RED-FACED WARBLER 609 



pretty warblers were usually found in the mixed flocks of Townsend's 

 warblers and other small birds, only one or more rarely two in a flock. 

 When there was a single red-faced member of the company, it was 

 nearly always silent ; but when two chanced to be together, they would 

 usually be singing. On September 29, 1933, soon after the return of 

 the red- faced warblers to the Sierra, I came upon two of them foraging 

 in the same alder tree. They sang over and over a clear, mellow 

 warble, as fine a song as I have heard of any member of the family, 

 and twice welcome in those dreary, misty, rain-drenched days at the 

 height of the wet season, when scarcely any bird sang. They con- 

 tinued to repeat their songs as they foraged, sometimes simultane- 

 ously, sometimes answering each other, and kept this up for perhaps 

 half an hour. Just as I started to walk away from them, I noticed 

 that they had flown together and were fighting. After a few mo- 

 ments, they separated and each went his own way, repeating his song. 



"On a number of other occasions I found two individuals together ; 

 one or both — doubtless depending on their sexes — would be singing; 

 and usually, if I waited long enough, one would drive the other away. 

 The victorious bird might sing a little hymn of triumpli upon the 

 retreat of his rival, but soon would fall silent, and forage in peace 

 among his companions of other species. These singing bouts were 

 all staged during the fall months ; from December onward, when the 

 birds were well settled in their winter home, I found them alone and 

 silent ; until in March they resumed their beautiful song in anticipa- 

 tion of their departure for their northern nesting grounds. 



"Such singing in rivalry has been paralleled in my experience by 

 other migratory birds which are solitary during the winter months, 

 including the yellow warbler, the black and white warbler, the blue- 

 headed vireo and the blue-gray gnatcatcher, and by the males of non- 

 migratory warblers which are solitary at this season, as Kaup's 

 redstart {Myiohorus miriiatus), or of those which remain paired and 

 continue to defend their territory, as Delattre's warbler {Basileuterus 

 delattrii) . 



"In March, long before the majority of the migratory warblers, the 

 red- faced warbler vanished from the Sierra de Tecpan. Except on 

 the plains of Chimaltenango at the foot of the Sierra, I have not met 

 this bird in other parts of Guatemala." 



DISTRIBUTrON 



Breeding range. — The red-faced warbler breeds north to central 

 and central eastern Arizona (30 miles south of San Francisco Moun- 

 tains, Mogollon Plateau, and Camp Apache) and southwestern New 

 Mexico (Mogollon Mountains, Powderhorn Canyon, and probably 

 Fort Bayard). East to southwestern New Mexico (Fort Bayard) 



