A History of North American Birds, Land Birds. Volume 1

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, BairdBLACK-THROATED BLUE WARBLER

Motacilla canadensis, Linn. Syst. Nat. I, 1766, 336 (not p. 334, which is D. coronata). Sylvia canadensis, Lath.; Wilson.—Aud. Orn. Biog. II, pl. cxlviii, clv.—Sallé, P. Z. S. 1857, 231 (St. Domingo). Sylvicola canadensis, Swains.; Jard.; Bon.; Aud. Birds Am. II, plate 95, pl. xcv. Rhimanphus can. Cab. Dendroica canadensis, Baird, Birds N. Am. 1858, 271.—Ib. P. Z. S. 1861, 70 (Jamaica).—Gundl. Cab. Jour. 1861, 326 (Cuba; very common).—Samuels, 224. Motacilla cærulescens, Gm. S. Nat. I, 1788, 960. Sylvia cær. Lath.; Vieill. II, pl. lxxx.—D’Orb. Sagra’s Cuba, Ois. 1840, 63, pl. ix, figs. 1, 2. Dendroica cær. Baird, Rev. Am. B. 1864, 186. Sylvia pusilla, Wils. V, pl. xliii, fig. 3 (Juv.). Sylvia leucoptera, Wils. Sylvia palustris, Steph. Sylvia macropus, Vieillot. Sylvia sphagnosa, Bon.; Nuttall; Aud. Sylvicola pannosa, Gosse, Birds Jam. 1847, 162 (female).—Ib. Illust. No. 37.

Sp. Char. Above uniform continuous grayish-blue, including the outer edges of the quill and tail-feathers. A narrow frontal line, the entire sides of head and neck, chin and throat, lustrous black; this color extending in a broad lateral stripe to the tail. Rest of under parts, including the axillary region, white. Wings and tail black above, the former with a conspicuous white patch formed by the bases of all the primaries (except the first); the inner webs of the secondaries and tertials with similar patches towards the base and along the inner margin. All the tail-feathers, except the innermost, with a white patch on the inner web near the end. Length, 5.50; wing, 2.60; tail, 2.25.

Female, olive-green above and dull yellow beneath. Sides of head dusky olive, the eyelids and a superciliary stripe whitish. Traces of the white patches at the base of the primaries and of the tail.

Hab. Eastern Province of United States; Jamaica, Cuba, and St. Domingo in winter; very abundant; Bahamas (Bryant). Not recorded from Mexico or Central America.

The white patch at the base of the primary, together with the total absence of outer markings on the wings, is peculiar to this species, and is found in both sexes. The female is more different from the male than that of any other species.

The plumage of the male in autumn is similar to the spring dress, but the back and wings are washed with greenish, and the black of the throat variegated with white edges to the feathers. A younger male (788, October 10, Carlisle, Penn.) differs in having the black appearing in patches, the throat being mostly white; there is also a narrow white superciliary stripe.

Habits. The Black-throated Blue Warbler, at different seasons of the year, is distributed over nearly the whole eastern portion of North America. Abundant in the West Indies in winter, as also in the South Atlantic States in early spring and late in fall, it is found during the breeding-season from Northern New York and New England nearly to the Arctic regions. A few probably stop to breed in the high portions of Massachusetts, and in late seasons they linger about the orchards until June. They undoubtedly breed in Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine.

Dr. Woodhouse states that he found it abundant in Texas; but this is the only instance, so far as is known, of its occurring west of the Mississippi Valley.

Towards the close of the remarkably mild winter of 1866, a pair of these birds were observed for several days in a sheltered portion of Boston. They were in excellent condition, and were very busily employed hunting for the larvæ and eggs of insects and spiders in the corners and crevices of the walls of houses and out-buildings, evidently obtaining a full supply. In Southern Illinois, Mr. Ridgway cites this Warbler as one of the least common of the spring and fall visitants.

