NEWFOUNDLAND YELLOW WARBLER 183 



Its breeding range extends from Newfoundland to central Alaska, 

 and from Nova Scotia to British Columbia, which includes nearly all 

 of Canada. It migrates through most of the United States, princi- 

 pally through the INIississippi River Basin, and winters in Mexico 

 and possibly South America. 



Only a few nesting data are referable to the Newfoundland yellow 

 warbler. Henry Mousley (1926), at Hatley, Quebec, saw a female 

 yellow warbler leaving a large cedar hedge, and says : "Proceeding to 

 the spot from which she came out, I found the nest, which, unlike the 

 usual run of nests of this species, was heavily lined with feathers, in- 

 stead of plant down * * *. It was nine feet above the ground, in 

 the forks of a small cedar tree." 



Roderick MacFarlane (1908) found this warbler abundant in 

 northern Mackenzie, where the nests were "placed on dwarf willows 

 and small scrub pine at a height of a few feet above the ground." Dr. 

 E. W. Nelson (1887) writes: 



This is, perhaps, the most abundant warbler throughout Alaska. It is found 

 everywhere in the wooded interior, on the bushy borders of the water-courses, or 

 frequenting the scattered clumps of stunted alders on the shores of Bering Sea, 

 and the coast of the Arctic about Kotzebue Sound. * * * It breeds to the 

 shores of the Arctic Ocean wherever it can find a willow or alder patch wherein 

 to build its nest and shelter its young. * * * In fall, from the last of July 

 to towards the last of August, they come about the houses and native villages to 

 feast on the fare they find provided abundantly in those localities, until, a little 

 later in the season, a few chilling storms send them trooping away with others of 

 their kind to far distant winter quarters. 



Dr. Herbert Brandt (1943) writes: 



The Newfoundland Yellow Warbler was not observed about Hooper Bay, but 

 as soon as I reached the willows near the mouth of the Yukon River I found it 

 common, and also of like distribution at the other stops that I made on the river 

 as far up as Mountain Village. * * * 



The nest of the Newfoundland Yellow Warbler in the Yukon delta is placed 

 usually in a small willow from two to six feet above the ground. The foliage in 

 early July is but partly unfolded, for the alders are yet in their golden curls and 

 the willows in their silver catkins, so the nest is rather conspicuous. 



The bird chooses a pronged fork usually with not more than three or four 

 shoots, and in this form constructs its beautiful, trim nest, which is made of 

 plant down and inner bark shreds, all circularly woven and firmly rimmed. 



Baird, Brewer, and Ridgway (1874) say : "The notes of Mr. Kenni- 

 cott and the memoranda of Messrs. McFarlane, Ross, and Lockhart 

 attest the extreme abundance of this species in the farthest Arctic 

 regions. In nearly every instance the nests were placed in willows 

 from two to five feet from the ground, and near water. In one in- 

 stance Mr. Ross found the eggs of this species in the nest of Turdus 

 swainsoni, which had either been deserted or the parent killed, as the 



