MAGNOLIA WARBLER 203 



The postjuvenal molt begins early in July and involves all the con- 

 tour plumage and the wing coverts, but not the rest of the wings or 

 the tail. 



This produces the first winter plumages, in which the young of each 

 sex closely resemble their respective adult counterparts at that season 

 but the colors are all duller, the crown and back are browner, there is a 

 dusky band on the upper breast, and the black streaking is paler or 

 obscure. 



Dr. Dwight (1900) says: "First nuptial plumage acquired by a 

 partial prenuptial moult which involves most of the body plumage, 

 the wing coverts and sometimes a few tertiaries, but not the rest of the 

 wings nor the tail. Young and old become practically indistinguish- 

 able except by the wings and tail, especially the primary coverts, 

 all of which are usually browner and more worn than in adults." 

 According to Dickey and van Kossem (1938) this takes place in El 

 Salvador early in April and is completed very rapidly. 



Subsequent molts of adults consist of a complete postnuptial molt 

 in July and August and an extensive prenuptial molt in April, as 

 described above. Dr. Chapman (1907) says that the adult male in 

 the fall is quite unlike the spring male; "crown and nape brownish 

 gray ; eye-ring whitish [instead of white spot below and a white line 

 behind the eye]; * * * rump yellow; tail as in Spring; wing- 

 coverts tipped [instead of broadly marked and forming a conspicu- 

 ous white patch] with white forming two white bars ; below yellow, 

 sides with partly concealed black streaks, upper breast with a faint 

 dusky band." The fall female differs in a similar way from the spring 

 female, having a browner crown and the dusky band on the upper 

 breast well developed, much as in the young male in the fall. The 

 female is always much duller than the male in all plumages. 



Food. — Ora W. Knight (1908) writes: "The food consists largely 

 of beetles, grubs, flies, worms and similar insects. I have seen the 

 birds prying frequently into the deformities on spruce and fir pro- 

 duced by a species of licelike insects {Adelges), and feel very sure 

 that they do good work in destroying these pests, which are becoming 

 very numerous in some sections of the State [Maine] and injuring 

 the spruce and fir trees." 



W. L. McAtee (1926) praises its good looks as well as its useful- 

 ness by saying: "The beautiful Black and Yellow Warbler is a com- 

 mon summer resident of the higher parts of the Catskill and 

 Adirondack regions, and breeds sparingly in local cool spots else- 

 where in the State [New York]. * * * So far as known its food 

 in our region consists entirely of insects and associated creatures, as 

 spiders and daddy-long-legs. Almost all of its known items of insect 

 food are sorts injurious to woodlands. It takes weevils, leaf bettles, 