Audubon found this species in nearly every Southern and Southwestern State during their migrations. They arrive in South Carolina late in March, are most abundant in April, and leave early in May. They keep in the deep woods, passing among the branches about twenty feet from the ground. He traced them as far north as the Magdaleine Islands, but found none in Newfoundland, and but a single specimen in Labrador. They breed in Nova Scotia, and a nest was given him found near Halifax by Dr. MacCulloch. These were said to be usually placed on the horizontal branch of a fir-tree, seven or eight feet from the ground, and to be composed of fine strips of bark, mosses, and fibrous roots, and lined with fine grasses and a warm bed of feathers. The eggs, five in number, were white, with a rosy tint, and sprinkled with reddish-brown dots, chiefly at the larger end.

This Warbler is an expert catcher of the smaller winged insects, pursuing them quite a distance, and, when seizing them, making the clicking sound of the true Flycatcher. So far as they have been observed, they have no song, only a monotonous and sad-sounding cheep.

Nuttall, in the second edition of his Manual, mentions having observed several pairs near Farranville, Penn., on the Susquehanna, and among the Alleghanies. It was in May, and in a thick and shady wood of hemlock. They were busy foraging for food, and were uttering what he describes as slender, wiry notes.

In Western Massachusetts, Mr. Allen states it to be common from the 15th to the 25th of May, and again in September. They were found by Mr. C. W. Bennett on Mount Holyoke during the breeding-season, and by Mr. B. Hosford on the western ridges during the same period. They are common, Mr. Boardman states, in the thick woods about Calais, through all the breeding-season.

In Jamaica, during the winter, it exclusively frequents the edges of tall woods in unfrequented mountainous localities. They are found in that island from October 7 until the 9th of April. Mr. Gosse, who has closely observed their habits during winter, speaks of their playing together with much spirit for half an hour at a time, chasing each other swiftly round and round, occasionally dodging through the bushes, and uttering at intervals a pebbly cheep. They never remain long alighted, and are difficult to kill. Restlessness is their great characteristic. They often alight transversely on the long pendent vines or slender trees, hopping up and down without a moment’s intermission, pecking at insects. They are usually very plump and fat.

De la Sagra states that this bird occasionally breeds in Cuba, young birds having been killed that had evidently been hatched there. The record of this Warbler, as presented by different authors, is apparently inconsistent and contradictory: rare with some observers, abundant with others; remaining in Jamaica until well into April, yet common in South Carolina in March, and even appearing in Massachusetts in midwinter; supposed to breed in the highlands of Cuba, yet, except in the case of the nest taken near Halifax, its manner of breeding was unknown until lately. It is probably rare in lowlands everywhere, and nowhere common except among mountains, and, while able to endure an inclement season where food is abundant, is influenced in its migratory movements by instinctive promptings to change its quarters entirely in reference to a supply of food, and not by the temperature merely. Its presence in Boston in winter was of course a singular accident; but its plump condition, and its contented stay so long as its supply of food was abundant, sufficiently attested its ability to endure severe weather for at least a limited period, and while its food was not wanting. Mr. Trippe states that these birds reach Northern New Jersey during the first week of May, and stay a whole month, remaining there longer than any other species. At first they have no note but a simple chirp; but, before they leave, the males are said to have a singular drawling song of four or five notes.

Mr. Paine states that this Warbler is a resident, but not very common bird, in Randolph, Vt. He has usually noticed it in the midst of thick woods, not generally in tall trees, but among the lower branches or in bushes. The song he describes as very short and insignificant, its tones sharp and wiry, and not to be heard at any great distance. He knows nothing as to its nest. They arrive at Randolph from the South about the middle of May.

