52 BULLETIN 2 03, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



In the following note A. L. Nelson (1933) furnishes an interesting" 



detail of the bird's diet : 



The following observation on the food habits of a Golden-winged Warbler 

 {Vermivora chrysoptera) , made in the vicinity of Port Tobacco (Charles Co.), 

 Maryland on May 6, 1933, seems worthy of mention, inasmuch as little specific in- 

 formation on the dietary habits of this species has been recorded. About 1 : 30 we 

 observed a single individual of this species actively feeding in a low shrubbery 

 growth of pawpaw {Asimina triloba), which was in full bloom at this date. 

 Closer observation revealed that the bird was probing about inside the flowers, 

 and apparently was getting some kind of larvae. Examination of the flowers re- 

 vealed that they were infested with a small, brown-headed lepidopterous larva. 

 Dissection of a large number of flowers indicated that the infestation was high, 

 the majority of flowers having one larva, although in many cases two were pres- 

 ent. Several infested flowers were collected for the purpose of rearing the insects 

 to the adult stage under laboratory conditions. The cycle was completed without 

 difiiculty, the adults emerging within twelve days. These were examined by 

 Dr. Carl Heinrich of the U. S. National Museum and found to be Talponia 

 plummeriana Busck, a small brightly colored Tortricid, the only known food 

 plant of which is the pavvpaw. 



Behavior. — A favorite locality for the golden-winged warbler to 

 spend the summer in eastern Massachusetts may be the border of a 

 wooded swamp where tall elm and maple trees shade a dense under- 

 growth of ferns and other moisture-loving plants, a swamp which 

 runs out toward drier ground where abounds a growth of gray 

 birches or a tangle of raspberry canes, wild grapevines, and goldenrod. 

 Such a spot furnishes countless situations for hiding the nest in the 

 thick vegetation growing in the half-wet half-dry ground, and also 

 a source of food near at hand in the high branches of the trees. Much 

 the same conditions exist along the course of a brook winding through 

 second growth, or near orchards or old neglected weedy pastures. | 



Sometimes, as William Brewster (1906) points out, the bird may 

 frequent "dry hillsides covered with a young sprout growth of oak, 

 hickory or maple," j 



In a more southern latitude the habitat may be quite diiferent.' 

 Maurice Brooks (1940), speaking of the bird in the central Alle- 

 gheny Mountain region, says: "Shunning the swamps which it fre- 

 quents in other portions of its range, it is highly characteristic of the 

 'chestnut sprout' association, where the males choose dead chestnuts 

 for perches from which to sing. It is also fairly common in the pitch 

 and scrub pine regions on the hills just back of the Oliio river, but 

 becomes less common toward the eastern portion of the territory with 

 which this paper deals. It ascends to at least 4,000 feet in Giles 

 Co., Va." 



We can watch the little golden-winged warblers best, and often at 

 very short range, when they are feeding their fledglings recently from 

 the nest. The little birds sit quietly in the shrubbery near the 



