270 BULLETIN 2 03, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



From mucli farther south, in Central America, Dr. Alexander F. 

 Skutch (MS.) writes: 



"Audubon's warbler is a moderately abundant winter resident in the 

 higher mountains of Guatemala, yet like the closely related myrtle 

 warbler, appears to be less regular in its time of arrival and departure 

 and less uniformly distributed, than the majority of the more common 

 winter visitants. These attractive warblers were abundant on the 

 Sierra de Tecpan from January until April, 1933; but strangely 

 enough they did not return in August or September with all the other 

 warblers that winter there ; and none had appeared by the end of the 

 year, although I kept close watch for them. Yet in the middle of the 

 following September, I found them numerous among the pine and 

 alder trees on the Sierra Cuchumatanes, nearly 11,000 feet above sea- 

 level. The males were then resplendent in their full nuptial dress of 

 yellow, black, white and gray, and sang enchantingly. I believe it not 

 impossible that they breed in this remote, little-known region — for 

 here also I found a breeding representative of the savannah sparrow, 

 hitherto known only as a migrant in the country — and it is to be hoped 

 that some day an ornithologist will study the bird-life of this lofty 

 plateau during the breeding season, from April to August. 



"During the winter months, the Audubon warblers are truly social, 

 and are nearly always met in flocks, sometimes containing 25 or more 

 individuals. They are versatile in their modes of finding food. 

 Sometimes, from the tops of the tall cypress trees near the summit of 

 the Sierra de Tecpan, they would launch themselves on long and skill- 

 fully executed sallies to snatch up insects on the wing. As they 

 twisted about in the air, they would spread their tails to reveal the 

 prettily contrasting areas of black and white. At other times they 

 foraged on the ground, like the myrtle warblers; and this habit 

 brought them into contact with the bluebirds {Sialia sialis guatema- 

 lae) , which are likewise arboreal birds that frequently descend to hunt 

 on the ground. At altitudes of 8,000 to 9,000 feet I almost always 

 found the Audubon warblers and the bluebirds together in the bare, 

 close-cropped pastures where there were scattered, low, oak trees ; and 

 this association was so constant that it could not have been accidental. 

 Both kinds of birds were exceedingly wary as they hunted over the 

 ground, and would fly up into the trees if they espied a man approach- 

 ing them, even from a long way off. The Audubon warblers, probably 

 because they more frequently enter open, exposed places, where they 

 are conspicuous and far from shelter and must exercise great caution 

 not to be surprised, were by far the shiest and most difficult to ap- 

 proach of all the warblers of the Sierra, whether resident or migra- 

 tory. This was true whether they happened to be in the trees or on the 

 ground. 



