CAPE MAY WARBLER 213 



tion : "In early May in Florida, I have seen this species actually com- 

 mon, feeding in weedy patches among a rank growth of poke-berries. 

 It seemed like wanton extravagance on the part of nature to bring so 

 many of these generally rare creatures within one's experience in a 

 single morning. Both on the east and west coasts of the State the 

 bird is at times a common migrant, possibly bound for its summer 

 home by way of the Mississippi Valley, where it is more numerous 

 than in the north Atlantic States." 

 Amos W.Butler (1898) says: 



The Cape May Warbler is generally considered a rare bird everywhere. While 

 this is true, and some years it is altogether absent, there are years when it is 

 common and even abundant. In Indiana it appears as a migrant, perhaps more 

 numerous in fall than spring. * * * Some years with us they are found upon 

 the drier uplands, among the oak woods, where they usually keep among the 

 lower branches or upon the high bushes and smaller trees. They are not very 

 active, but keep persistenly hunting insects. At other times, we find them among 

 our orchards, even coming into towns, where they occupy themselves catching 

 insects among the foliage and about the blossoms of all kinds of shade and 

 fruit trees. 



In Ohio, according to Milton B. Trautman (1940), "the bird was 

 uncommon in every spring except 1, and seldom more than 10 indi- 

 viduals were noted in a day. Between May 14 and 20, 1926, the species 

 was very numerous throughout central Ohio. On May 16 I noted at 

 least 40 individuals in Lakeside Woods, and it was evident that hun- 

 dreds were present in the area on that day." Referring also to Ohio, 

 W. F. Henninger (1918) writes: "This year, on May 25, 1917, we 

 entered a large patch of woods about half a mile from the Grand 

 Reservoir early in the morning, just when the fog had barely raised 

 above the treetops, and the warblers were fairly swarming there, 

 among them numbers of Cape May's. I counted more than fifty, but 

 got tired counting and then gave it up, after taking a fine pair." Rev. 

 J. J. Murray (MS.) refers to this warbler as common in the vicinity 

 of Lexington, Va., in the spring from April 29 to May 18, where it 

 seems to prefer conifers at that season. 



I have seen the Cape May warbler fairly common in Florida at 

 times and I have collected it there, but I have never seen it in my 

 corner of Massachusetts. Mr. Forbush ( 1929) tells the story very well 

 for this State : 



For nearly one hundred years at least this species had been considered very 

 rare in New England, but about 1909 it seemed to become more common. In 

 May, 1912, at Amesbury, Massachusetts, one chilly morning I found bright males 

 scattered through the village. A cold wave, catching them in night migration, 

 had brought them down, and they could be seen here and there on or near the 

 ground, and in low bushes by the roadside. In the dooryards and along the 

 streets these lovely birds hopped and fluttered fearlessly in their search for food, 

 paying little attention to passers-by. By 1915 they had appeared more generally, 

 and in May, 1917, they were well distributed over a large part of New England. 



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