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

Mr. Jones found these birds numerous in Bermuda late in September, but they all disappeared a few weeks later. Dr. Bryant found them at Inagua, Bahamas.

Wilson first noticed this Warbler in the pine woods of the Southern States, where he found it resident all the year. He describes it as running along the bark of pine-trees, though occasionally alighting and feeding on the ground. When disturbed, it always flies up and clings to the trunks of trees. The farther south, the more numerous he found it. Its principal food is the seeds of the Southern pitch-pine and various kinds of insects. It was associated in flocks of thirty in the depths of the pine barrens, easily recognized by their manner of rising from the ground and alighting on the trunks of trees.

Audubon also speaks of this bird as the most abundant of its tribe. He met with them on the sandy barrens of East Florida on the St. John’s River early in February, at which period they already had nests. In their habits he regarded them as quite closely allied to the Creepers, ascending the trunks and larger branches of trees, hopping along the bark searching for concealed larvæ. At one moment it moves sideways along a branch a few steps, then stops and moves in another direction, carefully examining each twig. It is active and restless, generally searching for insects among the leaves and blossoms of the pine, or in the crevices of the bark, but occasionally pursuing them on the wing. It is found exclusively in low lands, never in mountainous districts, and chiefly near the sea.

Its nest is usually placed at considerable height, sometimes fifty feet or more from the ground, and is usually fastened to the twigs of a small branch. In Massachusetts it has but a single brood in a season, but at the South it is said to have three.

The flight of this Warbler is short, and exhibits undulating curves of great elegance. Its song is described as monotonous, consisting merely of continuous and tremulous sounds. Mr. Audubon found none beyond New Brunswick, and it has never been found in Nova Scotia so far as I am aware.

Both old and young birds remain in Massachusetts until late in October, and occasionally birds are seen as far to the north as Philadelphia in midwinter. At this season they abound in the pine forests of the Southern States, where they are at that time the most numerous of the Warblers, and where some are to be found throughout the year.

In the summer their food consists of the larvæ and eggs of certain kinds of insects. In the autumn they frequent the Southern gardens, feeding on the berries of the cornel, the box grape, and other small fruit. Mr. Nuttall states that their song is deficient both in compass and in variety, though not disagreeable. At times, he states, it approaches the simpler trills of the canary; but is usually a reverberating, gently rising or murmuring sound like er-r´-r´r´r´r´r´-ah, or in the springtime like twe twe-tw tw tw-tw tw, and sometimes like tsh-tsh-tsh-tw-tw-tw-tw, exhibiting a pleasing variety in its cadences. The note of the female is not unlike that of the Black and White Creeper.

On the 7th of June, Mr. Nuttall discovered a nest of this Warbler in a Virginia juniper-tree in Mount Auburn, some forty feet from the ground, and firmly fixed in the upright twigs of a close branch. It was a thin but very neat structure. Its principal material was the old and wiry stems of the Polygonum tenue, or knot-weed. These were circularly interlaced and inter-wound with rough linty fibres of asclepias and caterpillars’ webs. It was lined with a few bristles, slender root-fibres, a mat of the down of fern-stalks, and a few feathers. Mr. Nuttall saw several of these nests, all made in a similar manner. The eggs in the nest described were four, and far advanced towards hatching. They were white, with a slight tinge of green, and were freely sprinkled with small pale-brown spots, most numerous at the larger end, where they were aggregated on a more purplish ground. The female made some slight complaint, but immediately returned to the nest, though two of the eggs had been taken.

Mr. Nuttall kept a male of this species in confinement. It at once became very tame, fed gratefully from the hand, from the moment it was caught, on flies, small earthworms, and minced flesh, and would sit contentedly on any hand, walking directly into a dish of water offered for drink, without any precautions, or any signs of fear.

Mr. J. G. Shute found a nest of these Warblers in Woburn as early as May 8. It contained four eggs, the incubation of which had commenced. Three other nests were also found by him in the same locality, all of them between the 8th and the 24th of May, and all built on branches of the red pine and near the top. Several nests of this Warbler, found in Lynn, Mass., by Mr. George O. Welch, are alike in their mode of construction, and differ in their materials from other accounts. They are all somewhat loosely put together, and are composed externally of fine strips of the bark of the red cedar, fine inner bark of several deciduous trees, dry stalks of plants, the exuviæ of insects, and fine dry grasses. The cavities of these nests, which are comparatively large and deep, were lined with the fur of the smaller mammals, the silky down of plants, and feathers. A few fine wiry roots were also intermingled. These nests are about two and a half inches in height and three in diameter.

