268 BULLETIN 203, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



slightly lisping one that is also used in the autumn and at times in 

 flight." 



Dr. Walter P. Taylor (MS.) says of a song heard at Fort Valley, 

 Ariz., on June 12, 1925 : "The song seems much less full and seems 

 lacking in quality, as compared with that of the Audubon in Wash- 

 ington State. It was so lacking in strength and quality that I took 

 it for a Grace warbler." He wrote it as wheetlea, wheetlea^ repeated 

 7 or 8 times, or loheetoo^ 7 times repeated, or again wheetleoo wheet^ 

 the final syllable a little different from the others. 



Mrs. Bailey (1902) says: "His song is of a strong warbler type, 

 opening toward the end, chioee^ chioee-chioee-ah^ chivee^ between the 

 song of the yellow warbler and that of the junco." At Lake Bur- 

 ford, N, Mex., in May and June, according to Dr. Wetmore (1920), 

 *'males were found singing from the tops of the tallest pines and 

 were slow and leisurely in their movements in great contrast to their 

 habit at other seasons. Frequently while singing they remained on 

 one perch for some time so that often it was difficult to find them. 

 The song resembled the syllables tsil tsil tsil tsi tsi tsi tsi. In a way 

 it was similar to that of the Myrtle Warbler but was louder and more 

 decided in its character." 



Dr. Merrill (1888) says: "On two or three occasions I have heard 

 a very sweet and peculiar song by the female, and only after shooting 

 them in the act of singing could I convince myself of their identity." 



Field marks. — The male in his gay spring plumage is not likely to 

 be confused with any other warbler except the myrtle warbler, from 

 which it differs in having a brilliant yellow throat instead of a white 

 one ; in other words, a/uduboni has five patches of yellow against four 

 for coronata. In immature and fall plumages the two species are 

 much alike, but auduhoni has four or five large white patches on each 

 side of the tail, while coronata has only two or three, in the different 

 plumages ; these white markings are diagnostic in any plumage. The 

 yellow rump is always conspicuous at any season, even when the other 

 yellow markings are more obscured. 



Fall. — The fall migration is a reversal of the spring migration, 

 from the north southward and from the mountains down to the val- 

 leys and lowlands. Rathbun tells me that the southward migrants 

 pass through Washington during October and November, but that a 

 few remain there and even farther north, in winter. In California, 

 Audubon's warblers that have bred in the mountains begin to drift 

 downward to lower levels in August, the young birds coming first, 

 so that by September they are well spread out over the lowlands almost 

 down to sea-level. Soon after the first of October, the first of the 

 migrants cross the border into Mexico on their way to winter quarters. 

 Dr. Taylor tells me that in New Mexico during October these warblers 



