Ii8 



BIRDS OF AMERICA 



fields and second-growth woods adjoined. 

 Toward night I had walked a number of miles 

 and knocked at the door of some tens of thous- 

 ands of possible hiding places, without results. 

 Standing in a little opening in low woods, just in 

 from a scrub pasture, I decided reluctantly to 

 quit, and mechanically brought down the switch 



on a handy clump of weeds. The yellow flash 

 which followed gave me a wonderful thrill. In 

 a moment I was gazing with rapture at the five 

 pinkish-white eggs, sparsely ringed about the 

 larger end, and at the deep, well-concealed nest- 

 cup with its typical converging arch of upright 

 dry leaves. Herbert K. Job. 



GOLDEN-WINGED WARBLER 

 Vermivora chrysoptera ( Liiimrus) 



A, n. U. Number 64; See Color Plate 93 



Other Names. — Golden-winged Flycatcher ; Golden- 

 winged Swamp Warbler ; Blue Golden-winged Warbler. 



General Description. — Length, 4J4 inches. Upper 

 parts, gray : under parts, white. Bill, shorter than 

 head, narrowly wedge-shaped, the tip very acute; 

 wings, moderately long; tail, about ^i length of wing, 

 even or nearly even, the feathers narrow. 



Color. — Adult Male : Forehead and crown, lemon- 

 yellow, sides of head, white (sometimes this carried 

 forward over eyes or even to along sides of forehead) ; 

 rest of upper parts, including middle pair of tail- 

 feathers, plain gray; exposed portion of middle and 

 greater wing-coverts, mostly light lemon-yellow, form- 

 ing a large and consl^icuous patch on the zving : wing- 

 feathers and tail-feathers (except middle pair of latter), 

 slate-blackish, edged with gray, the secondaries usually 

 slightly tinged with olive-green ; inner webs of three 

 outermost tail-feathers, extensively white terminally; 

 lores, space below eye, sides of head, and throat (some- 

 times chin also), uniform black; a broad cheek stripe 

 and under parts of body, white, the latter shaded 

 with gray laterally ; bill, black ; iris, brown ; legs and 

 feet, dark brownish. Adult Female: Similar to adult 



male but duller in color, with black of throat and sides 

 of head replaced by gray; yellow of forehead and 

 crown, less distinct, sometimes (in younger individ- 

 uals?) replaced by olive-green; gray of upper parts and 

 of sides usually tinged with olive-green ; white of breast 

 and abdomen, duller, often tinged with olive-yellow, 

 especially in winter. 



Nest and Eggs. — Nest: On the ground beneath 

 a bunch of weeds or ferns in clearings; neatly made of 

 thin blades of swamp grass, weed bark, rootlets, lined 

 witli fine rounded reddish grass. Eggs : 4 or 5, rarely 

 0, more spherical than average of other Warblers, dull 

 white speckled with chestnut, burnt umber, and lilac- 

 gray. 



Distribution. — Eastern United States north regu- 

 larly to Massachusetts, New York, southwestern 

 Ontario, northern Michigan, southern Minnesota, etc., 

 casually (?) to Manitoba, breeding southward to north- 

 ern New Jersey, Pennsylvania, northern Indiana, north- 

 ern and central Illinois, etc., and southward along 

 Allegheny Mountains to South Carolina, and eastern 

 Tennessee ; south in winter to Cuba and through east- 

 ern Mexico and Central America to Colombia. 



The Golden-winged Warbler is an interesting 

 species in that peculiar group of Vermivora 

 Warblers distinguished by the peculiar trait of 

 fertile hybridization. Fotir distinct species are 

 implicated in this mixed breeding, namely, first, 

 the Blue-winged Warbler, which is in reality a 

 blue-winged yellow Warbler ; second, the Golden- 

 wing, which is in reality a yellow-winged blue 

 Warbler ; third, Lawrence's, which is a blue- 

 winged Yellow with the Golden-wing's throat 

 patch; and fourth, Brewster's, which is a yellow- 

 winged blue, or Golden-winged, Warbler without 

 the throat patch. Birds of this group of 

 Warblers seem to mate indiscriminately and pro- 

 duce fertile descendants. None of them can be 

 said to be very common birds. Indeed Law- 

 rence's and Brewster's are decidedly rare. Some 

 bird students attempt to ignore the crosses. It 

 is immaterial whether the crosses are scientif- 



ically recognizable as varieties, or species, or 

 mere hybrids ; they do exist as intermediate 

 forms and therefore deserve some kind of name. 

 Lawrence's, Brewster's, and Golden-Wings are 

 all rarer than Blue-wings, and are the most in- 

 volved in this most unusual condition in the wild- 

 bird world. A hybrid may have either the song 

 of the Golden-wing or the Blue-wing. Most of 

 the hybrids are found in Connecticut and in and 

 near the lower Hudson valley. 



Golden-winged Warblers make their homes in 

 open, bushy cotmtry, generally near streams or 

 ponds, and not heavily shaded bv too many trees. 

 The Golden-wing song is a sweet zcc-i-zce or 

 ccc-u-zzvcc given three or four times and re- 

 peated many times when the bird, posing on top 

 of a bush in the spring sunshine, bursts into 

 joyous enthusiasm. 



L. Nelson Nichols. 



