroitly, as to
concealment, upon a mass of _Usnea_. It was built chiefly of hypnum
mosses, with a thick lining of dry, wiry, slender grasses. The female,
when approached, slipped off the nest, and ran along the ground like a
mouse. The eggs were very similar to those of _Dendroica æstiva_, with
spots of a pale olive-brown, confluent at the greater end.
A nest found by Audubon in Labrador was placed on the extremity of a
small horizontal branch, among the thick foliage of a dwarf fir, a few
feet from the ground and in the very centre of a thicket. It was made
of bits of dry mosses and delicate pine twigs, agglutinated together
and to the branches and leaves around it, from which it was suspended.
It was lined with fine vegetable fibres. The diameter of the nest was
three and a half and the depth one and a half inches. He describes the
eggs, which were four, as white; spotted with reddish and brown dots,
the markings being principally around the larger end, forming a
circle, leaving the extremity plain.
In this instance the parents showed much uneasiness at the approach of
intruders, moving about among the twigs, snapping their bills, and
uttering a plaintive note. In Newfoundland these birds had already
begun to migrate on the 20th of August. He met with them in
considerable numbers in Northern Maine in October, 1832. Mr. Turnbull
mentions it as a rather abundant bird of Eastern Pennsylvania,
appearing there early in May, _in transitu_, and again in October.
Mr. T. M. Trippe has observed this species at Orange, N. J., from the
19th to the 30th of May. It is said to keep low down in the trees, and
is fond of haunting thickets and open brush fields. Occasionally he
has heard it utter a loud chattering song, which it repeats at short
intervals.
A nest of this species from Fort Yukon (Smith. Coll., 13,346),
obtained May 20, by Mr. McDougal, contained four eggs. These varied
from .60 to .63 of an inch in length, and from .45 to .49 in breadth.
They were obovate in shape, their ground-color was a pure white; this
was finely sprinkled round the larger end with brownish-red and lilac.
No mention is made of the position of the nest, but it is probable
this bird builds on the ground.
Myiodioctes pusillus, var. pileolatus, RIDGWAY.
_Motacilla pileolata_, PALLAS, Zoög. Rosso Asiat. I, 1831, 497
(Russian America). _Myiodioctes pusillus_, var. _pileolata_,
RIDGWAY, Report U. S. Geol. Expl. 40th Par. _Myiodioctes
pusillus_, AUCT. (all citations from Pacific coast of North and
Middle America).—LORD, Pr. R. Art. Inst. Woolw. IV, 1864, 115 (Br.
Col.).—DALL & BANNISTER (Alaska).—COOPER, Orn. Cal. 1, 1870, 101.
SP. CHAR. Similar to var. _pusillus_, but much richer yellow, scarcely
tinged with olive laterally, and deepened into an almost orange shade
on the front and chin. Above much brighter and more yellowish
olive-green. The black pileum with a brighter steel-blue gloss. Bill
much narrower, and deep, light brown above, instead of nearly black.
Measures (4,222 ♂, San Francisco, Cal.), wing, 2.15; tail, 2.00.
HAB. Pacific coast region of North America, from Kodiak (Alaska);
south through Western Mexico (and Lower California) to Costa Rica.
This is an appreciably different race from that inhabiting the eastern
division of the continent; the differences, tested by a large series
of specimens, being very constant.
A Costa-Rican specimen before me is almost exactly like specimens from
California.
HABITS. The remarks, in the preceding article relative to specimens
from the Pacific coast belong to this variety.
Myiodioctes canadensis, AUD.