THE MYRTLE WARBLER. 



[Dendroica coronata.) 



C. C. M. 



ONE of the most interesting facts 

 concerning this beautiful warb- 

 ler is that, though not com- 

 mon, it is a winter sojourner, 

 and therefore of perpetual interest to 

 the student of birds. About the last 

 of March, however, multitudes of them 

 * may be seen as they begin to move 

 northward. By the middle of April 

 all but a few stragglers have left us, 

 and it is not till the last of September 

 that they begin to return, the majority 

 of them arriving about the middle of 

 October. The habitat of the myrtle 

 warbler includes the whole of North 

 America, though it is chiefly found 

 east of the Rocky Mountains, breeding 

 from the northern United States north- 

 ward into the Arctic regions; and, 

 what is regarded as strange for so 

 hardy a bird, has been found nesting 

 in Jamaica. Its winter home is from 

 about latitude 40 "" south into southern 

 Central America. 



The adult female myrtle warbler is 

 similar to the male, but much duller in 

 color. In winter the plumage of the 

 sexes is said to be essentially alike. 

 The upper parts are strongly washed 

 with umber brown, and lower parts 

 more or less suffused with paler wash 

 of the same. The young have no yel- 

 low anywhere, except sometimes on the 

 rump. The whole plumage is thickly 

 streaked above and below with dusky 

 and grayish white. 



The places to study these attractive 

 warblers are the open woods and bord 

 ers of streams. In their northern 

 winter homes, during the winter 

 months, spiders, eggs and larvae of in- 

 sects constitute their principal food, 

 though they also feed upon the berries 

 of the poison ivy, and in the early 

 spring, as they move northward, upon 

 " insects that gather about the unfold- 

 ing leaves, buds, and blossoms." Col. 

 Goss says that in the spring of 1880 he 

 found the birds in large numbers on 

 Brier Island and other places in Nova 

 Scotia, feeding along the beach, in 

 company with the horned lark, upon 

 the small flies and other insects that 



swarm about the kelp and '. debris 

 washed upon the shore. " They utter 

 almost continually, as they flit about, 

 a tzveet note, the males often flying to 

 the tops of the small hemlocks to give 

 vent to their happiness in song, which 

 is quite loud for warblers — rather short, 

 but soft and pleasing." 



These birds usually build their nests 

 in low trees and bushes, but Mr. Mac- 

 Farlane, who found them nesting at 

 Anderson River, says they occasion- 

 ally nest on the ground. Mr. Bremer 

 says that in the summer of 1855, early 

 in July, he obtained a nest of the 

 myrtle warbler in Parsborough, Nova 

 Scotia. It was built in a low bush, in 

 the midst of a small village, and con- 

 tained six eggs. The parents were 

 very shy, and it was with great diffi- 

 culty that one of them was secured for 

 identification. The nest was built on a 

 horizontal branch, the smaller twigs of 

 which were so interlaced as to admit 

 of being built upon them, though their 

 extremities were interwoven into its 

 rim. The nest was small for the bird^ 

 being only two inches in depth and 

 four and a half in diameter. The cav- 

 ity was one and one- half inches deep 

 and two and a half wide. Its base and 

 external portions consisted of fine^ 

 light dry stalks of wild grasses, and 

 slender twigs and roots. Of the last 

 the firm, strong rim of the nest was 

 exclusively woven. Within the nest 

 were soft, fine grasses, downy feathers^ 

 and the fine hair of small animals. 



The eggs are three to six, white to 

 greenish white, spotted and blotched, 

 with varying shades of umber brown to 

 blackish and pale lilac: in form they 

 are rounded oval. 



In autumn, when the myitle warblers 

 return from Canada, they mostly haunt 

 the regions where the juniper and bay- 

 berries are abundant. The latter (^mr^ 

 ceiferd), or myrtle waxberries, as they 

 are frequently called, and which are 

 the favorite food of this species, have 

 given it their name. These warblers 

 are so restless that great difficulty is 

 experienced in identifying them. 



