130 



BIRDS OF AMERICA 



AUDUBON'S WARBLER 

 Dendroica auduboni auduboni ( ./. A'. Toi^'iisniii ) 



A II r, \uml)cr i.v 



Other Name. — Western ^■ell()w-rumpe(l Warbler. 



General Description. — Lengtli, 5'j inches. Upper 

 parts, gray, streaked with black ; under parts, black and 

 white : yellow patches above and below. Bill, shorter 

 than head, slender, tapering gradually to the tip ; wings, 

 long and pointed ; tail, nearly even. 



Color. — Adult Male tn Spring and Sltmmer: 

 .\bove, bluish slate-gray, streaked, e.xcept sometimes on 

 upper sides and back of head, and hindneck, with 

 black, the streaks broadest on back, shoulders, and 

 upper tail-coverts, where partaking more of the char- 

 acter of wedge-shaped central spots ; crozvn ivith a large 

 central elongated patch of rich lemon- or gamboge- 

 yellow; lower rump with a triangular patch of lighter 

 lemon-yellozv; wings, black, the middle and greater 

 coverts very broadly tipped with white, the latter also 

 broadly edged with white, forming a large and con- 

 spicuous wing-patch, the wing- feathers narrowly edged 

 with gray (broader on inner feathers) ; tail, black with 

 bluish-gray edgings (becoming white on outermost 

 feather) ; inner webs of four or five outermost feathers 

 with a large patch of white near the tip, decreasing in 

 size inwardly; sides of head, bluish slate-gray, like 

 general color of upper parts, darkening (sometimes into 

 nearly black) below and in front of eyes, and relieved 

 by a white spot on upper eyelid and a larger one on 

 lower eyelid ; chin and throat, bright lemon-yellow ; 

 chest, black, or mixed black and gray ; center portion 

 of breast, together with abdomen and under tail-coverts, 

 white; sides of breast, next to white space, black, 

 forming a large patch, confluent forward with the black 

 or partly black throat area, and continued backward 

 over sides and flanks in broad streaks; a large patch of 

 yellow on each side of breast outside the black area; 

 bill, black; iris, brown; legs and feet, dark brown or 

 brownish-black. Adult Male in Autumn or Winter: 

 Much duller and browner than the suminer male, and 

 showing much less of black, that of chest and sides 

 mostly overlaid by broad tips or margins to feathers 

 of brownish-white; gray of upper parts much obscured 

 by a wash of brown, and white wing-markings tinged 



with brown. Adult Female in Spring and Summer: 

 Essentially like the summer male in coloration, but 

 niucli duller and with less of black on under parts; 

 gray of upper parts, duller, usually tinged with brown ; 

 yellow crown-patch smaller and broken by brown or 

 brownish gray tips to feathers ; middle and greater 

 wing-coverts, more narrowly tipped with duller white, 

 the latter not edged with white; yellow of throat paler, 

 usually passing into white on chin ; chest and sides of 

 breast, white or pale grayish, spotted or clouded with 

 black ; lateral breast patches smaller and paler yellow. 

 .Adult Female in Autumn and Winter: Similar to 

 the winter male, but smaller and still duller in color, 

 the back without sharply defined streaks of black, 

 yellow of throat and lateral pectoral patches paler 

 and more restricted, and chest and sides of breast 

 without sharply defined partly concealed black spots. 

 Young in First Plumage: Above thickly streaked 

 with dusky on a pale brownish-gray ground color, the 

 latter here and there inclining to grayish-white, the 

 streaks broader and more blackish on back and 

 shoulders ; lower rump, grayish-white, narrowly streaked 

 with dusky ; under parts, grayish-white, everywhere 

 streaked with dusky. 



Nest and Eggs. — Nest: Usually in coniferous 

 trees, on outer limbs from 3 to 30 feet up ; constructed 

 of strips of bark, sage brush twigs, or pine needles, 

 lined with rootlets, hair, and feathers. Eggs : Gen- 

 erally 4, rarely 5, olive-whitish or pale greenish-white, 

 thinly spotted with black, brown, and lilac-gray. 



Distribution. — Western North America, north to 

 British Columbia, east to western border of the Great 

 Plains; breeding southward (in coniferous woods on 

 high mountains) to southern California, northern 

 Arizona, and New Mexico, eastward to western 

 Nebraska, Wyoming and Colorado ; wintering from 

 western United States (in lower valleys) southward 

 over whole of Mexico and Lower California to high- 

 lands of Guatemala, eastward to western Te.xas and 

 western Kansas ; accidental in Massachusetts and 

 Pennsylvania. 



Because of its resemblance to the Myrtle 

 Warbler, especially as to the arrangement of the 

 yellow patches in its plumage, Audubon's 

 Warbler is often called the \\'estern Yellow- 

 rumped Warbler, but a careful observer is not 

 likely to overlook the broad white wing-patch 

 which is a sure mark of identification of the 

 .Audubon and distinguishes it from the Myrtle, 

 or Yellow-rumped, \\'arbler. Futhermore, the 

 breeding ranges of the two birds are widely 

 separated, and it is only during their fall migra- 

 tion that they are found frequently in the same 

 territorv. 



Gray plumage is not common among the birds 

 of the Northwest, and for that reason the little 

 Audubon gets a good deal of attention in that 

 region. Moreover he is one of the first of the 

 small birds to arrive at his breeding grounds, 

 where to some extent he is even a winter resident 

 — in Washington, for example. 



Mr. Finley questions the statement of some 

 observers as to the nest building being done 

 solely by the female Audubon Warbler. He says : 

 " My experience with this bird is that it is no 

 different than the other Warblers. In some 

 cases, I find the female takes the more important 