We are indebted to Mr. John Burroughs for all the knowledge we possess in relation to the nest and eggs of this species, which had previously baffled the search of other naturalists. He was so fortunate as to meet with their nest in the summer of 1871. Early in July, in company with his nephew, Mr. C. B. Deyoe, Mr. Burroughs visited the same woods, in Roxbury, Delaware County, N. Y., in which he had in a previous year found the nest of the Mourning Ground Warbler. The trees were mostly hemlock, with an undergrowth of birch and beech. They first noticed the parent birds with food in their bills, and then set about deliberately to find their nest by watching their movements. But the birds were equally vigilant, and watched them quite as determinedly. “It was diamond cut diamond.” They were so suspicious, that, after loading their beaks with food, they would swallow it themselves, rather than run the risk of betraying their secret by approaching the nest. They even apparently attempted to mislead them by being very private and confidential at a point some distance from the nest. The two watched the birds for over an hour, when the mosquitoes made it too hot for them to hold out any longer, and they made a rush upon the ground, determined to hunt it over inch by inch. The birds then manifested the greatest consternation, and when, on leaping over an old log, the young sprang out with a scream, but a few feet from them, the distracted pair fairly threw themselves under their very feet. The male bird trailed his bright new plumage in the dust; and his much more humbly clad mate was, if anything, more solicitous and venturesome, coming within easy reach. The nest was placed in the fork of a small hemlock, about fifteen inches from the ground. There were four, and perhaps five, young in the nest, and one egg unhatched, which, on blowing, proved to have been fresh.

The nest measures three and a half inches in diameter, and a trifle more than two in height. The cavity is broad and deep, two and a third inches in diameter at the rim, and one and a half deep. Its base and periphery are loose aggregations of strips of decayed inner bark from dead deciduous trees, chiefly basswood, strengthened by fine twigs, rootlets, and bits of wood and bark. Within this is a firm, compact, well-woven nest, made by an elaborate interweaving of slender roots and twigs, hair, fine pine-needles, and similar materials.

The egg is oval in shape, less obtuse, but not pointed, at one end, with a grayish-white ground, pinkish when unblown, and marked around the larger end with a wreath, chiefly of a bright umber-brown with lighter markings of reddish-brown and obscure purple. A few smaller dottings of the same are sparingly distributed over the rest of the egg. Its measurements are .70 by .50 of an inch. It more nearly resembles the eggs of the D. maculosa than any other, is about five per cent larger, a little more oblong, and the spots differ in their reddish and purplish tinge, so far as one specimen may be taken as a criterion.

Dendroica olivacea, SclatOLIVE-HEADED WARBLER

Sylvia olivacea, Giraud, Birds Texas, 1841, 14, pl. vii, fig. 2.—Sclater, P. Z. S. 1855, 66. Sylvicola olivacea, Cassin, Ill. Birds Texas, etc. 1855, 283, pl. xlviii. Rhimamphus olivaceus, Sclater, P. Z. S. 1856, 291 (Cordova). Dendroica olivacea, Sclater, P. Z. S. 1858, 298 (Oaxaca; cold region).—Ib. P. Z. S. 1859, 363 (Jalapa).—Ib. Catal. 1861, 31, No. 190.—Baird, Rev. Am. B. 1864, 205. Sylvia tæniata, Dubus, Bull. Acad. Brux. XIV, 1847, 104.—Ib. Rev. Z. 1848, 245. Sylvicola tæniata, Bon. Consp. 1850, 309.

Sp. Char. Head and neck all round, with jugulum, brownish-saffron, with a greenish tinge on the nape. Rest of upper parts ashy. Middle and tips of greater wing-coverts white, forming two bands on the wing; a third white patch at the bases of the primaries (except the outer two), and extending forwards along the outer edges. Secondaries edged externally with olive-green. Inner webs of quills conspicuously edged with white. Under parts, except as described, white, tinged with brownish on the sides; a narrow frontal band, and a broad stripe from this through eye and over ear-coverts, black. Outer tail-feather white, except at base and towards tip; greater portion of inner web of next feather also white, much more restricted on the third. Length, 4.60; wing, 2.88; tail, 2.15; tarsus, .75.

A female specimen (14,369), perhaps also in autumnal plumage, has the saffron replaced by clear yellowish, except on the top of head and nape, which are olive-green. The black frontal and lateral bands are replaced by whitish, leaving only a dusky patch on the ears.

