WARBLERS 



III 



delivered. Mr. Ridgway likened the song to that 

 of the White-eve. hut considered the utterance 

 more sputtering and in that respect similar to 

 that of the House Wren. 



The Texas \'ireo {lirca belli iiwdiiis) is 

 found in southwestern Texas and south into 

 central Mexico; it is paler in coloration than its 

 type species. Bell's \'ireo. and its tail is rela- 

 tively longer, its crown and hindneck are hrown- 

 ish-gray instead of grayish-brown, the olive 

 of its upper parts, grayer, and its under jiarts. 

 whiter. 



The Least Vireo {I'irco ht-lli piisilltis) is a 

 plain grayish little bird of the willows and thick- 



ets in central California, soutli western Nevada, 

 and western Texas south to northern Lower 

 California and the valley of Mexico. It is even 

 |ialer and grayer than the Texas Vireo. 



.'\nother species of the Vireo family is the 

 Gray \ireo {I'lrco vicinior). It is very much 

 like the Least \ireo hut the wing-bars are miss- 

 ing. It is also very similar to the Plvmibeous 

 Vireo but its colnration is duller and lacks the 

 sharj) contrasts of the Plumbeous. The Gray 

 \'ireo makes its home in southern California, 

 southern Nevada, the Grand Canon of the Colo- 

 rado, and southeastern Colorado south to Lower 

 California. Sonora. and Durango. 



WARBLERS 



Order Passcrcs : suborder Osc!)ics ; family Miiiotiltidcr 



.■\RBLERS are essentially — most of them strictly — insectivorous birds 

 of active habits. Most of them are arboreal, nesting and feeding among 

 the trees and rarely descending to the grottnd; some are terrestrial, living 

 much upon or near the ground, where they walk in the graceful " mincing " 

 manner of a Wagtail or Pipit, meanwhile tilting the body, as if upon a pivot, 

 and oscillating the tail in the same characteristic manner. Most of them 

 are expert flycatchers. Others creep about the trunks and branches of trees 

 as nimbly as a Nuthatch. The majority of them combine, in various degrees, 

 these several habits. 



As a rule the Warblers are birds of beautiful plumage, though their 

 attractiveness in this respect consists in the tasteful arrangement or " pattern " 

 of the colors rather than in their brilliancy. Yellow is the most common and characteristic 

 hue, though this is usually relieved by markings or areas of black, gray, olive-green, or 

 white, usually by two or more of these colors; red is not infrequent, grayish-blue less 

 common; while pure blue, green, and purple are never present, and the plumage is never 

 glossy. There is generally a sexual difference of plumage, and very often the young are 

 different from either adult. 



Many of the Warblers have attractive songs; but perhaps the inajority, at least among 

 the North American species, are songsters of very ordinary or inferior merit. 



The group of Warblers is peculiar to America, where it is the second largest family. 

 It represents the Syhiidcc and Muscicapidcc of the eastern hemisphere. Over 150 species 

 and subspecies belonging to 21 genera are recognized. It contains a larger proportion of 

 one-type species than most families of song-birds, nearly one-half of the genera being 

 each represented by but a single known species. 



There is probably no finer tribute to the beneficial character of these birds than that 

 of Dr. Elliott Coues, who said: "With tireless industry do the Warblers befriend the 

 human race; their unconscious zeal plays due part in the nice adjustment of Nature's forces, 

 helping to bring about the balance of vegetable and insect life, without which agriculture 

 would be in vain. They visit the orchard when the apple and pear, the peach, plum, and 

 cherry are in bloom, seeining to revel carelessly amid the sweet-scented and delicately- 

 tinted blossoms, but never faltering in their good work. They peer into the crevices of 

 the bark, scrutinize each leaf, and explore the very heart of the buds, to detect, drag forth, 

 and destroy these tiny creatures, singly insignificant, collectively a scourge, which prey 

 upon the hopes of the fruit-grower and which, if undisturbed, would bring his care to naught. 

 Some Warblers flit incessantly in the terminal foliage of the tallest trees; others hug close 



Vol.. III. — 9 



