Chapter C: S. Paine, of East Bethel, Vt., found a nest of this species about (9)

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, BAIRD.

PINE-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.

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, BAIRD.

BLUE 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, BAIRD.

KIRTLAND’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, BAIRD.

YELLOW 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, BAIRD.

PRAIRIE 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.

In 1858, Mr. John Cassin wrote me: “The Prairie Warbler certainly breeds in New Jersey, near Philadelphia. I have seen it all summer for the last twelve years, and have seen the young just able to fly, but never found the nest. It has a very peculiar note, which I know as well as I do the Catbird’s, having often followed and searched it out. It frequents cedar-trees, and I suspect breeds in and about them.”

Dr. Coues found the Prairie Warbler mostly a spring and autumn visitant in the vicinity of Washington, being quite abundant during those seasons. A few were observed to remain during the breeding-season. They arrive earlier than most of this family of birds, or about the 20th of April. He found them frequenting, almost exclusively, cedar-patches and pine-trees, and speaks of their having very peculiar manners and notes.

Both Wilson and Audubon were evidently at fault in their descriptions of the nest and eggs. These do not correspond with more recent and positive observations. Its nest is never pensile. Mr. Nuttall’s descriptions, on the other hand, are made from his own observations, and are evidently correct. He describes a nest that came under his observation as scarcely distinguishable from that of the _D. æstiva_. It was not pensile, but fixed in a forked branch, and formed of strips of the inner bark of the red cedar, fibres of asclepia, and caterpillars’ silk, and thickly lined with the down of the _Gnaphalium plantagineum_. He describes the eggs as having a white ground, sharp at one end, and marked with spots of lilac-purple and of two shades of brown, more numerous at the larger end, where they formed a ring. He speaks of their note as slender, and noticed their arrival about the second week of May, leaving the middle of September.

At another time Mr. Nuttall was attracted by the slender, filing notes of this bird, resembling the suppressed syllables _’tsh-’tsh-’tsh-’tshea_, beginning low and gradually growing louder. With its mate it was busily engaged collecting flies and larvæ about a clump of locust-trees in Mount Auburn. Their nest was near, and the female, without any precautions, went directly to it. Mr. Nuttall removed two eggs, which he afterwards replaced. Each time, on his withdrawal, she returned to the nest, and resorted to no expedients to entice him away.

Several nests of this Warbler have been obtained by Mr. Welch in Lynn. One was built on a wild rose, only a few feet from the ground. It is a snug, compact, and elaborately woven structure, having a height and a diameter of about two and a half inches. The cavity is two inches wide and one and a half deep. The materials of which the outer parts are woven are chiefly the soft inner bark of small shrubs, mingled with dry rose-leaves, bits of vegetables, wood, woody fibres, decayed stems of plants, spiders’ webs, etc. The whole is bound together like a web by cotton-like fibres of a vegetable origin. The upper rim of this nest is a marked feature, being a strongly interlaced weaving of vegetable roots and strips of bark. The lining of the nest is composed of fine vegetable fibres and a few horse-hairs. This nest, in its general mode of construction, resembles all that I have seen; only in others the materials vary,—in some dead and decayed leaves, in others remains of old cocoons, and in others the pappus of composite plants, being more prominent than the fine strips of bark. The nests are usually within four feet of the ground. The eggs vary from three to five, and even six.

The late Dr. Gerhardt found this bird the most common Warbler in Northern Georgia. There its nests were similar in size, structure, and position, but differed more or less in the materials of which they were made. The nests were a trifle larger and the walls thinner, the cavities being correspondingly larger. The materials were more invariably fine strips of inner bark and flax-like vegetable fibres, and were lined with the finest stems of plants, in one case with the feathers of the Great Horned Owl. In that neighborhood the eggs were deposited by the 15th of May.

In Massachusetts the Prairie Warbler invariably selects wild pasture-land, often not far from villages, and always open or very thinly wooded. In Georgia their nests were built in almost every kind of bush or low tree, or on the lower limbs of post-oaks, at the height of from four to seven feet. Eggs were found once as early as the 2d of May, and once as late as the 10th of June. The birds arrived there by the 10th of April, and seemed to prefer hillsides, but were found in almost any open locality.

In Southern Illinois, Mr. Ridgway cites this species as a rather rare bird among the oak barrens where it breeds. He also met with it in orchards in the wooded portions, in April, during the northward migration of the _Sylvicolidæ_.

The eggs are of an oval shape, pointed at one end, and measure .68 by .48 of an inch. They have a white ground, marked with spots of lilac and purple and two shades of umber-brown.

