I20 



BIRDS OF AMERICA 



NASHVILLE WARBLER 

 Vermivora rubricapilla rubricapilla {lI''ilson) 



Other Names. — Nashville Swamp Warbler; Birch 

 Warbler ; Red-crowned Warbler. 



General Description. — Length, 4^4 inches. Upper 

 parts, gray and olive-green : under parts, yellow. 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: Head, hindncch, sides of 

 head and neck, tiaiii i/i-ay; crown, chestnut, the feathers 

 tipped with gray; rest of upper parts, plain olive-green. 

 brightest on rump and upper tail-coverts ; lores, pale 

 grayish; a conspieuous zvhite eye-ring; cheeks and 

 under parts, bright gamboge yellou' becoming white on 

 lower abdomen and ana! region, tinged with olive on 

 sides and flanks, especially the latter; bill, brownish- 

 black ; iris, brown ; legs and feet, horn-color. Adult 



Fem.\le: Similar to the adult male, but duller in color, 

 and with little, if any, chestnut on crown. 



Nest and Eggs. — Nest: On or imbedded in the 

 ground, usually at the foot of a bush in open woods; 

 constructed of leaves, strips of bark, and grass, but 

 sometimes entirely of pine needles, lined with fine 

 grasses and hair. Eggs: 3 or 4, white to creamy 

 speckled with minute dots of reddish-brown, brown, 

 and lilac, more numerous around large end. 



Distribution. — Eastern North America, breeding 

 from Massachusetts. Connecticut, northern New Jersey, 

 "Pennsylvania, northern Illinois, Nebraska, etc., north- 

 ward to Grand Menan and the Great Slave Lake 

 district; southward in migration over more southern 

 LInited States (east of the Rocky Mountains) through 

 eastern Mexico to Guatemala. 



The Nashville Warbler was discovered by 

 Alexander Wilson at Nashville, Tennessee, and 

 reported by him in his American Ornithology. 

 This bird has ever since borne the name Nash- 

 ville Warbler. It is not a rare bird in New Eng- 

 land if one goes to the birches to look for it. Rut 

 it is always in birches or poplars that it makes 

 its home; and, if any bird names itself from its 

 preference for a special home-site, this bird cer- 

 tainly names itself the Birch \\'arbler. 



Wintering in Texas and Mexico, this bird fol- 

 lows high ground to its breeding area, keeping 

 well west of the Alleghenies and leaving a few 

 scattered pairs over the central States while the 

 main body goes on to New England. It is there- 

 fore a very rare bird in the South Atlantic States, 

 and not at all common at Nashville. 



This plain olive-green bird with yellowish 

 under parts seldom comes near enough to show 

 the chestnut crown-patch which gives him his 

 name of rubricapilla, and only bird students are 

 familiar with that detail. As he is a nervous bird 

 fl'tting about in the birches, he does not attract 

 much attention. 



The song is a combination of kc-tscc with 

 Chipping-Sparrow-like trillings. It has been 

 compared to the song of the Yellow Warbler. 



On the Pacific coast there is a variety known 

 as the Calaveras Warbler ( Vermivora rubri- 

 capilla (jitUuralis) that is brighter and richer 

 colorefl. Thev make their homes in manzanita, 

 huckleberry, and short trees, but do not confine 

 themselves to one kind of tree as do the birds of 

 the eastern variety. L. Nelson Nichols. 



ORANGE-CROWNED WARBLER 



Vermivora celata celata {Say) 



A. O. U. Number 646 See Color Plate 93 



Other Name. — Orange-crown. 



General Description. — Length, 5 inches. Upper 

 parts, olive-green ; under parts, olive-yellowish. Bill, 

 shorter than head, narrowly wedge-shaped, the tip 

 very acute; wings, moderately long; tail, about 3^ 

 length of wing, even or nearly even, the feathers 

 narrow. 

 ' Color. — Adult Male: Above, plain grayish olive- 



green, becoming brighter, more yellowish olive-green, 

 on rump and upper tail-coverts ; croivn zvith a tavny 

 pateh, this color mostly concealed (except in worn 

 midsummer plumage) by grayish olive tips to the 

 feathers ; a narrow stripe over eye, eyelids, and general 

 color of under parts, pale olive-yelhzvish, becoming 

 paler (sometimes whitish) on lower portion of abdo- 

 men; sides of head, sides of neck, and sides of breast, 



