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

Hab. Vera Paz, Guatemala; San Antonio, and Medina River, Texas. (Heermann and Dresser.)

The capture of specimens of this species at San Antonio, Texas, by Dr. Heermann, and on the Medina River by Mr. Dresser, entitles it to a place in our fauna. The specimen described above is Mr. Salvin’s type.

Habits. A single specimen is said to have been taken near San Antonio, Texas, by Dr. Heermann. It is thought to be probably a bird belonging to the fauna of Arizona and New Mexico, and is given hypothetically by Dr. Cooper among the birds of California. In its appearance it resembles D. virens, D. townsendii, and D. occidentalis. It was originally described by Salvin from a single specimen obtained in Guatemala. Another pair was afterward obtained by Mr. Salvin on the highest point of the road between Salama and Tactic. In regard to its habits, nothing is on record.

Dendroica virens, BairdBLACK-THROATED GREEN WARBLER

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, BairdTOWNSEND’S WARBLER

Sylvia townsendi, “Nuttall,” Townsend, J. A. N. Sc. VII, II, 1837, 191.—Aud. Orn. Biog. V, 1839, pl. cccxciii. Sylvicola t. Bon.; Aud. Birds Am. II, 1841, pl. xcii. Dendroica t. Baird, Birds N. Am. 1858, 269; Rev. 185.—Sclater, P. Z. S. 1858, 298 (Oaxaca; high lands in winter); 1859, 374 (Totontepec; winter); Ibis, 1865, 89.—Sclater & Salvin, Ibis, 1859, 11 (Guatemala).—Cooper & Suckley, P. R. R. XII, II, 1859, 179 (Cal.).—Turnbull, Birds of East Penn., etc. 1869, 42.—Sundeval, Ofvers. 1869, 610 (Sitka).—Cooper, Orn. Cal. 1, 1870, 91.

Sp. Char. Spring male. Above bright olive-green; the feathers all black in the centre, showing more or less as streaks, especially on the crown, where the black predominates. Quills, tail, and upper tail-covert feathers dark brown, edged with bluish-gray; the wings with two white bands on the coverts; the two outer tail-feathers white with a brown streak near the end; a white streak only in the end of the third feather. Under parts as far as the middle of the body, with the sides of head and neck, including a superciliary stripe and a spot beneath the eye, yellow; the median portion of the side of the head, the chin and throat, with streaks on the sides of the breast, flanks, and under tail-coverts, black; the remainder of the under parts white. Length, 5 inches; wing, 2.65; tail, 2.25.

Spring female. Resembling the male, but the black patch on the throat replaced by irregular blotches upon a pure yellow ground.

Hab. Western Province of United States, north to Sitka; Mexico, into Guatemala. Migratory. Accidental near Philadelphia.

The autumnal adult male is much like the spring female, but the black throat-patch is perfectly defined, though much obscured by the yellow edges of the feathers, instead of broken into small blotches. The young male in autumn is similar in general appearance, but there are no streaks above, except on the crown, where they are mostly concealed; the stripe on side of head is olivaceous, instead of black; and nearly all the black on the throat is concealed.

A fine adult male of this species was taken near Philadelphia, Penn., in the spring of 1868, and is now in the collection of the late W. P. Turnbull, Esq., of that city.

Habits. In regard to the habits of this very rare Western Warbler very little is as yet positively known, and nothing whatever has been ascertained as to its nesting or eggs. The species was first met with by Mr. Townsend, October 28, 1835, on the banks of the Columbia River, and was named by Mr. Nuttall in honor of its discoverer. It is spoken of by these gentlemen as having been a transient visitor only, stopping but a few days, on its way north, to recruit and feed, previous to its departing for the higher latitudes in which it spends the breeding-season. It is, however, quite as probable that they disperse by pairs into solitary places, where for a while they escape observation. When the season again compels them to migrate, they reappear on the same path, only this time in small and silent flocks, as they slowly move toward their winter quarters. These birds also are chiefly to be found in the tops of the loftiest firs and other evergreens of the forests, where it is almost impossible to procure them.

Dr. Cooper observed one of this species at Shoalwater Bay, December 20, 1854. It was in company with a flock of Titmice and other small birds. The following year, in November, he saw a small flock in California, frequenting the willows in a low wet meadow, and was so fortunate as to procure a pair.

Ridgway met with it in the East Humboldt Mountains, where it was rather common in September, inhabiting the thickets of aspens, alders, etc., along the streams.

Mr. P. L. Sclater obtained several fine specimens of this Warbler from the west coast of Central America, and Mr. Salvin found it a winter visitant at Duenas, where he met with it even more frequently than the Dendroica virens, with which he found it associated. Skins were found among the birds taken by Dr. Van Patten in Guatemala. A single specimen has been taken in Pennsylvania.

