TOWNSEND'S WARBLER 289 



such birds as hermit warblers and Coues' flycatchers — all of them 

 highland species which I failed to find at so low an altitude in the 

 neighboring dicotyledonous woods more typical of the region. 



"By the time the Townsend's warblers began to arrive from the 

 North, the great majority of the resident birds of the Sierra de Tecpan 

 had finished breeding for the year, and those of sociable habits had 

 begun to flock. The pretty Hartlaub's warblers {Vermivora super- 

 ciliosa) formed the nuclei of the mixed companies of small birds 

 which roamed through the rain-drenched woods at the beginning of 

 September. The newly arrived Townsend's warblers at once joined 

 these flocks, falling in with the resident birds as though they had 

 never been absent in far northern lands. Soon they outnumbered all 

 other birds in these motley parties. They were monotonously abun- 

 dant; and despite their beauty, I was more than once exasperated, 

 when I had striven until my neck ached to obtain an adequate glimpse 

 of some small, elusive bird flitting through the high treetops, to find 

 at last that it was just one more Townsend's warbler. There was 

 always another of the same kind much lower among the branches, 

 which I might have admired with less flexure of the neck ! At 5,000 

 feet and below, the plainly attired Tennessee warbler replaces the 

 elegant Townsend's warbler as the most abundant member of the 

 mixed flocks. 



"By the middle of April, the Townsend's warblers on the Sierra 

 de Tecpan began to sing — a dreamy, lazy sort of song, which reminded 

 me much of that of the black-throated green warbler. Through the 

 remainder of the month, I repeatedly heard this simple song, sounding 

 always as though it came from far away. Soon the ranks of the 

 Townsend's warblers began to thin ; and after May 2 I saw them no 

 more. Males were present as late as Aj^ril 28 ; but the last that I saw, 

 on May 2, was a female. The withdrawal of the countless black-and- 

 yellow warblers, together with that of the other migratory species 

 that flocked with them, left a void among the treetops, which was not 

 filled until their return just 4 months later. 



"Early dates of fall arrival in Guatemala are: Guatemala City 

 (Anthony), September 7; Sierra de Tecpan, September 2, 1933; Hue- 

 huetenango, September 11, 1934. Late dates of spring departure from 

 Guatemala are : Guatemala City (Anthony) , May 1 ; Sierra de Tecpan, 

 May 2, 1933." 



Dickey and van Rossem (1938) say that "Townsend's warbler is a 

 decidedly uncommon species in El Salvador, which probably marks 

 about the southern limit of the winter range. The winter distribu- 

 tion, locally, is practically confined to the oaks and pines of the interior 

 mountains where conditions most closely parallel those prevailing in 

 the breeding range." 



