BAY-BREASTED WARBLER (Dendroica 

 castanea) 



Range : Breeds in Canadian Zone from 

 northeastern Alberta. southern Keewatin, 

 southern Ungava, and Newfoundland south 

 to southern Manitoba, northern Maine, and 

 mountains of New Hampshire; winters in 

 Panama and Colombia. 



The bay-breast appears to be increasing in 

 numbers. Forty years or so ago it was rare 

 in Massachusetts in fall, and search by the 

 most vigilant collector during the entire 

 autumn migration was rarely rewarded by 

 the sight of more than one or two. Today 

 it is far different, and not a season passes 

 that at the proper time and place careful 

 search will not reveal a dozen or more mingled 

 with others of the warbler family. In spring 

 the bird has always been uncommon or alto- 

 gether wanting in the Eastern States, as it 

 migrates up the Mississippi Valley, spreading 

 out to occupy northern Maine and other of 

 its northern summer haunts. In summer it 

 frequents coniferous forests, and often nests 

 in hemlocks. 



BLACK-THROATED GRAY WARBLER 

 (Dendroica nigrescens) 



Range: Breeds in Transition Zone from 

 southern British Columbia, Nevada, northern 

 Utah, and northwestern Colorado south to 

 northern Lower California, southern Arizona, 

 and northern New Mexico ; winters in southern 

 Lower California and in Mexico from Du- 

 rango to Michoacan, Vera Cruz, and Oaxaca. 



The handsome black-throated gray warbler 

 is exclusively western in distribution, from our 

 southern border to British Columbia. Though 

 I have seen it many times, I am unable to re- 

 call any especially salient characteristics pos- 

 sessed by the species. Like others of the fam- 

 ily, the black-throat is an active insect hunter, 

 both among the oaks and various kinds of 

 scrub growths of the valleys and the conifers 

 of higher altitudes. The bird seems naturally 

 to suggest the black-throated green warbler of 

 the Eastern States, but I am not aware that 

 in habits it is more nearly comparable to that 

 species than to others. In choice of nesting 

 sites it exhibits a wide range of taste, and 

 nests have been found in scrub oaks, pines, and 

 firs, and varying in height from the ground 

 from 3 or 4 feet up to 50 feet or more. 



BLACK-THROATED GREEN WAR- 

 BLER (Dendroica virens) 



Range : Breeds in lower Canadian and 

 Transition Zones from west, central, and 

 northeastern Alberta, southern Manitoba, 

 central Ontario, northeastern Quebec, and 

 Newfoundland south to southern Minnesota, 

 southern Wisconsin, northern Ohio, northern 

 New Jersey, Connecticut, and Long Island, 

 New York, and in the Alleghenies south to 

 South Carolina and Georgia ; winters in 

 Mexico (Nuevo Leon to Chiapas and 

 Yucatan), Guatemala. Costa Rica, and Panama. 



What true bird lover is there who does not 



cherish fond memories of certain birds? The 

 very name of black-throated green warbler 

 carries me back to boyhood days and to a 

 certain pine-crested hill in Massachusetts, 

 from which was wafted on an early spring 

 morning the song of this warbler, heard by 

 me then for the first time. The many years 

 since elapsed have not effaced the sweet 

 strains, and I seem to hear them now as they 

 were borne that morning by the pine-scented 

 spring breeze. I can vividly recall the pleasure 

 the. song occasioned and the satisfaction of 

 having added one more bird to my small list 

 of avian acquaintances. Those were the days 

 of mystery, when the woods seemed filled with 

 unknown birds, and secrets lurked in every 

 thicket and met the seeker at every turn. 

 They were the times when bird books were 

 few, keys unknown, and the keen eyes of 

 youth far more satisfactory than the best field 

 glasses of the present day. 



The black-throated green is one of the com- 

 moner of our eastern warblers and one of the 

 first to engage the attention of the bird stu- 

 dent. During migration it may be met with 

 in every kind of woodland, where it is at home, 

 both high and low, ever pursuing with tireless 

 energy its quest for insects. It has two songs, 

 or rather one song delivered in two different 

 ways, sprightly, sweet, and perfectly character- 

 istic. In summer it is partial to coniferous 

 woods, especially white pines and hemlocks, 

 and it frequently nests in these, though also in 

 birches and alders. 



PINE WARBLER (Dendroica vigorsi) 



Range ; Breeds in Transition and Austral 

 Zones from northern Manitoba, northern Mich- 

 igan, southern Ontario, southern Quebec, and 

 New Brunswick south to east-central Texas, 

 the Gulf States, and Florida; winters from 

 southern Illinois and coast of Virginia to Flor- 

 ida, eastern Texas, and Tamaulipas. 



Few of our birds are so aptly named as the 

 pine warbler, which first, last, and all the time, 

 except in migration, resorts to pine woods. It 

 summers in them in the north and it winters 

 in them in the south. Even its feathers often 

 bear conclusive evidence of its predilection for 

 pines, being often besmeared with their gum. 

 Among its bright-hued relatives the pine war- 

 bler cuts but a poor show with its somber green 

 and brown coat, which, at least in Florida, is 

 often dingy and smoke-begrimed from contact 

 with burnt timber. 



Though distinctively a warbler and not a 

 creeper, the pine warbler is more deliberate in 

 its motions than most of its kind and, some- 

 what in the manner of the creeper, moves 

 among the branches or over the trunks in 

 search of its insect food. For a warbler it is 

 an early migrant and reaches the latitude of 

 Massachusetts soon after the middle of April. 

 Indeed, its nest contains eggs or young while 

 the late migrants are still passing north. Its 

 song has little variation, but while monotonous 

 is pleasing and sweet, far sweeter than the trill 

 of the chipping sparrow, which it recalls. Nat- 

 urally the pine warbler nests in pines, usually 

 rather high up, either on a horizontal limb or 

 among the twigs at the extremity of a limb. 



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