SUBFAMILY GEOTHLYPINÆ.

SECTION SEIUREÆ.

The diagnosis of the subfamily will be found on page 178. The _Seiureæ_, as there stated, have the wings pointed, and rather longer than the nearly even tail, which is unspotted. The genera differ in proportion rather than absolutely, _Oporornis_ having longer wings and larger claws. The coloration, however, is always distinctive, as follows:—

Under part white or whitish, thickly streaked … _Seiurus._
Beneath yellow, without spots … _Oporornis._

GENUS SEIURUS, SWAINSON.

_Seiurus_, SWAINSON, Zoöl. Jour. III, 1827, 171. (Sufficiently
distinct from _Sciurus_.) (Type, _Motacilla aurocapilla_, L.)
_Henicocichla_, GRAY, List of Genera, 1840.

[Line drawing: _Seiurus aurocapillus._
1433]

GEN. CHAR. Bill rather sylvicoline, compressed, with a distinct notch. Gonys ascending. Rictal bristles very short. Wings moderate, about three quarters of an inch longer than the tail; first quill scarcely shorter than the second. Tail slightly rounded; feathers acuminate. Tarsi about as long as the skull, considerably exceeding the middle toe. Under tail-coverts reaching within about half an inch of the end of the tail. Color above olivaceous; beneath whitish, thickly streaked on the breast and sides. Wings and tail immaculate. Nests on the ground, often arched or sheltered by position or dry leaves. Eggs white, marked with red, brown, and purple.

This genus is decidedly sylvicoline in general appearance, although the spots on the breast resemble somewhat those of the Thrushes. The three species may be grouped as follows:—

A. Middle of crown brownish-orange, bordered by blackish. No white superciliary streak … _S. aurocapillus._

B. Crown like the back. A well-defined superciliary light stripe.

Thickly streaked beneath, including crissum. Ground-color and
superciliary stripe yellowish. Bill small … _S. noveboracensis._

Sparsely streaked beneath; throat and crissum immaculate.
Ground-color and superciliary stripe white. Bill very large …
_S. ludovicianus._

Seiurus aurocapillus, SWAINS.

GOLDEN-CROWNED THRUSH.

_Motacilla aurocapilla_, LINN. S. N. I, 1766, 334. _Turdus aur._
LATH.; WILS. Am. Orn. II, pl. xiv, fig. 2.—AUD. Orn. Biog. II, pl.
cxliii. _Sylvia aur._ BON. _Seiurus aur._ SWAINSON, Zoöl. Jour.
III, 1827, 171.—BAIRD, Birds N. Am. 1858, 260; Rev. 214.—MOORE, P.
Z. S. 1859, 55 (Honduras).—MAX. Cab. Jour. 1858, 177.—JONES, Nat.
Bermuda, 27. _Henicocichla aur._ SCLATER, Catal. 1861, 25, no.
159.—GUNDLACH, Cab. Jour. 1861, 326 (Cuba). _Seiurus aur._ D’ORB.
Sagra’s Cuba, 1840, 55.—DALL & BANNISTER, Tr. Chic. Ac. I, 1869,
278 (Alaska).—SAMUELS, 218. _Turdus coronatus_, VIEILL. Ois. II.
1807, 8.
Other localities quoted: _Cordova_, SCLATER, P. Z. S. 1856, 293. _St.
Domingo_, SALLÉ, P. Z. S. 1857, 231. _Guatemala_, SCLATER &
SALVIN, Ibis, I, 1859, 10. _Santa Cruz_ (winter), NEWTON, Ibis,
1859, 142. _Cuba_ (winter), Cab. Jour. III, 471. _Jamaica_, GOSSE,
Birds, 152.—SCLATER, P. Z. S. 1861, 70. _Costa Rica_, CAB. Jour.
1861, 84. _Orizaba_ (winter), SUMICHRAST. _Yucatan_, LAWR.
_Chiriqui_, SALV.

SP. CHAR. Above uniform olive-green, with a tinge of yellow. Crown with two narrow streaks of black from the bill, enclosing a median and much broader one of brownish-orange. Beneath white; the breast, sides of the body, and a maxillary line, streaked with black. The female and young of the year are not appreciably different. Length, 6.00; wing, 3.00; tail, 2.40.

HAB. Eastern Province of North America, north to English River, H. B. T., and Alaska; west to mouth of Platte, and Denver City, Colorado; Mazatlan; whole West Indies; Eastern Mexico; Honduras, Guatemala, and Costa Rica; Bermuda in autumn and winter (JONES).