Mr. A. Boucard obtained specimens of this species in the mountainous district of Totontepec, in the State of Oaxaca, Mexico.

Dendroica occidentalis, BairdWESTERN WARBLER

Sylvia occidentalis, Townsend, J. A. N. Sc. VII, II, 1837, 190 (Columbia River).—Ib. Narrative, 1839, 340.—Aud. Orn. Biog. V, pl. lv. Sylvicola occ. Bon.; Aud. Birds Am. II, pl. xciii. Dendroica occ. Baird, Birds N. Am. 1858, 268; Rev. 183.—Cooper & Suckley, R. R. Rep. XII, II, 1859, 178 (N. W. coast).—Cooper, Orn. Cal. 1, 1870, 92. Dendroica chrysopareia, Sclater, P. Z. S. 1862, 19 (La Parada, Mex.) (not of P. Z. S. 1860, 19); Ibis, 1865, 89; 1866, 191. Dendroica niveiventris, Salvin, P. Z. S. May 26, 1863, 187, pl. xxiv, fig. 2 (Guatemala).

Sp. Char. Spring male. Crown with sides of the head and neck continuous bright yellow, feathers of the former edged narrowly with black; rest of upper parts dark brown, edged with bluish-gray, so much so on the back and rump feathers as to obscure the brown, and with an olivaceous shade. Chin, throat, and forepart of breast (ending convexly behind in a subcrescentic outline), with the nape, black; rest of under parts white, very faintly streaked on the sides with black. Two white bands on the wing, two outer tail-feathers, and the terminal portion of a third, white; the shafts, and an internal streak towards the end, dark brown. Bill jet-black; legs brown. Length, 4.70; wing, 2.70; tail, 2.30.

Spring female. Similar, but duller gray above; the yellow of the head less extended, and the throat whitish spotted with dusky.

Hab. Western Province of United States and Mexico (Moyapam, winter, Sumichrast) to Guatemala. Not seen at Cape St. Lucas.

An autumnal adult male (30,681, Guatemala, December, received from Mr. Salvin, and a type specimen of his “niveiventris”) is much like the spring male, having the throat wholly black, the feathers, however, faintly margined with whitish; there are no black spots on the crown, but, instead, an olivaceous stain; the nape is olivaceous instead of black, and the black centres to dorsal feathers more concealed; the ash above is less pure, and there is no trace of streaks on the sides. A female (autumnal?)—38,141—from Orizaba, Mexico, is grayish-olivaceous above, including the whole top of the head, except beneath the surface; the feathers on top of head have conspicuous black centres, but there are none on the back; the sides of the head, and the bases of the feathers on its top, are soiled yellow; the throat is dirty white, with the feathers dusky beneath the surface; the breast and sides have a strong brownish tinge. Another female, and an autumnal one (probably of the year), is more brown above, the specks on the top of the head exceedingly minute; there are also obscure streaks along the sides, where there is a strong brownish tinge.

Habits. The Western or Hermit Wood Warbler, so far as known, is limited in its distribution to the Pacific coast from Central America to Washington Territory. Specimens procured from Volcan de Fuego, Mexico, Arizona, and California, are in the collection of the Smithsonian Institution. But little is positively known as to its history or habits. Nuttall, who first met with it in the forests on the banks of the Columbia, had no doubt that it breeds in the dark forests bordering on that river. He described it as a remarkably shy and solitary bird, retiring into the darkest and most silent recesses of the evergreens, and apparently living among the loftiest branches of the gigantic firs of that region. In consequence of its peculiar habits it was with extreme difficulty that his party could get a sight of this retiring species. Its song, which he frequently heard from these high tree-tops at very regular intervals for an hour or two at a time, he describes as a faint, moody, and monotonous note, delivered when the bird is at rest on some lofty twig, and within convenient hearing of its mate.

Mr. Townsend, who was one of the same party, shot a pair of these birds near Fort Vancouver, May 28, 1835. They were flitting among the tops of the pine-trees in the depths of the forest, where he frequently saw them hanging from the twigs, in the manner of Titmice. Their notes, uttered at different intervals, he describes as very similar to those of the Black-throated Blue Warbler (D. cærulescens).

Dr. Suckley obtained, June, 1856, two specimens at Fort Steilacoom. He also describes them as very shy, feeding and spending most of their time in the tops of the highest firs, so high up as to be almost out of the reach of fine shot. The species he regards as not at all rare on the Pacific coast, but only difficult of procuring, on account of the almost inaccessible nature of its haunts.

