WORM-EATING WARBLER 43 



Behavior. — Brewster (1875) gives the best account of the activities 

 of the worm-eating warbler as follows : 



They keep much on the ground, where they xcalk about rather slowly, searching 

 for their food among the dried leaves. In general appearance they are quite 

 unique, and I rarely failed to identify one with an instant's glance, so very 

 peculiar are all their attitudes and motions. The tail is habitually carried at 

 an elevation considerably above the line of the back, which gives them a smart, 

 jaunty air, and if the dorsal aspect be exposed, in a clear light, the peculiar mark- 

 ing of the crown is quite conspicuous. Seen as they usually are, however, dimly 

 flitting ahead through the gloom and shadow of the thickets, the impression 

 received is that of a dark little bird which vanishes unaccountably before your 

 very eyes, leaving you quite uncertain where to look for it next ; indeed, I hardly 

 know a more difiicult bird to procure, for the slightest noise sends it darting off 

 through the woods at once. Occasionally you will come upon one winding around 

 the trunk of some small tree exactly in the manner of Mniotilta varia, moving 

 out along the branches with nimble motion, peering alternately under the bark 

 on either side, and anon returning to the main stem, perhaps in the next instant 

 to hop back to the ground again. On such occasions they rarely ascend to the 

 height of more than eight or ten feet. The males are very quarrelsome, chasing 

 one another through the woods with loud, sharp chirpings, careering with almost 

 inconceivable velocity up among the tops of the highest oaks, or darting among 

 the thickets with interminable doublings until the pursuer, growing tired of the 

 chase, alights on some low twig or old mossy log, and in token of his victory, 

 utters a warble so feeble that you must be very near to catch it at all, a sound 

 like that produced by striking two pebbles very quickly and gently together, or 

 the song of Spizella socialis heard at a distance, and altogether a very indifferent 

 performance. 



Voice. — Aretas A. Saunders has contributed the following study of 

 the song of this warbler : 



The song of the worm-eating warbler is a simple trill, varying from 1% to 21/^ 

 seconds in length. It is usually all on the same pitch, but a few songs rise or 

 fall a half tone, and one record I have rises a full tone and then drops a half tone 

 at the end. The quality is not musical, but rather closely resembles some forms 

 of the chipping sparrow's song. The pitch varies from G sharp ' ' ' to F 

 sharp ' ' ' ', one tone less than an octave. 



The majority of songs are a continuous trill, that is, the notes are too fast to 

 be separated and counted by ear. I have three examples that are broken into 

 short, very rapid notes. Two of these were of 18 notes and one was of 28. Most 

 of the songs vary in loudness, becoming loudest in the middle, or beginning loud 

 and fading away toward the end. One record becomes louder toward the end 

 and ends abruptly. 



Francis H. Allen describes in his notes a song "remarkably like 

 that of the chipping sparrow, but more rapid than is usual with that 

 species, I think, and perhaps shorter, though not so short as the 

 chippy's early-morning song. The bill quivers with the song, but 

 does not close between the chips. The bird sang constantly as it flitted 

 about, usually 10 or 20 feet from the ground, seeming to prefer dead 

 branches and twigs." 