The eggs of this Warbler are of a rounded oval shape, have an average length of .72 of an inch, and a breadth of .55. They resemble in size and appearance the eggs of the D. castanea, but the spots are more numerous, and the blotches larger and more generally distributed. The ground-color is a bluish-white. Scattered over this are subdued tintings of a fine delicate shade of purple, and upon this are distributed dots and blotches of a dark purplish-brown, mingled with a few lines almost black.

Dendroica montana, BairdBLUE MOUNTAIN WARBLER

Sylvia montana, Wils. Am. Orn. V, 1812, 113, pl. xliv, fig. 2 (“Blue Mountains of Pennsylvania”).—Aud. Orn. Biog. V, 294 (“California”!) Sylvicola montana, Jard.; Aud. Birds Am. II, 1841, 69, pl. xcviii. Dendroica montana, Baird, Birds N. Am. 1858, 279; Rev. 190. Sylvia tigrina, Vieill. Ois. Am. Sept. II, 1807, 34, pl. xciv (U. S. and St. Domingo).

Sp. Char. This species is four inches and three quarters in length; the upper parts a rich yellow-olive; front, cheeks, and chin yellow, also the sides of the neck; breast and belly pale yellow, streaked with black or dusky; vent plain pale yellow. Wings black; first and second rows of coverts broadly tipped with pale yellowish-white; tertials the same; the rest of the quills edged with whitish. Tail black, handsomely rounded, edged with pale olive; the two exterior feathers on each side white on the inner vanes from the middle to the tips, and edged on the outer side with white. Bill dark brown. Legs and feet purple-brown; soles yellow. Eye dark hazel. (Wilson.)

Hab. “Blue Mountains of Virginia.” St. Domingo?

This species is only known from the description of Wilson, Vieillot, and Audubon, and we are not aware that a specimen is to be found in any collection. If described correctly, it appears different from any established species, although the most nearly related to D. pinus, which, however, differs in the absence of a yellow frontlet, in having a greener back, less distinct streaks beneath, and in the white of the anal region.

Habits. Whether the Blue Mountain Warbler is a genuine species or an unfamiliar plumage of a bird better known to us in a different dress is a question not altogether settled to the minds of some. It was described by Wilson from a single specimen obtained near the Blue Ridge of Virginia. Audubon found another in the collection of the Zoölogical Society. From this he made his drawing. A third has also been met with and described by Vieillot. We know nothing in regard to its habits, except that its song is said to be a single screep, three or four times repeated. Its breeding-habits, its manner of migration, and the place of its more abundant occurrence, yet remain entirely unknown.

Dendroica kirtlandi, BairdKIRTLAND’S WARBLER

Sylvicola kirtlandi, Baird, Ann. N. Y. Lyc. V, June, 1852, 217, pl. vi (Cleveland, Ohio).—Cassin, Illust. I, 1855, 278, pl. xlvii. Dendroica kirtlandi, Baird, Birds N. Am. 1858, 286; Rev. 206.

Sp. Char. Above slate-blue, the feathers of the crown with a narrow, those of the middle of the back with a broader, streak of black; a narrow frontlet involving the lores, the anterior end of the eye, and the space beneath it (possibly the whole auriculars), black; the rest of the eyelids white. The under parts are clear yellow (almost white on the under tail-coverts); the breast with small spots and sides of the body with short streaks of black. The greater and middle wing-coverts, quills, and tail-feathers are edged with dull whitish. The two outer tail-feathers have a dull white spot near the end of the inner web, largest on the first. Length, 5.50; wing, 2.80; tail, 2.70. (4,363.)

Hab. Northern Ohio, and Bahamas.

In addition to the type which is in the collection of the Smithsonian Institution, a second specimen was obtained by Dr. Samuel Cabot, of Boston, taken at sea between the islands of Abaco and Cuba. It must, however, be considered as one of the rarest of American birds.

Habits. Kirtland’s Warbler is so far known by only a few rare specimens as a bird of North America, and its biography is utterly unknown. The first specimen of this species, so far as is known, was obtained by Dr. Jared P. Kirtland, of Cleveland, O., in May, 1851. It was shot by that naturalist in woods near that city, and was by him given to Professor Baird, who described it in the Annals of the New York Lyceum. It appears to be closely allied to both the D. coronata and D. auduboni, and yet to be a specifically distinct bird. A second specimen, in the cabinet of Dr. Samuel Cabot, Jr., of Boston, was obtained at sea, between the islands of Cuba and Abaco. A third specimen was obtained June 9, 1860, near Cleveland, and is in the collection of Mr. R. K. Winslow, of that city. Another specimen is also reported as having been obtained in the same neighborhood, but not preserved; and Dr. Hoy, of Racine, Wis., is confident that he has seen it in the neighborhood of that place. At present all that we can give in regard to its history, habits, or distribution must be inferred from these few and meagre facts.

