BACHMAN'S WARBLER 



79 



Spring Migration. — One of the earliest migrants ; it crosses to the 

 United States in March ; Sombrero Key, Fla., March 3, 1899, 

 Suwanee River, Fla., March 12, 1890, Branford, Fla., March 14, 

 1892, Old Town, Fla., March 10, 1893, Wacissa River, Fla., March 

 13, 1894, Leon County, Fla., March 22, 1904; Bay St. Louis, Miss., 

 March 26, 1902; Lake Pontchartrain, La., February 27 to March 14, 

 1 891. 



Fall Migration. — The southward migration begins so early that 

 in July many individuals reach their winter quarters. Earliest record 

 at Key West, Fla., July 17, 1889; latest September 5, 1888. 



The Bird and its Haunts. — In many respects the history of 

 Bachman's Warbler is not unlike that of Swainson's. Both were 

 discovered near Charleston, S. C, by that keen naturalist. Dr. Bach- 

 man, and both remained virtually unknown for the succeeding half 

 century. Bachman procured "a few specimens" of this bird in the 

 summer of 1833 and sent them to Audubon, who described the species 

 the following year in the second volume of his Ornithological 

 Biographies. 



With the exception of its occurrence in Cuba, the Warbler 

 remained unknown to naturalists until October, 1886, when Charles 

 S. Galbraith, a millinery collector, brought to George N. Lawrence 

 a specimen which he had secured the preceding spring near Lake 

 Pontchartrain, La. This specimen, now in the American Museum of 

 Natural History, is prepared for a hat-piece. The feet are missing, 

 the wings are stififly distended, the head bent backward in typical 

 bonnet pose, and, had it not been for an interest in ornithology which 

 led Galbraith to take his unknown birds to Mr. Lawrence for identifi- 

 cation, this rara avis might have become an unappreciated victim on 

 Fashion's altar. 



In any event, it was decreed that Bachman's Warbler should no 

 longer remain among the Most species' and the following spring it 

 was brought to the attention of ornithologists, again in an unconven- 

 tional manner, through an individual which struck the Sombrero Key 

 lighthouse, off southern Florida, March 21 (Merriam^). 



Galbraith^. also, procured six additional specimens in Louisiana, 

 and the efforts of collectors being now especially directed toward this 

 species, it proved to be an abundant migrant in Florida and southern 

 Louisiana. Atkins* reported it from Key West in late July and early 

 August, Chapman® from Brevard County, Florida, in March, and 

 Brewster'' and Chapman from the lower Suwanee River in the same 

 month. 