Dr. Coues procured a single specimen of this species in Arizona early in September. It was taken in thick scrub-oak bushes. He thinks it may be a summer resident of that Territory, but, if so, very rare.

A single specimen was also obtained at Petuluma, Cal., by Mr. Emanuel Samuels, May 1, 1856. It was also observed, August 29, by Mr. Ridgway, among the bushes of a cañon among the East Humboldt Mountains. He describes its single note as a lisped pzeet.

Three individuals of this species were collected by Mr. Boucard in Southern Mexico in 1862, and were referred by Dr. Sclater to D. chrysopœia (P. Z. S., 1862, p. 19). Subsequently Mr. Salvin described as a new species, under the name of D. niveiventris, other individuals of the D. occidentalis obtained by him in Guatemala. The true specific relations of the specimens both from Southern Mexico and Central America have since been made clear by Dr. Sclater, Ibis, 1865, p. 87, enabling us to give this species as a winter visitant of the countries above named. Mr. Salvin states (Ibis, 1866, p. 191) that these birds were found in most of the elevated districts where pines abound. He procured specimens in the Volcan de Fuego, in the hills above the Plain of Salama, and near the mines of Alotepeque.

Dendroica pinus, BairdPINE-CREEPING WARBLER

Sylvia pinus, Wils. Am. Orn. III, 1811, 25, pl. xix, fig. 4.—Bon.; Nutt.—Aud. Orn. Biog. II, pl. cxi. Thryothorus pinus, Steph. Sylvicola pinus, Jard.; Rich.; Bon.; Aud. Birds Am. II, pl. lxxxii.—Jones, Nat. Bermuda, 1859, 59 (abundant in Oct.). Rhimanphus pinus, Bon. Dendroica pinus, Baird, Birds N. Am. 1858, 277; Rev. 190.—Sclater, Catal. 1861, 31, No. 189.—Coues, Pr. A. N. Sc. 1861, 220 (Labrador coast).—Samuels, 229.—Bryant, Pr. Bost. Soc. 1867, 67 (Inagua). Sylvia vigorsii, Aud. Orn. Biog. I, 1832, 153, pl. xxx. Vireo vigorsii. Nutt.

Sp. Char. Spring male. Upper parts nearly uniform and clear olive-green, the feathers of the crown with rather darker shafts. Under parts generally, except the middle of the belly behind, and under tail-coverts (which are white), bright gamboge-yellow, with obsolete streaks of dusky on the sides of the breast and body. Sides of head and neck olive-green like the back, with a broad superciliary stripe; the eyelids and a spot beneath the eye very obscurely yellow; wings and tail brown; the feathers edged with dirty white, and two bands of the same across the coverts. Inner web of the first tail-feather with nearly the terminal half, of the second with nearly the terminal third, dull inconspicuous white. Length, 5.50; wing, 3.00; tail, 2.40. (1,356.)

Spring female. Similar, but more grayish above, and almost grayish-white, with a tinge of yellow beneath, instead of bright yellow. Young. Umber-brown above, and dingy pale ashy beneath, with a slight yellowish tinge on the abdomen. Wing and tail much as in the autumnal adult.

Hab. Eastern Province of United States, north to Massachusetts; winters in United States. Not recorded in West Indies or Middle America (except Bahamas and Bermuda?).

Autumnal males are much like spring individuals, but the yellow beneath is softer and somewhat richer, and the olive above overlaid with a reddish-umber tint.

Habits. The Pine-creeping Warbler is found more or less abundantly throughout the United States from the Atlantic to the Valley of the Mississippi. Dr. Woodhouse states that it is common in Texas and New Mexico. It was not, however, met with by any other of the government exploring parties. Dr. Gerhardt found it quite common in Northern Georgia, where it remains all the winter, and where it breeds very early in the season. On the 19th of April he found a nest of these birds with nearly full-grown young. It has not been found in Maine by Professor Verrill nor by Mr. Boardman, nor in Nova Scotia by Lieutenant Bland. Mr. Allen has found it breeding abundantly in the western part of Massachusetts, where it is one of the earliest Warblers to arrive, and where it remains until October. In 1861 they were abundant in the pine woods near Springfield as early as April 4, although the ground at that time was covered with snow. During the last weeks of April and the early part of May they frequent the open fields, obtaining much of their food from the ground in company with D. palmarum, the habits of which, at this time, it closely follows. Later in the season they retire to the pine forests, where they remain almost exclusively throughout the summer, chiefly on the tops of the tallest trees. For a few weeks preceding the first of October they again come about the orchards and fields. In its winter migrations it does not appear to leave this country, and has not been found in any of the West India Islands, in Mexico, nor in South or Central America. It breeds sparingly in Southern Illinois.