WARBLERS 



14' 



family in .\rizona, and is of quik' frt'tincnt occur- of the yellow [liiie trees, much after the manner 



rence especially in the neighborhood of that niosc of other Warblers. It is also fre(iuentlv found 



wonderful wonderland, the Grand Canon of the in similar forests on the Guadalupe Mountains 



Colorado. Here it is found working in the tops of Texas. 



BLACK-THROATED GRAY WARBLER 

 Dendroica nigrescens ( ./ /\, Towitsi-nd ) 



A- n. V. Xn 



General Description. — Length, 5 inches. Fore parts, 

 black ; upiicr jiarts, gray ; under parts, white. Bill, 

 shorter than head, slender, tapering gradually to the 

 tip; wings, long and pointed; tail. even. 



Color. — Adult M.>\le: Ilcml, uiiifonii hlitck. relieved 

 by a broad stripe of zcliite over ear W.rteitdiui; joricard 

 to above middle of eye), a small spot of yellow in 

 front of eye, and a broad cheek stripe of white, extend- 

 ing from lower base of bill to sides of neck, confluent 

 on chin; whole throat and chest, uniform black; rest of 

 under parts, white broadly streaked on the sides with 

 black ; hindneck, back, shoulders, rump, and upper tail- 

 coverts, slate-gray or plumbeous, streaked (except on 

 hindneck, and sometimes on rump) with black; wings 

 and tail, black or dusky with gray edgings, the middle 

 and greater wing-coverts, broadly tipped with white, 

 forming two conspicuous wing-bands; inner webs of 

 two outermost tail-feathers mostly (sometimes entirely) 

 white, the third feather with end half or more, white, 

 the fourth also with white on terminal portion ; bill, 

 black ; iris, brown ; legs and feet, dusky-brown, some- 

 times nearly black. Adult Female: Sometimes 



scarcely different from the adult male, having the 

 crown and whole tliroat uniform black, as in that sex. 

 liut with gray of upper parts duller; usually, however, 

 with the crown gray (except on the sides), streaked 

 with black; the throat mostly white with a black or 

 dusky patch on each side of lower throat; white of 

 under parts, less pure, with streaks on sides and flanks 

 narrower and grayish dusky; gray of upper parts, 

 duller, with dusky streaks on back and upper tail- 

 coverts much narrower, sometimes nearly obsolete. 



Nest and Eggs. — Nest : Low in dense thickets of 

 manzanita, scrub oak. or willows or high among the 

 conifers; compactly constructed, cup-shaped, of plant 

 fibers, grasses, and a few leaf stems and lined with 

 feathers. Eggs: 3 or 4. pinkish-white or cream, 

 spotted around larger end with reddish-browns and 

 purple. 



Distribution. — Western North .America ; breeds from 

 southern British Columbia. Nevada, northern Utah, and 

 northwestern Colorado south to northern Lov^er Cali- 

 fornia, southern Arizona, and northern New Mexico; 

 winters in southern Lower California and in Mexico. 



When the wise men gave names to the differ- 

 ent birds, the Black-throated Gray Warbler got 

 its name from the male, for he only has the 

 black throat. His wife wears a white cravat, 

 and, according to my idea, she is a good deal 

 more important in Warbler affairs than he is. 

 This impression was gained by watching at the 

 nest after the eggs were hatched and the young 

 birds were being fed. Mr. Warbler seemed to 

 be away from home practically ;ill the time. He 

 evidently thought his shyness was a good excuse 

 to stay away and let his wife take the burden of 

 hunting food for the young birds. 



One day as I was walking along Ftilton Creek, 

 I saw one of these Warblers fid.geting on a limb 

 with a straw in her bill. This was interesting, 

 because I had searched this locality trving to find 

 the nest for some time. The site of the nest was 

 twelve feet from the ground in the top of a 

 sapling. It was very advantageously located 

 becatise just at the side of the sapling was the 

 sawed-off trunk of a fir that was three and a 



half feet across. Ujron this we could climb and 

 aim our camera straight into the nest. 



The mother returned home and found two 

 men with a big one-eyed monster, the cainera. 

 close to her children. .She was scared almost out 

 of her senses. She fell fluttering from the top 

 of the tree. .She caught quivering on a limb a 

 foot from my hand. But she couldn't hold on ; 

 she slipped through the branches and clutched 

 my shoe. I never saw such an exaggerated case 

 of chills or heard such a pitiful high-pitched note 

 of pain. I stooped to see what ailed her. .She 

 acted as if both wings were broken. But a 

 moment later, she limped under :i bush and sud- 

 denly got well. 



The first day T met the male Black-throated 

 Gray f.ace to face, we were trying to get a photo- 

 graph of the mother as she came to feed. She 

 had got quite used to the camera. We Itad it 

 leveled at the nest only a yard distant. A gray 

 figure came flitting over the tree-tops and 

 planted himself on ;i limb right beside his home. 



