NORTHERN PARULA WARBLER 135 



PARULA AMERICANA PUSILLA (Wilson) 



NORTHERN PARULA WARBLER 



Plates 20, 21 



HABITS 



I have always preferred the old name, blue yellow-backed warbler, 

 as originally used by Wilson and Audubon, to the modern common 

 name ; it seems more descriptive of this dainty wood warbler. As to 

 the origin of this newer name, Dr. Spencer Trotter (1909) writes: 

 "The name 'parula' recently in vogue for the warblers of the genus 

 G ompsothlypis is clearly borrowed from the old Bonaparte genus 

 Parula (diminutive of titmouse). The bird {G. americana) has ap- 

 peared under various titles — 'the Finch Creeper' of Catesby (I, 64) , 

 'the various coloured little finch creeper' of Bartram (Travels, 292), 

 and the 'Blue Yellow-backed Warbler' of Wilson, Audubon, and later 

 authors." Parula was extensively used as the generic name during the 

 last century, and is now reinstated to replace G ompsothlypis. 



The 1931 A. O. U. Check-List of North American Birds recognizes 

 only two races of this species, the subject of this present sketch, P. a. 

 pu^illa^ and the southern race, P. a. americana. The two forms to- 

 gether occupy a breeding range covering practically all of the United 

 States east of the Great Plains, as well as parts of southern Canada, 

 the type name being restricted to the birds breeding from the District 

 of Columbia southward to Alabama and Florida. 



Ridgway (1902) describes the northern bird as "similar to G. a. 

 americana, but slightly larger, with smaller bill and darker, richer 

 coloration ; adult male with blue of upper parts deeper, and black of 

 lores more intense; lower throat or upper chest (sometimes both) 

 blackish or dusky (the feathers sometimes tipped with chestnut), 

 forming a more or less distinct, often very conspicuous band; lower 

 chest orange-tawny, tawny, or chestnut (the feathers usually margined 

 with yellow) forming usually a distinct and often abruptly defined 

 patch; sides usually more or less tinged or spotted with chestnut." 



In the same work, he describes a third form, G. a. ramalinae, as 

 "similar in coloration to" the northern bird, "but smaller even than G. 

 a. americana.'''' He gives as its range the Mississippi Valley, from Mis- 

 sissippi, Louisiana, and Texas to Minnesota and Michigan. This 

 western race is not recognized in the 1931 A. O. U. Check-List. 



Our experience with the northern parula warbler in Bristol County, 

 Mass., well illustrates the successive changes that nature and man 

 have wrought in the distribution of so many of our birds. Many 



