158 



BIRDS OF AMERICA 



Mourning Warbler. He reserves his song, re- 

 sembling those of both the Oven-bird and the 

 A\'ater-Thrush, for the distant and wilder 



MALE MOURNING WARBLER 

 At his nest among the nettles 



regions. lie sings tec, tc-o, te-o, te-o, ivc-sc, 

 loud and clear. Often he will sing a half-hour 

 at a time far up in a tree over a desperately 

 mixed tangle down in which the female sits 

 silently on the nest. 



In the late summer they begin their southward 

 journey, appearing frequently along hedgerows, 

 fences full of bushes, and by the highways 

 that skirt the edges of tamarack and cedar 

 swamps. The western birds go south, and the 

 eastern birds go southwesterly until they all meet 

 in one migration route, Louisiana and eastern 

 Texas. Then they are off through Mexico to 

 the winter home in Central America, Colombia, 

 and Ecuador. 



There is really nothing about this bird to 

 suggest mourning except the cowl. The cowl is 

 a beautiful bluish-slate set off by a black scarf 

 on the breast. The bird is quiet and retiring in 

 manners, never showy but rather cheerful and 

 self-contained. The Philadelphia in his scientific 

 name suggests the Quaker garb, and the bird sug- 

 gests the Quaker manner. Alexander Wilson 

 was not far wrong to call him the Philadelphia 

 Warbler. L. Nelson Nichols. 



MACGILLIVRAY'S WARBLER 

 Oporornis tolmiei ( ./. A'. To7s.'nseiid) 



Other Name. — Tolmie's Warbler. 



General Description. — Length, 5' i inches. Fore 

 parts, slate ; upper parts, olive-green ; under parts, 

 yellow. Bill, much shorter than head, slender, tapering 

 gradually to the tip ; wings, long and pointed ; tail, 

 shorter than wing, slightly rounded, the feathers taper- 

 ing. 



Color. — Adult M.-m.e: Head and neck, slate color, 

 deepening into black on lores, a conspicuous spot of 

 -Lcltitc on each eyelid, smaller on the upper ; cliin some- 

 tiiries white ; throat and chest, darker slate but the 

 feathers margined with pale gray, never forming a 

 "solid" black patch on chest; upper parts (except 

 crown and hindneck), plain olive-green, duller (some- 

 times slightly tinged with gray) on back and shoulders; 

 outer web of outermost primary, edged with white; 

 under parts of body, clear lemon-yellow, becoming 

 yellowish olive-green on sides and flanks ; bill, dusky- 

 brown ; iris, lirown ; legs and feet, light flesh color. 



.^DULT Female: Crown, hindneck, and sides of head 

 and neck, mouse-gray, fading into pale gray on chin, 

 throat, and chest ; a distinct white mark on each eyelid, 

 as in the adult male; rest of plumage as in adult male. 



Nest and Eggs. — Nest : In some localities, near 

 ground in clump of grass or bushes, in others, in sap- 

 lings or juniper trees, from 3 to 6 feet up; made of 

 dried grass and lined with fine grass, a few rootlets, or 

 some horse-hair. Eggs: 3 to 5, usually 4, creamy- 

 white, spotted at large end with dark brown, lilac-.gray, 

 and a few pen lines. 



Distribution. — Western United .States and British 

 Columbia ; breeding in mountains from Pacific coast 

 ranges to Rocky Mountains, north to British Columbia 

 (including Vancouver Island), south at least to Ari- 

 zona, New Me.xico, and western Texas ; during migra- 

 tions cast to western Nebraska, central Texas, etc. ; 

 soutli in winter to Cape St. Lucas and over whole of 

 Me.xico and Central America to Colombia. 



W. Leon Dawson, the Ohio ornithologist, in- 

 sists that Macgillivray's Warbler should be called 

 " Tolmie's Warbler." the ornithological powers- 

 that-be to the contrary notwithstanding, and for 

 the following interesting reasons : The bird was 



discovered (in 1839) bv the American ornitholo- 

 gist Townsend, who named it in honor of Dr. 

 \\'. T. Tolmie, a friend of his and, later, as a 

 factor of the Hudson Ray Company, of all 

 naturalists and such-like wanderers. Btit when 