Dendroica palmarum, BairdYELLOW RED-POLL WARBLER

Motacilla palmarum, Gmel. Syst. Nat. I, 1788, 951 (based on Palm Warbler, Latham, Syn. II, p. 498, No. 131. St. Domingo). Sylvia p. Lath.; Vieillot, II, pl. lxxiii.—Bon.; D’Orb. Sagra’s Cuba, Ois. 1840, 61, pl. viii. Sylvicola p. Sallé, P. Z. S. 1857, 231 (St. Domingo). Dendroica p. Baird, Birds N. Am. 1858, 288; Rev. 207.—Sclater, Catal. 1861, 33, No. 199.—Ib. P. Z. S. 1861, 71 (Jamaica; April).—Bryant, Pr. Bost. Soc. VII, 1859 (Bahamas).—Ib. 1867, 91 (Hayti).—Brewer, Pr. Bost. Soc. 1867, 139.—Gundlach, Cab. Jour. 1861, 326 (Cuba; very common).—Samuels, 240. Sylvia petechia, Wils. VI, pl. xxviii, fig. 4.—Bon.; Nutt.; Aud. Orn. Biog. II, pl. clxiii, clxiv. Sylvicola petechia, Swains.; Aud. Birds Am. II, pl. xc. Sylvicola ruficapilla, Bon. Rhimanphus ruf. Cab. Jour. III, 1855, 473 (Cuba; winter).

Sp. Char. Adult in spring. Head above chestnut-red; rest of upper parts brownish olive-gray; the feathers with darker centres, the color brightening on the rump, upper tail-coverts, and outer margins of wing and tail-feathers, to greenish-yellow. A streak from nostrils over the eye, and under parts generally, including the tail-coverts, bright yellow; paler on the body. A maxillary line; breast and sides finely but rather obsoletely streaked with reddish-brown. Cheeks brownish (in highest spring plumage chestnut like the head); the eyelids and a spot under the eye olive-brown. Lores dusky. A white spot on the inner web of the outer two tail-feathers, at the end. Length, 5 inches; wing, 2.42; tail, 2.25. Sexes nearly alike.

Autumnal males are more reddish above; under parts tinged with brown, the axillars yellow.

Hab. Eastern Province of North America to Fort Simpson and Hudson’s Bay; Bahamas, Jamaica, Cuba, and St. Domingo in winter. Not noted from Mexico or Central America.

This species varies considerably in different stages, but can generally be recognized. Immature specimens resemble those of P. tigrina, but differ in the chestnut crown, browner back, less bright rump, brighter yellow of under tail-coverts, smaller blotches on tail, no white bands on the wings, etc., as well as in the shape of the bill.

Habits. The Red-Poll Warbler belongs, in its geographical distribution, to that large class of birds which visit high northern latitudes to breed, passing back and forth over a wide extent of territory, from the West India Islands to the extreme northern portions of the continent. Specimens have been procured from Cuba, Jamaica, St. Domingo, and the Bahamas, in fall, winter, and spring, where, at such times, they seem to be generally quite common. It has not been observed in Mexico or in Central or South America. It has been met with on the western shore of Lake Michigan, but nowhere farther to the west. It has been found in the Red River Settlement, Fort George, Fort Simpson, and Fort Resolution, in the Hudson Bay Territory. It is not known, so far as I am aware, to breed south of latitude 44°. Wilson and Nuttall both state that this bird remains in Pennsylvania through the summer, but they were probably misinformed; at least, there is no recent evidence to this effect. Wilson also states that he shot specimens in Georgia, near Savannah, early in February, and infers that some pass the entire winter in Georgia, which is not improbable, as this bird can endure severe weather without any apparent inconvenience.

There are several marked peculiarities in the habits of this Warbler which distinguish it from every other of its genus. Alone of all the Dendroicæ, so far as is known, it builds its nest on the ground, and is quite terrestrial in its habits, and, notwithstanding the statements of earlier writers, these are quite different from all others of this genus. It has very little of the habits of the Creeper and still less of the Flycatcher, while it has all the manners of the true Ground Warbler, and even approximates, in this respect, to the Titlarks.

