Chapter IX: Introduction (7)

_Migration._--Some early dates of spring arrival are: West Virginia--French Creek, April 23. District of Columbia--Washington, April 20. Pennsylvania--Beaver, April 25. New York--Canandaigua, April 25. Massachusetts--Taunton, April 24. Vermont--Rutland, April 27. Maine--Presque Isle, May 2. Quebec--Kamouraska, May 2. New Brunswick--Scotch Lake, May 8. Mississippi--Rosedale, April 26. Tennessee--Memphis, April 16. Kentucky--Bardstown, April 28. Indiana--Indianapolis, April 24. Ohio--Oberlin, April 19. Michigan--Ann Arbor, April 25. Ontario--Toronto, April 29. Texas--San Antonio, March 27. Arkansas--Delight, April 14. Missouri--St. Louis, April 21. Iowa--Davenport, April 26. Illinois--Chicago, April 25. Wisconsin--Madison, April 25. Minnesota--Red Wing, April 29. Manitoba--Winnipeg, May 2. Arizona--Tucson, April 6. Montana--Missoula, April 25. Idaho--Coeur d'Alene, April 29. California--Buena Park, March 3. Oregon--Prospect, April 20. Washington--Tacoma, April 23. British Columbia--Okanagan Landing, April 21.

Late dates of spring departure are: West Virginia--Wheeling, May 24. District of Columbia--Washington, May 20. Pennsylvania--Jeffersonville, May 20. Mississippi--Rosedale, May 6. Tennessee--Nashville, May 19. Kentucky--Bowling Green, May 19. Indiana--Richmond, June 1. Texas--Ingram, May 10. Arkansas--Monticello, May 9. Missouri--Columbia, May 28. Iowa--Grinnell, June 2. Illinois--Rockford, May 30. Kansas--Lake Quivira, May 21. Nebraska--Red Cloud, May 24. South Dakota--June 1. Arizona--Otero Canyon, Baboquivari Mountains, April 29. California--Cabezon, May 7.

Late dates of fall departure are: British Columbia--Okanagan Landing, September 13. Washington--Port Chehalis, October 11. California--Los Angeles, October 8. Idaho--Bayview, September 12. Montana--Bozeman, September 12. Arizona--Fort Verde, September 28. Manitoba--Shoal Lake, September 26. North Dakota--Fargo, October 15. South Dakota--Mellette, October 4. Nebraska--Blue Springs, October 1. Kansas--Lawrence, October 8. Minnesota--St. Paul, October 25. Wisconsin--Racine, October 6; Madison, November 1. Iowa--Marshalltown, October 14. Missouri--Columbia, October 19. Arkansas--Winslow, October 14. Texas--Cove, November 15. Ontario--Ottawa, October 7. Michigan--Sault Ste. Marie, October 7. Illinois--Springfield, October 2. Ohio--Toledo, October 29. Kentucky--Lexington, October 16. Tennessee--Memphis, October 3. Mississippi--Deer Island, October 16. Quebec--Hatley, October 18. Maine--Portland, October 13. New Hampshire, Center Ossipee, October 23. Massachusetts--Danvers, October 12. New York--New York, October 17. Pennsylvania--Philadelphia, October 17. District of Columbia--Washington, October 14. West Virginia--Bluefield, October 19.

Early dates of fall arrival are: California--Los Angeles, August 9. Arizona--Patagonia, August 8. North Dakota--Rice Lake, August 18. South Dakota--Yankton, August 2. Kansas--Lake Quivira, August 31. Iowa--Iowa City, August 18. Missouri--Montier, August 8. Arkansas--Winslow, September 8. Texas--Rockport, September 1. Illinois--Glen Ellyn, August 16. Indiana--Bloomington, August 26. Ohio--Cleveland, August 2. Kentucky--Versailles, August 13. Tennessee--Marysville, September 1. Massachusetts--Martha's Vineyard, August 17. New York--Rhinebeck, August 13. Pennsylvania--Pittsburgh, August 28. District of Columbia--Washington, September 5. West Virginia--French Creek, September 7.

The Nashville warbler is a rare species in the lower Mississippi Valley; there are only three records for Louisiana; and it is almost unknown in the Atlantic States south of the Chesapeake Bay.

_Casual records._--Four specimens have been collected in Greenland: One at Godthaab, about 1835; two at Fiskenaes, October 10, 1823, and August 31, 1840; and one marked "West Greenland," between 1890 and 1899. The three latter were all immature birds. A specimen was collected in Bermuda on September 16, 1907.

_Egg dates._--Maine: 27 records, May 8 to August 7; 15 records, May 27 to June 14, indicating the height of the season.

Minnesota: 11 records, May 7 to June 15.

Quebec: 32 records, May 28 to July 4; 18 records, June 19 to 29.

California: 23 records, May 17 to July 30; 12 records, May 21 to June 5 (Harris).

VERMIVORA RUFICAPILLA RIDGWAYI van Rossem

WESTERN NASHVILLE WARBLER

HABITS

This western form of our well-known eastern Nashville warbler, often called the Calaveras warbler, was discovered by Robert Ridgway in the East Humboldt Mountains, Nev., on September 6, 1868, and given the subspecific name _gutturalis_. He (1902) describes it as similar to the eastern bird, "but olive-green of rump and upper tail-coverts brighter, more yellowish, yellow of under parts brighter, lower abdomen more extensively whitish, and greater wing-coverts lighter, more yellowish olive-green." He gives as its range: "Western United States, breeding on high mountains, from the Sierra Nevada (Calaveras Co., California) to British Columbia (Vernon, Nelson, Okanogan district, etc.), eastward to eastern Oregon (Fort Klamath), northern Idaho (Fort Sherman), etc.; southward during migration to extremity of Lower California, and over western and northern Mexico, and southeastward to Texas (San Antonio; Tom Green County; Concho County)." The 1931 A. O. U. Check-List says that this form winters "in Mexico south to Puebla, Oaxaca, Guerrero, Jalisco, and Colima."

Dr. Walter K. Fisher wrote to Dr. Chapman (1907): "The Calaveras Warbler is a characteristic denizen of the chaparral and is found on both slopes of the Sierra Nevadas about as far south as Mt. Whitney. It frequents the belts of the yellow, sugar, and Jeffrey pines, and ranges up into the red fir zone. During the height of the nesting season one may see them flitting about among thickets of manzanita, wild cherry, huckleberry, oak and buck brush, almost always in song; and while the female is assiduously hunting among the dense cover of bushes, the male is often singing in a pine or fir, far above mundane cares. * * * I have observed this Warbler at lower altitudes on the west slope among small black oaks, in company with Hermit Warblers."

Dr. Wilfred H. Osgood (1896) first saw it in the Sierras at 3,500 feet elevation, but more commonly at 3,700 feet. "At 5,000 feet we found them most common, and from 7,000 to 9,000 feet they gradually disappeared, apparently going as high up as the black oak, in which trees they were generally seen, skipping about in search of insects."

Grinnell and Storer (1924) say: "The Calaveras Warbler is common during the summer months in the black oaks and maples along each side of the Yosemite Valley and in similar situations elsewhere on the western flank of the Sierra Nevada. Among all the warblers to be seen in the Yosemite Valley during the summer months the present species is the only one which does not forage and nest in the same niche. The Calaveras seeks its food and does its singing well up in trees, but places its nest immediately upon the ground."