54 BULLETIN 203, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



Later in the season, after the young have hatched, he sings only 

 fitfuUy. 



The song most often heard is composed of four notes, the first pro- 

 longed, and followed, after an almost imperceptible pause, by three 

 shorter notes on a lower pitch. All four notes are delivered in a 

 leisurely manner, drawling in tempo, and might be written zeee^ zer- 

 zer-zer. The first note takes up about half the time of the song. The 

 quality of the voice is buzzing, and when heard near at hand, slightly 

 rasping, with a lisping suggestion throughout. The song carries well ; 

 curiously it seems little louder when heard at close range, but from 

 a distance it sounds smoother and, losing much of the buzzing quality, 

 suggests a long drawn out thth^ th-th-th^ like a whispering wind. 

 Occasionally there may be four short notes, and sometimes only two 

 following the long initial note. 



Like some of the other warblers, notably the black-and-white, 

 chestnut-sided, and black-throated green, the goldenwing sings two 

 distinct songs. In the second form the buzzing tone is nearly or 

 wholly absent. It begins with about half a dozen short notes given 

 in a quick series on the same pitch, and ends with one long note on 

 a higher key, th-th-th-th-th-th-theee. 



I have heard two males singing antiphonally, the responses repeated 

 with perfect regularity for several minutes. 



Of the minor notes the commonest is a short, slightly roughened dz. 

 Wlien much excited both adults use a chattering tchv^tchu-tchu^ 

 suggesting in manner of delivery the song of the short-billed marsh 

 wren, although it is higher pitched and not so loud. 



Francis H. Allen (MS.) mentions two other songs, only slightly 

 different from the above. One goes something like '■Hick tick chick 

 chick chick chick shree. The shree is a beady note resembling one of 

 the cedar waxwing's familiar notes." Another song he writes as 

 ^''see-see-see-see-see-see-see-see-see-dz'-dsee.'''' 



Field marks. — The golden-winged warbler is easy to recognize; it 

 is the only warbler that combines a blue-gray back and yellow in the 

 wing. In the two other common warblers with a black throat, the 

 black-throated blue and the black-throated green, the black runs down 

 the sides a little way so that the white of the breast comes up in a 

 peak in the middle of the breast, whereas in the goldenwing the line 

 of division between the black and white runs straight across. From 

 directly below, the goldenwing appears wholly black and white, and 

 from this angle is marked like a chickadee, but a glance at its long, 

 needle-sharp bill proclaims it a warbler of the genus Vermivora. 



Enemies. — Prowling mammals, the enemies of ground-nesting birds, 

 and predatory hawks are a danger to the bird. In its relation to the 



