EASTERN MYRTLE WARBLER 249 



"Songs of tliis species vary from 1 to 2% seconds in length. There 

 are usually about seven notes per second. Only 3 of my records show 

 any irregularity in the time of the notes, that is having some notes 

 that are shorter or longer than the others. Pitch of the songs varies 

 from F'" to E"", a half tone less than an octave. Single songs vary 

 from one to four and a half tones, averaging about two and a half 

 tones ; only 5 records are greater in range, and only 16 are less, nearly 

 half of the records having the average range. 



"Since the myrtle warbler winters in Connecticut, I am able to get 

 the first dates of singing. In 30 years of records the average date is 

 April 13 ; the earliest April 2, 1923, and the latest April 25, 1920. In 

 the Adirondacks the last date of singing noted was July 31, 1926. 



"The call-note, tchick, is louder than in most warblers. I found it 

 pitched on D". Another note is a fainter tseet tseet, usually doubled 

 and pitched on F-sharp'''." 



Francis H. Allen (MS.) describes the song in a different way as 

 follows : 



"The only syllabifications I find in my notes are of a bird heard 

 at West Bridgewater, Vt., June 19, 1907, which sang ivhee whee tvhee 

 lohee ichee luhee whee luhee hew hew^ sometimes with three or even 

 four hews at the end and sometimes with only one ; and one of a bird 

 at South Tamworth, N. H., July 23, 19-42, whose song consisted of two 

 trills, ching ching ching ching ching weedle weedle weet. 



"The ordinary call-note is a hoarse chej)^ easily distinguished from 

 the call of any other New England warbler. I have also heard occa- 

 sionally a slight tsij) or tsit^ suggesting a chickadee. The feeding call 

 of the young out of the nest is a rapid succession of several explosive 

 chiys or fits with a rolling quality — a sort of chatter or chippering." 



On June 7, 1900, in Washington County, Maine, I recorded the song 

 of the myrtle warbler as wheedle wheedle wheedle wheedle wheedle^ 

 repeated five to seven times so rapidly as to be hard to count and all 

 on one key, usually ending abruptly but occasionally in a little trill. 



Few writers have accorded the song of the myrtle warbler much 

 praise, but Bradford Torrey (1885) pays it this tribute: "For music 

 to be heard constantly, right under one's window, it could scarcely 

 be improved: sweet, brief, and remarkably unobstrusive, without 

 sharpness or emphasis ; a trill not altogether unlike the pine-creeping 

 warbler's, but less matter-of-fact and business-like. I used to listen 

 to it before I rose in the morning, and it was to be heard at intervals 

 all day long." 



Field marks. — The male myrtle warbler in spring plumage is easily 

 recognized at a considerable distance in its blue-gray, black, and white 

 plumage, offset by conspicuous patches of bright yellow on rump, 

 sides, and crown, and by the black sides and cheeks. The female is 



