SENNETT'S OLIVE-BACKED WARBLER 149 



In southeastern Virginia, according to Harold H. Bailey (1913) 

 this southern race is : — 



a most common breeding bird iu its favorite haunts, tlae cypress or juniper 

 swamps of the southeastern section ; Cape Henry southward. These trees 

 seem to furnish particularly fine feeding grounds, and wherever you find one 

 festooned with the long, hanging Spanish moss, here also you are likely to find 

 one or more nests. In this section I should call them a colony bird, for in 

 days past I have seen on the trees in and surrounding one small lake, as many 

 as two hundred pair breeding in company. The Dismal Swamp and its sur- 

 rounding low territory has been an ideal spot for a feeding and breeding home 

 in years past, but of late, the cutting of the juniper for commercial purposes, and 

 the disappearance of the moss to a great extent, has driven the majority of 

 the birds elsewhere. 



Eggs. — ^These are indistinguishable from those of the northern 

 parula warbler. The measurements of 50 eggs average 16.2 by 12.0 

 millimeters ; the eggs showing the four extremes measure 19.5 by 12.7 

 and 14.0 by 11.0 millimeters (Harris) . 



Food. — Howell (1932) reports: "Examination of the stomachs of 

 four birds taken in Florida in February showed the contents to consist 

 almost wholly of insects and spiders, with a few bud scales. Hymen- 

 optera (ants, bees and wasps) composed the largest item, amounting 

 in two instances to approximately half the total contents. Other 

 insects taken in smaller quantities were lepidopterous larvae, fly larvae, 

 beetles, weevils, scale insects, bugs, and grouse locusts. Spiders were 

 found in three stomachs, and amounted to about 20 per cent of the 

 total food." 



PACULA PITIAYUMI NIGRILORA (Coues) 



SENNETT'S OLIVE-BACKED WARBLER 



HABITS 



This northern race of a wide-ranging species is represented by a 

 number of allied races in Central and South America. From its 

 range in northeastern Mexico it rarely crosses our border into the 

 valley of the lower Rio Grande in southeastern Texas. For its intro- 

 duction into our fauna and for most of our knowledge of its habits 

 we are indebted to George B. Sennett (1878 and 1879) and to Dr. 

 James C. Merrill (1878). The discovery of the bird in Texas in 

 1877 is thus described by Mr. Sennett : 



On April 20th, soon after reaching Hidalgo, I was directed up the river some 

 four miles by road, and there shot the first three specimens of this new species. 

 On May 3d, another was shot among the mesquite timber of the old resaca, 

 within a mile of town. 



On May 8th, another was shot in a dense forest about half a mile from where 

 the first three were obtained. Several more were seen; in fact, they were 

 more abundant than any other Warbler. * * * All of the specimens 



981873—53 H 