HABITS. The Golden-crowned Thrush, or Oven-Bird, as in some portions of the country it is exclusively called, inhabits the whole of eastern North America, as far to the west as the Great Plains, and to the north at least as far as English River. In the winter season it has been found in Mexico, St. Domingo, Jamaica, Cuba, and other West India islands, and in Central America is also very common. Mr. Sumichrast also speaks of it as common at Orizaba during the same season, and it has been found in the Bermudas and the Bahamas. In all these places it usually appears early in the autumn and remains until the ensuing spring. It breeds as far to the north as it has been known to go. Richardson met with its nest on the banks of the Saskatchewan, and was convinced that it bred at even still higher latitudes. Among some memoranda I received from the late Mr. Kennicott is one stating that he met with this Thrush breeding near English River, July 15. These birds arrive in the fur country about the first of May. How far to the south they breed we have no positive information. I have never received its eggs from any point south of Philadelphia, nor did I ever meet with it or hear its notes in summer in the vicinity of Washington. Audubon was of the opinion that a few remain to breed even in Louisiana, and states that he found them abundant in Texas in the middle of May, but he may have confounded this species with the Louisiana Thrush.

In Jamaica, where its habits have been carefully studied by Mr. Gosse, it arrives in September and leaves about the 20th of April. Mr. Würdemann obtained specimens at Cape Florida, September 24 and 25. Mr. Audubon mentions their appearing in Louisiana as early as the first of March. Wilson never noticed it in Louisiana before the last of April, nor after September. The Smithsonian possesses no specimen obtained earlier than May 1, except some procured April 25 from the mouth of Platte River. Mr. Allen notes its arrival in Western Massachusetts May 10. Mr. Verrill gives the early part of May as the time of its reaching Western Maine, and Mr. Boardman May 1 for the vicinity of Calais.

Though not found on the California coast, specimens of this bird have been taken in winter near Mazatlan, Mexico, showing probably that in their migrations they cross the mountains of Northern Mexico, as do the _Mniotilta varia_ and a few other of our Eastern species.

In Eastern Massachusetts it usually appears from the 1st to the 10th of May, just as the first leaves of the trees are expanding, and is to be found only in thick woods, often near their edges. Occasionally found perched on the low limbs of trees, it is quite terrestrial in its habits, keeps a good deal on the ground, running about among the fallen leaves, more in the manner of a small quadruped than a bird. Mr. Audubon speaks of its frequenting shady woods, watered by creeks and rivulets. I have found them rather more abundant in woods upon high and dry ground, usually upon slopes of wooded hillsides. In this respect it appears to differ in a marked manner from its near of kin, the Water Thrush (_S. noveboracensis_).

This bird, and indeed all of this genus, have the peculiar vibratory motions of the tail noticed in the Wagtail of Europe, and also observed in our own Red-poll Warbler, and in the Titlarks. In consequence of these peculiarities this species is known, in Jamaica, as _Land Kickup_, and the _noveboracensis_ as the _Water Kickup_. Mr. Gosse found in its stomach gravel, various seeds, mud-insects, caterpillars, and small turbinate shells.

The usual and more common song of this species is a very peculiar and striking one, unlike that of any other of our birds. It is said to somewhat resemble the song of the _Accentor modularis_ of Europe. It is loud and clear, enunciated with great rapidity, and uttered with great emphasis at its close. It is characterized by energy and power, rather than variety or sweetness, yet it is not unpleasing. Audubon calls it a “simple lay,” and again “a short succession of simple notes,”—expressions that would give one who had never heard its song an altogether incorrect idea of its true character. Wilson is still more in error when he states that this bird has no song, but an energetic twitter, when, in fact, it has two very distinct songs, each in its way remarkable. Nuttall describes its song as “a simple, long, reiterated note, rising from low to high, and shrill”; Richardson speaks of it as “a loud, clear, and remarkably pleasing ditty”; and Mr. Allen calls it “a loud, echoing song, heard everywhere in the deep woods.” In reference to the songs of this bird, and the injustice that has been done by writers to this and other species of our birds, Mr. Boardman of St. Stephen has written me the following just observations.

“Many of our common Warblers, Thrushes, and other birds,
have rare songs they reserve for some extra occasions, and
many of our common birds do not get credit for half their
real power of song. Once last spring, as I was watching for
some birds, I heard a new and very pretty warble, something
like the trill of a Winter Wren, and found that it came from
our common slate-colored Snowbird (_Junco hyemalis_), a bird
that I see every day that I go to the woods, and yet these
notes I had never heard before. It is the same with the
Golden-crowned Thrush. When it gets into the top of a tall
tree, its strain is so rare and beautiful that but few know
it as from that bird. The same is true of the Water Thrush,
and also of both _Turdus pallasi_ and _Turdus swainsoni_.”