Hab. Mexico (both coasts to the southward); Guatemala.

This species is given by Mr. Giraud as occurring in Texas, but it is possible that he may have been misled as to the true locality. It may, however, be yet detected along the southern border of the United States.

Nothing is known of its habits.

Dendroica nigrescens, BairdBLACK-THROATED GRAY WARBLER

Sylvia nigrescens, Townsend, J. A. N. Sc. VII, II, 1837, 191 (Columbia River).—Aud. Orn. Biog. V, 1839, 57, pl. cccxcv. Vermivora nig. Bon.; Nutt. Sylvicola nig. Aud. Birds Am. II, pl. xciv. Rhimanphus nig. Cab. 1850. Dendroica nig. Baird, Birds N. Am. 1858, 270; Rev. 186.—Sclater, P. Z. S. 1858, 298; 1859, 374 (Oaxaca; high mountains in March).—Heermann, P. R. R. Rep. X, iv, 40.—Cooper & Suckley, P. R. R. Rep. XII, ii, 1859, 180.—Cooper, Orn. Cal. 1, 1870, 90. ? Sylvia halseii, Giraud, Birds Texas, 1838, pl. iii, fig. 1, ♀ (suggested by Sclater).

Sp. Char. Head all round, forepart of the breast, and streaks on the side of the body, black; rest of under parts, a stripe on the side of the head, beginning acutely just above the middle of the eye, and another parallel to it, beginning at the base of the under jaw (the stripes of opposite sides confluent on the chin), and running further back, white. A yellow spot in front of the eye. Rest of upper parts bluish-gray. The interscapular region and upper tail-coverts streaked with black. Wing-coverts black, with two narrow white bands; quills and tail-feathers brown, the two outer of the latter white, with the shafts and a terminal streak brown; the third brown, with a terminal narrow white streak. Bill black; feet brown. Length, 4.70; wing, 2.30; tail, 2.10.

Hab. Western and Middle Provinces of United States. Migratory southward into Western Mexico (Oaxaca); Orizaba (winter, Sumichrast).

Female (53,373, East Humboldt Mountains, Nev., July 14). Similar to the male, but crown ash medially streaked with black, instead of continuous black; the streaks on back narrow and inconspicuous; the black of the throat confined to the jugulum, appearing in spots only on anterior half. A young female (No. 53,376, East Humboldt Mountains, August 10) is plain brownish-ash above, lacking entirely the streaks on the back, and those on sides of crown extremely obsolete. There is no black whatever on throat or jugulum, which, with the well-defined supra-loral stripe and lower parts in general, are soiled white, more brownish laterally. The other features, including the yellow spot over the lores, with the wing and tail markings, are much as in the adult. A young male (53,375), same locality and date, differs from the last in having the sides of the crown black, and the throat-patch almost complete, but much hidden by the broad white borders to the feathers. An adult autumnal male (7,690, Calaveras River) is like the spring adult, but the ash is overspread by brownish, nearly obliterating the dorsal streaks, and dividing the black of the crown; the black throat-patch is perfectly defined, but much obscured by white borders to the feathers.

Habits. The Black-throated Gray or Dusky Warbler, so far as is now known, belongs to the Western and Middle Provinces, occurring certainly as far to the south as San Diego, in California, and as far to the north as Fort Steilacoom, in Washington Territory, penetrating in winter into Mexico. The most easterly localities in which it has been met with are in Arizona and New Mexico. The Smithsonian Institution has received specimens also from Columbia River, Calaveras, Cal., and Fort Defiance.

This species was first obtained and described by Mr. Townsend, who found it abundant in the forests of the Columbia, where it breeds and remains until nearly winter. Its nest, which he there met with, resembles that of Parula americana, only it is made of the long and fibrous green moss, or Usnea, peculiar to that region, and is placed among the upper branches of oak-trees, suspended between two small twigs.

