72 BULLETIN 203, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



Atkins wrote from Key West (Scott, 1890) : 



Bachman's Warbler in its habits is very much like the Parula Warbler 

 (Compsothlupis americana). The resemblance is more noticeable when feeding 

 and in search of food. The birds will then penetrate a thick bunch of leaves 

 and go through, over and all around in the most thorough manner in their 

 exploration after insects that appeal to their taste. They are very active, and 

 constantly in motion. They are also quarrelsome, and resent the intrusion of 

 other species. Frequently I have noticed them fighting away the White-eyed 

 Vireo, and where two or more Bachman's Warblers are observed together, one is 

 pretty sure to see them chasing and fighting among themselves. When disturbed 

 or alarmed they are at once alert ; a sharp alarm note, something like that of a 

 Yellow-throated Warbler (D. dominlca) is uttered, but more forcible and clear 

 cut in its delivery. This is accompanied with a few jerks of the tail, and the bird 

 is off to a neighboring tree. They are found alike in the trees, low bushes, and 

 shrubbery, sometimes on or quite near the ground, and seem to prefer the heavy 

 and more thickly grown woods to trees or bushes more in the open. Young 

 birds are quite tame, but the adults as a rule were very shy and difllcult to 

 approach after having been once disturbed. 



Voice. — The song of Bachman's warbler is of a wiry or insectlike 

 character, and has been widely compared by many observers to the 

 music of the worm-eating and parula warblers and the chipping 

 sparrow. It also resembles, according to Aretas A. Saunders (MS.)? 

 one of the songs of the blue- winged warbler. Brewster (1891) says : 



The song is unlike that of any other species of Helminthophila with which I am 

 acquainted and most resembles the song of the Parula Warbler. It is of the 

 same length and of nearly the same quality or tone, but less guttural and without 

 the upward run at the end, all of its six or eight notes being given in the same 

 key and with equal emphasis. Despite these differences it would be possible to 

 mistake the performance, especially at a distance, for that of a Parula singing 

 listlessly. The voice, although neither loud nor musical, is penetrating and 

 seems to carry as far as most Warblers'. Besides the song the only note which 

 we certainly identified was a low hissing zee-e-eep, very like that of the Black- 

 and-white Creeper. 



Widmann (1897), observing a singing male for 8 hours, says that 

 "the bird kept singing nearly all the time at the rate of ten times a 

 minute with the regularity of clockwork, and its sharp, rattling notes 

 reminded me strongly of an alarm-clock. In this regard it recalls one 

 of the performances of Parula, whose rattle is of the same length and 

 quality, except that it has a certain rise at the end, by which it is easily 

 distinguished." 



Wayne (1910) heard one singing exactly like a prothonotary 

 warbler, this song lasting for more than 20 minutes. And Howell 

 (1924) mentions two Bachman's warblers, observed in Alabama, that 

 "had the habit of singing on the wing, the song being delivered just 

 before the bird alighted on a perch after a short flight." 