The Oven-Bird always nests on the ground, and generally constructs nests with arched or domed roofs, with an entrance on one side, like the mouth of an oven, and hence its common name. This arched covering is not, however, universal. For a site this species usually selects the wooded slope of a hill, and the nests are usually sunk in the ground. When placed under the shelter of a projecting root, or in a thick clump of bushes, the nest has no other cover than a few loose leaves resting on, but forming no part of it.

A nest from Racine, Wis., obtained by Dr. Hoy, is a fine typical specimen of the domed nests of this species. The roof is very perfect, and the whole presents the appearance of two shallow nests united at the rim, and leaving only a small opening at one side. This nest was five inches in diameter from front to back, six inches from side to side, and four inches high. The opening was two and a quarter inches wide, one and three quarters high. The cavity was two inches deep, below the brim. At the entrance the roof recedes about an inch, obviously to allow of a freer entrance and exit from the nest. Externally this nest is made of wood, mosses, lichens, and dry leaves, with a few stems and broken fragments of plants. The entrance is strongly built of stout twigs, and its upper portion is composed of a strong framework of fine twigs, roots, stems, mosses, dry plants, etc., all firmly interwoven, and lined with finer materials of the same.

On the 7th of June, 1858, I came accidentally upon a nest of this bird of a very different style of structure. It was in a thick wood in Hingham. The nest was built in a depression in the ground at the foot of some low bushes, and its top was completely covered by surrounding vines and wild flowers. It would probably have escaped notice had not my daughter, then a child of four years, attempted to gather some wild flowers growing directly over its entrance. This flushed the mother, who until then had remained quiet, although we were standing with our feet almost upon the nest, and the bird fluttered and tumbled about at our feet with well-feigned manœuvres to distract our attention. The child in great glee sought to catch it, but it eluded her grasp, and, running off like a mouse, disappeared. The nest contained six eggs, was entirely open, and with no other cover than the wild plants that clustered above it. As to its identity there was no doubt, as the parent was afterwards snared upon its nest. This nest was somewhat loosely constructed of skeleton leaves, dry slender stalks, grasses, and pine-needles, and was lined with a few slender grasses and leaves. It had a diameter of six inches, and was two and a half inches deep. The cup had a diameter of three and a half inches and a depth of two, being very large for the size of the bird, probably owing to the shape of the cavity in which it was sunk.

The nest of this bird seems to be a favorite place of resort for the Cow Blackbird to deposit its egg. In one nest, found by Mr. Vickary in Lynn, no less than three eggs of these parasites had been placed.

The eggs of the Golden-crowned Thrush are subject to considerable variations. Their markings differ in their colors and shades, and yet more in number, size, and manner of distribution. The eggs are oval in shape, one end being but very slightly smaller than the other. Their average length is .82 of an inch, and their breadth is .55 of an inch. Their ground-color is a beautiful creamy-white. They are marked, usually principally about the larger end, with dots and blotches, intermingled, of red, reddish-brown, lilac, darker purple, and ferruginous. Occasionally these make a beautiful crown around the larger end, leaving the rest of the surface nearly free from spots.

Seiurus noveboracensis, NUTT.

SMALL-BILLED WATER THRUSH.

_Motacilla noveboracensis_, GMELIN, S. N. I, 1788, 958. _Sylvia nov._
LATH.; VIEILLOT, Ois. Am. Sept. II, pl. lxxxii. _Seiurus nov._
NUTT.; BON.; AUD. Birds Am. III, pl. cxcix.—BAIRD, Birds N. Am.
1858, 261, pl. lxxx, fig. 1; Rev. 215.—MAX. Cab. Jour. 1858,
121.—DALL & BANNISTER (Alaska).—SAMUELS, 220. _Henicocichla nov._
CAB. Schom. Guiana, III, 666; Jour. 1860, 324 (Costa
Rica).—SCLATER (Tobago).—GUNDLACH, Cab. Jour. 1861, 326 (Cuba).
_Mniotilta nov._ GRAY. _?? Motacilla fuscescens_, GMELIN, S. N.
984 (based on _Ficedula jamaicensis_, BRISSON, III, 512, Jamaica).
_Turdus aquaticus_, WILS.; AUD. Orn. Biog. 1839, 284, pl.
ccccxxxiii. _Sylvia anthoides_, VIEILLOT, Nouv. Dict. XI, 1817,
208. _Seiurus tenuirostris_, SW. 1827; GAMB. _Seiurus_
_sulfurascens_, D’ORBIGNY, Sagra’s Cuba, 1840, 57, pl. vi.
_Seiurus gosse_, BON. Consp. 1850, 306 (Jamaica). _? Anthus
l’herminieri_, LESS. Rev. Z. 1839, 101 (Colombia).
Other localities quoted: _Xalapa_, SCLATER. _Guatemala_, SCLATER &
SALVIN. _Panama_, LAWRENCE. _Carthagena_, CASSIN. _Santa Cruz_
(winter), NEWTON. _Cuba_, CAB. _Jamaica_, GOSSE.; SCL.
_Venezuela_, SCL. & SALV. _Yucatan_, LAWR. _St. Bartholemy_, SUND.
_Veragua_, SALV.