My attention was first called to these peculiarities by Mr. Downes of Halifax, in the summer of 1851; and I was surprised to find it nesting on the ground, and yet more to note that in all its movements it appeared fully as terrestrial as the Maryland Yellow-Throat, or the Towhee Finch. Since then Mr. Boardman and other naturalists have found its nest, which is always on the ground.

Mr. MacCulloch, in the fourth volume of the Journal of the Boston Natural History Society, has given an interesting paper upon the terrestrial peculiarities of this species, showing them to be nearly identical with those of the seiuri, with whom he thinks it should be classed. In its terrestrial movements this bird is shown to be quite at home, while other Warblers, when driven by necessity to feed upon the ground, are awkward, and manifest a want of adaptation.

Dr. Henry Bryant, another very close and accurate observer, in his notes on the birds of the Bahamas, referring to this Warbler, speaks of it as extremely abundant, but confined to the sea-shore. “Its habits,” he adds, apparently with some surprise, “are decidedly terrestrial, and it approaches, in this respect, to the Titlarks. They were constantly running along the edges of the road, or else hopping amongst the low branches in the pastures. I did not see a single individual seeking for food amidst the large trees. These birds could be constantly seen running up and down in the market in search of small flies. These they caught either on the ground or else by hopping up a few inches, scarcely opening the wings, and alighting directly.”

Mr. J. A. Allen, in his Birds observed in Western Massachusetts, shows that these peculiarities of habits in this Warbler had not escaped his notice. He speaks of it as “frequenting, in company with D. pinus, the edges of thickets, orchards, and open fields, and is much on the ground.”

Mr. George A. Boardman, writing me from St. Stephen, March, 1867, says: “The Yellow Red-Poll is one of our most common Warblers, and, unlike most other Warblers, spends much of its time feeding upon the ground. It is no uncommon thing to see a dozen or two on the ground in my garden at a time, in early spring. Later in the season they have more of the habits of other Warblers, and are in summer expert flycatchers. In the fall we again see them mostly upon the ground, feeding with the Blue Snowbirds (Junco hyemalis) and the Chipping Sparrow. They breed in old brushy pastures, and very early, nesting alongside of some little knoll, and, I think, always upon the ground. The nest is very warmly lined with feathers.”

Mr. MacCulloch, in the paper already referred to, states that during their autumnal migrations they seem invariably to exhibit the habits of true Sylvicolidæ, gleaning among branches of trees for the smaller insects, and not unfrequently visiting the windows of dwellings in search of spiders and insects.

In their migrations through Massachusetts these Warblers are everywhere quite abundant in the spring, but in their return in autumn are not observed in the eastern part of the State, though very common in the western from September into November, remaining long after all the other Warblers are gone. None remain during the summer.

In Western Maine, Mr. Verrill states, it is quite common both in spring and in fall, arriving in April, earlier than any other Warbler, and again becoming abundant the last of September.

I found it plentiful in the vicinity of Halifax, where it occurs throughout the summer from May to September.

Mr. Ridgway gives this species as perhaps the most numerous of the transient visitants, in spring and fall, in Southern Illinois. It is very terrestrial in its habits, keeping much on the ground, in orchards and open places, and its movements are said to be wonderfully like those of Anthus ludovicianus.

In the vibratory motions of its tail, especially when upon the ground, these birds greatly resemble the Wagtails of Europe. They have no other song than a few simple and feeble notes, so thin and weak that they might almost be mistaken for the sounds made by the common grasshopper.

The Red-Poll usually selects for the site of its nest the edge of a swampy thicket, more or less open, placing it invariably upon the ground. This is usually not large, about three and a half inches in diameter and two and a half in depth, the diameter and depth of the cavity each averaging only half an inch less. The walls are compactly and elaborately constructed of an interweaving of various fine materials, chiefly fine dry grasses, slender strips of bark, stems of the smaller plants, hypnum, and other mosses. Within, the nest is warmly and softly lined with down and feathers.

Mr. Kennicott met with a nest of this bird at Fort Resolution, June 18. It was on the ground, on a hummock, at the foot of a small spruce, in a swamp. When found, it contained five young birds.

Their eggs are of a rounded-oval shape, and measure .70 of an inch in length by .55 in breadth. Their ground-color is a yellowish or creamy-white, and their blotches, chiefly about the larger end, are a blending of purple, lilac, and reddish-brown.

