414 WOOD WARBLERS 



black chest spots more sharply defined. Young, first plumage : upper parts 

 thickly streaked with dusky on brownish gray ground ; lower rump gray- 

 ish white, narrowly streaked with dusky ; under parts grayish white, 

 streaked. Male: length (skins) 4.80-5.39, wing 2.95-3.19, tail 2.09-2.42, 

 bill .39-. 43. Female: length (skins) 4.80-5.08, wing 2.87-3.07, tail 2.13- 

 2.32, bill .39-.43. 



Remarks. — The yellow throat distinguishes the adult Audubon warbler 

 from the yellow-rump, and the amount of white on the tail distinguishes 

 the young, auduhoni having four or five feathers marked with white, coro- 

 nata, only two or three. 



Distribution. — Breeds in Canadian and Transition zones from British 

 Columbia south to Arizona, and from California to Sioux County, Ne- 

 braska ; winters from western United States to Guatemala, and eastward 

 to western parts of Texas and Kansas ; accidental in Massachusetts and 

 Pennsylvania. 



Nest. — Usually in pines or spruces, but sometimes in deciduous trees and 

 bushes a few feet from the ground, made largely of strips of fine bark and 

 pine needles, lined with fine roots, hair, and a few feathers. Eggs : usu- 

 ally 4, generally olive white or greenish, sparsely spotted and dotted with 

 black, brown, and lilac gray. 



Food. — Similar to that of the yellow-rumped warbler. 



The Audubon warbler in its dull, streaked winter dress is a com- 

 mon winter bird in the warm valleys of the west, and one of the 

 commonest in the San Francisco parks. Its flight and all its move- 

 ments seem to be regulated by gnats, its days one continuous hunt 

 for dinner. When insects are scarce it will fly hesitatingly through 

 the air looking this way and that, its yellow rump spot always 

 in evidence, but when it comes to an invisible gauzy-winged throng 

 it zigzags through, snapping them up as it goes ; then, perhaps, 

 closing its wings it tumbles down to a bush, catches itself, and 

 races pellmell after another insect that has caught its eye. In the 

 parks it is especially fond of the palm tops frequented by the golden- 

 crowned sparrows, and dashes around them in its mad helter-skelter 

 fashion. The most straight-laced, conventional thing it ever does is 

 to make flycatcher sallies from a post of observation when it has 

 caught its insect. If it actually sits still a moment with wings hang- 

 ing at its sides, its head is turning alertly, its bright eyes keen for 

 action, and while you look it dashes away with a nervous quip' into 

 midair, in hot pursuit of its prey. 



Auduboni is so preoccupied with its hunting that it pays little 

 heed to observers. At Stanford, in December, when the birds were 

 common, one has flown in from the rosebushes to the piazza rail near 

 me, looked around for a moment, and then ignoring my presence 

 flown down to the floor and gone hopping jauntily about in the 

 shadow of the vines looking for insects. 



When spring comes these warblers are off to the mountains, for 

 the}^ are true Canadian zone birds. In July we have met them near 



