42 BULLETIN 2 3, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



Plumages.— Dy. D wight (1900) calls the natal down "brownish 

 mouse-gray," and describes the ju venal plumage as follows : "Whole 

 body plumage and the wing coverts cinnamon, palest on the abdomen. 

 Wings and tail olive-brown edged with olive-green. Two indistinct 

 lateral crown stripes brownish mouse-gray. A transocular streak 

 dusky." Ridgway's (1902) description is somewhat different: "Head, 

 neck, and under parts buff, the pileum with two broad, but strongly 

 contrasted, lateral stripes of wood brown or isabella color; a post- 

 ocular streak of the same color; back, scapulars, rump, and upper 

 tail-coverts wood brown or isabella color; wing-coverts light buffy 

 olive, the middle and greater broadly but not sharply tipped with 

 cinnamon-buff; remiges and rectrices gi'ayish olive-green, as in 

 adults." Young birds seem to vary considerably in the color of the 

 upper parts. 



A partial postjuvenal molt occurring in late June or early July 

 involves all the contour plumage and the wing coverts but not the rest 

 of the wings or the tail. The young bird in its first winter plumage is 

 practically indisting-uishable from the adult at that season, except for 

 the Juvenal wings, in which the tertials are lightly tipped with rusty 

 brown. 



There is apparently no spring molt, but a complete postnuptial molt 

 occurs in July. Spring birds are slightly paler, grayer and less buffy 

 than in the fall. The sexes are practically alike in all plumages. 



Food. — As I have said, the name worm-eating warbler seems to be 

 somewhat of a misnomer for this bird. Edward H. Forbush (1929) 

 writes : "I find no records of any consumption of earthworms by this 

 species, which although a typical ground warbler spends some of its 

 time hunting among the branches of trees, where it finds span-worms. 

 It also hunts on the ground in damp places frequented by army-worms. 

 Nevertheless these are not worms but caterpillars. Probably, how- 

 ever, in its perambulations and peregrinations upon the surface of the 

 earth the bird now and then does pick uj) a small earthworm, for earth- 

 worms form a staple food for many birds when the ground is moist." 



Arthur H. Howell (1924) says: "Little is known of the food of this 

 species, but it seems doubtful whether it lives up to its name of 'worm- 

 eater.' Two stomachs of this bird from Alabama contained remains of 

 weevils, beetles, bugs, caterpillars, and Hymenoptera." Howell 

 (1932) further reports: "The stomachs of three individuals taken in 

 Florida in April contained small grasshoppers, caterpillars, sawfly 

 larvae, beetles, and spiders. One dragon-fly, one bumblebee, and one 

 'walking stick' were also included in the contents." Professor Aughey 

 (1878) included the worm-eating warbler among the birds seen 

 catching locusts in Nebraska. 