Mr. Nuttall states that it arrives on the Columbia early in May, and from the manner in which its song was delivered at intervals, in the tops of deciduous trees, he had no doubt that they were breeding in those forests as early as May 23. This song he describes as delicate, but monotonous, uttered as it busily and intently searches every leafy bough and expanding bud for insects and their larvæ in the spreading oak, in which it utters its solitary notes. Its song is repeated at short and regular intervals, and is said by Mr. Nuttall to bear some resemblance to t-shee-tshāy-tshaitshee, varying the feeble sound very little, and with the concluding note somewhat slenderly and plaintively raised. Dr. Suckley speaks of this bird as moderately abundant near Fort Steilacoom, generally met with on oaks, and very much resembling Dendroica auduboni in its habits. Its arrival there he gives as occurring in the first week in April, or a month earlier than stated by Nuttall.

Dr. Cooper met with a pair at Puget Sound that appeared to have a nest, though he sought for it in vain. He describes its note as faint and unvaried.

Dr. Coues met with this Warbler in the vicinity of Fort Whipple, Arizona. He speaks of it as common there as a spring and autumn migrant. He thinks that a few remain to breed. It arrives in that Territory about April 20, and is found until late in September. It is most common among the pine-trees, and in its general habits is stated to resemble the new species D. graciæ.

Dr. Heermann found a few birds of this species near Sacramento, and also on the range of mountains dividing the Calaveras and the Mokelumne Rivers. During the survey by Lieutenant Williamson’s party, Dr. Heermann met with a single specimen among the mountains, near the summit of the Tejon Pass. It was in company with other small birds, migrating southward, and gleaning its food from among the topmost branches of the tallest oaks. He states that its notes closely resemble the sounds of the locust.

Dr. Cooper states that these birds appear at San Diego by the 20th of April, in small flocks migrating northward, and then uttering only a faint chirp. They frequent low bushes along the coast, but as they proceed farther north they take to the deciduous oaks as the leaves begin to expand, early in May, at which time they reach the Columbia River. He has never met with any in California after April.

Mr. Ridgway observed this species only in the pine and cedar woods of the East Humboldt Mountains, where, in all probability, they were breeding. He observed numerous families of young birds following their parents in the months of July and August. He met with them only among the cedars and the woods of the nut-pine, and never among the brushwood of the cañons and ravines. He states that the common note of this bird greatly resembles the sharp chirp of the Dendroica coronata, and is louder and more distinct than that of D. auduboni.

Mr. A. Boucard obtained specimens of these birds at Oaxaca, Mexico, during the winter months.

Dendroica chrysopareia, Scl. & SalvYELLOW-CHEEKED WARBLER

Dendroica chrysopareia, Sclater & Salvin, P. Z. S. 1860, 298.—Ib. Ibis, 1860, 273 (Vera Paz, Guatemala).—Ib. 1865.—Dresser, Ibis, 1865, 477.—Baird, Rev. Am. B. 1864, 183.—Cooper, Orn. Cal. 1, 1870, 93.

Sp. Char. (229, Salvin collection.) Head and body above black, the feathers with olive-green edges, especially on the back, obscuring the ground-color; rump clear black. Entire side of head (extending to nostrils and on lower jaw), and the partially concealed bases of the feathers on the median line of the forehead, yellow, with a narrow black line from lores, through the eye, widening behind, but not crossing through the yellow. Beneath, including inside of wings, white; a large patch of black covering the chin and throat, and occupying the entire space between the yellow patches of the two sides of the head and neck, and extended along the sides in a series of streaks. Feathers of crissum with black centres. Wings above ashy, with two white bands across the coverts, the scapulars streaked with blackish; first quill edged externally with white, the rest with gray. Tail-feathers blackish, edged externally with ashy, the lateral with white at the base. Outer tail-feather white on the inner web, except a stripe along the shaft near the end; second similar, but the white not reaching so far towards the base; third with a short patch of white in the end. Bill and legs brownish-black. Bill unusually thick. Length, 4.50; wing, 2.50; tail, 2.40; tarsus, 2.75.