SWAINSON'S WARBLER 37 



Several times the writer has seen males when the inspiration had not 

 quite come to them; the bird would throw back its head but utter 

 only one or two opening notes of his song. 



The call note is a chip, which Brewster calls "a soft tchip indis- 

 tinguishable from that of Parula aniericanay But Murray (1935) 

 writes that it is "more throaty and full-bodied than that of most 

 Warblers," Brooks and Legg (1942) describe it as "clear, penetrating 

 chirps, having (to our ears) much the same quality as do the chirps 

 of the Mourning Warbler, They are not quite so loud, but have a more 

 ringing quality than those of the Hooded Warbler." 



Field marks. — [Author's Note: Swainson's warbler is a plainly 

 colored bird, with no conspicuous field marks. It is brownish olive 

 above and whitish below, with no white in either wings or tail; 

 there is a whitish line over the eye and a dusky streak through it; 

 but the bill is long and sharply pointed.] 



DISTRIBUTION 



Range. — Southeastern United States to southern Mexico. 



Breeding range. — Until about 1935 Swainson's warbler was con- 

 sidered to be confined in summer to the southern canebrakes and coastal 

 marshes. It is now known to breed north to extreme southern Illinois, 

 probably (seen in breeding season to Olive Branch, Duquoin, and 

 Mount Carmel) ; southeastern Kentucky (Big Black Mountain) ; cen- 

 tral to northern West Virginia (Charleston, Mount Lookout, Sutton, 

 and Buzzard Rocks, Monongalia County) ; and southeastern Mary- 

 land (Pocomoke River Swamp). East to eastern Maryland (Poco- 

 moke River Swamp) ; eastern Virginia (Warwick County and Dismal 

 Swamp) ; eastern North Carolina (New Bern, Lake Ellis, and Red 

 Springs) ; eastern South Carolina (Summerton, Charleston, and 

 (Yemassee) ; eastern Georgia (Savannah and Okefinokee Swamp) ; 

 and northeastern Florida (Jacksonville) . South to northern Florida 

 (Jacksonville, Oldtown, Whitfield, and Pensacola) and southern 

 Louisiana (Mandeville, New Orleans, and Baton Rouge). West to 

 eastern Louisiana (Baton Rouge, Bayou Sara, and Jena) ; central 

 Arkansas (Camden and Conway) ; extreme northeastern Oklahoma 

 (Copan) ; and central Missouri (Concordia). 



Within this large breeding area are two almost discontinuous breed- 

 ing ranges : the coastal and swamp range long considered the only 

 home of the species; and the more recently discovered mountain 

 home along the slopes of the Allegheny Mountains from northern 

 West Virginia nearly to the Georgia line where it has been found 

 to an altitude of nearly 3,000 feet. 



981873—53 4 