SP. CHAR. Bill, from rictus, about the length of the skull. Above olive-brown, with a shade of green; beneath pale sulphur-yellow, brightest on the abdomen. Region about the base of the lower mandible, and a superciliary line from the base of the bill to the nape, brownish-yellow. A dusky line from the bill through the eye; chin and throat finely spotted. All the remaining under parts and sides of the body, except the abdomen, and including the under tail-coverts, conspicuously and thickly streaked with olivaceous-brown, almost black on the breast. Length, 6.15; wing, 3.12; tail, 2.40. Bill, from rictus, .64. Sexes similar.

HAB. Eastern Province of North America, north to Arctic Ocean and Yukon (westward along northern border of United States to Cascade Mountains); Fort Bridger, (DREXLER); Arizona (COUES); whole West Indies; Southeastern Mexico; all Central America; Panama and Eastern South America (Bogota; Carthagena; Brazil).

A very young bird (22,619, Fort Simpson, August 10) is very different from the adult in coloration. The upper parts are fuliginous-black, each feather with a broad terminal bar of pale ochraceous, wing-coverts tipped with the same, forming two distinct bands; streaks below as in the adult, but broader and less sharply defined.

HABITS. This species has a general distribution, at certain seasons, throughout the whole of eastern North America as far to the north as the Arctic Ocean. North of the United States it is also found on the Pacific coast as far south as the Cascade Mountains. In the winter it is quite common in all the West India Islands, in Southeastern Mexico, Central America, Panama, and the eastern part of South America to Brazil. From about latitude 43° northward it breeds throughout all North America. Sir John Richardson met with it at the Carlton House, where it was found frequenting the moist and thickly wooded banks of the river. These birds made their first appearance in May, and the greater portion soon after disappeared, as if proceeding still farther north to breed.

Among other memoranda given me by the late Mr. Kennicott was one furnished him by Mr. Lockhart, to the effect that, at Yukon River, June 21, 1859, he had shot a female Water Thrush as she flew from her nest. This contained five eggs, and was concealed under a small pile of drift, close to the river, but under large willow-trees. This was not lined with down. At the same locality another nest with six eggs was also obtained. This also was on the ground at the foot of some willows near the water. It was made of moss, and lined with very fine grass.

All that has been given by our earlier authors as to the habits of this species must be received with more or less uncertainty. The difference between this bird and that known as the Louisiana Thrush has not been sufficiently clear to these writers to enable us always to determine which of the two they had in view. And even now the distribution in summer of the _ludovicianus_ is hardly definable with precision.

Wilson describes the habits of those he observed in Pennsylvania as evincing a remarkable partiality for brooks, rivers, ponds, and the vicinity of water generally, wading in shallow pools in search of aquatic insects, and giving, as it moves it along, an almost continuously vibratory motion to its tail. He speaks of it as very shy, darting away with signs of alarm whenever approached, and uttering a sharp cry. In all other respects his account of this bird probably refers to the Louisiana species.

This is also, without doubt, true of nearly all Audubon gives in connection with the history of this Thrush, which in all probability does not breed in Louisiana, nor remain there through April, being at that time well on its way to more northern regions.

Mr. Gosse, in his notes on the birds of Jamaica, states that this bird reappears in that island about the end of August. He noticed them about the muddy margins of ponds, and they soon became abundant. Individuals were also to be seen running on the road, especially near the sea-shore, and by the edges of morasses. They ran rapidly, often waded up to their tibiæ in water, or ran along the twigs of a fallen tree at the brink, and now and then flew up into the branches of a pimento or an orange-tree. Whether running or standing, they were continually flirting up their tails, after the manner of the European Wagtail. During its winter residence in Jamaica it has no song, only a monotonous cry, a sharp _chip_. Its stomach was found to contain water-insects and shells. Mr. March has noticed their arrival in Jamaica as early as August 5. They all leave by the first of April.