Dendroica discolor, BairdPRAIRIE WARBLER

Sylvia discolor, Vieill. Ois. Am. Sept. II, 1807, 37, pl. xcviii.—Bon.; Aud. Orn. Biog. I, pl. xiv; Nutt.—Lembeye, Aves Cuba, 1850, 32, pl. vi, fig. 2. Sylvicola discolor, Jard.; Rich.; Bon.; Aud. Birds Am. II, pl. xcvii.—Gosse, Birds Jam. 1847, 159. Rhimanphus discolor, Cab. Jour. III, 1855, 474 (Cuba; winter). Dendroica discolor, Baird, Birds N. Am. 1858, 290; Rev. 213.—Newton, Ibis, 1859, 144 (St. Croix).—Bryant, Pr. Bost. Soc. VII, 1859 (Bahamas).—Ib. 1866 (Porto Rico); 1867, 91 (Hayti).—Gundlach, Cab. Jour. 1861, 326 (Cuba; very common).—Samuels, 241. Sylvia minuta, Wilson, III, pl. xxv. fig. 4.

Sp. Char. Spring male. Above uniform olive-green; the interscapular region with chestnut-red centres to feathers. Under parts and sides of the head, including a broad superciliary line from the nostrils to a little behind the eye, bright yellow, brightest anteriorly. A well-defined narrow stripe from the commissure of the mouth through the eye, and another from the same point curving gently below it, also a series of streaks on each side of the body, extending from the throat to the flanks, black. Quills and tail-feathers brown, edged with white; the terminal half of the inner web of the first and second tail-feathers white. Two yellowish bands on the wings. Female similar, but duller. The dorsal streaks indistinct. Length, 4.86; wing, 2.25; tail, 2.10.

First plumage of the young not seen.

Hab. Atlantic region of United States, north to Massachusetts; South Illinois; in winter very abundant throughout all the West India Islands, as far, at least, as the Virgin Islands. Not recorded from Mexico or Central America.

Autumnal specimens have the plumage more blended, but the markings not changed. A young male in autumnal dress is wholly brownish olive-green above, the whole wing uniform; the forehead ashy, the markings about the head rather obsolete, the chestnut spots on the back and the black ones on the sides nearly concealed.

Habits. The Prairie Warbler, nowhere an abundant species, is pretty generally, though somewhat irregularly, distributed through the eastern portion of the United States from Massachusetts to Georgia during its breeding-season. The Smithsonian Museum embraces no specimens taken west of Philadelphia or Washington. I have had its nest and eggs found in Central New York. Mr. Audubon speaks of its occurring in Louisiana, but his accounts of its nesting are so obviously inaccurate that we must receive this statement also with misgivings. Wilson, however, obtained specimens in Kentucky, and gave to it the inappropriate name of Prairie Warbler. Nuttall regarded it as rare in New England, which opinion more careful observations do not confirm. They certainly are not rare in certain portions of Massachusetts. In Essex County, and, according to Mr. Allen, in the vicinity of Springfield, they are rather common. The Smithsonian possesses specimens from the Bahamas, Jamaica, St. Croix, St. Thomas, and other West India islands. Dr. Gundlach speaks of it as common in Cuba. In the Bahamas, Dr. Bryant found these Warblers more abundant than he had ever known them in the United States. In January all the males were in winter plumage, some not having changed by April to their summer costume. He regarded them as constant residents of those islands. They had all paired off by the middle of April.

In the island of St. Croix, Mr. Edward Newton observed these Warblers from the 10th of September to the 27th of March. They were present on the island about two thirds of the year, and while they were found were very common.

In Jamaica, according to Mr. March, they are numerous throughout the entire year, though less abundant during the summer months. They were always plentiful in the gardens about the Malpighia glabra, capturing small insects from the ripe fruit.

Mr. Gosse, on the contrary, regarded it as only a winter visitant of that island, appearing by the 18th of August, and disappearing by the 11th of April. He observed them among low bushes and herbaceous weeds, along the roadside, near the ground, examining every stalk and twig for insects. Others flew from bushes by the wayside to the middle of the road, where, hovering in the air, a few feet from the ground, they seemed to be catching small dipterous insects. Their stomachs were filled with fragments of insects.

Wilson found them usually in open plains and thinly wooded tracts, searching most leisurely among the foliage, carefully examining every leaf or blade of grass for insects, uttering, at short intervals, a brief chirr. They did not appear to be easily alarmed, and he has known one of these birds to remain half an hour at a time on the lower branch of a tree, and allow him to approach the foot, without being in the least disturbed. He found their food consisted of winged insects and small caterpillars.