280 BiKDS OF XORTH CaKOI.IXA 



So far, the only authority on wlik-li tlii.s bird can l)e included in (jur list is Cairns, 

 who stated that the species was a rare transient in Buncombe County (see Smith- 

 wick's Cntnlocjuc of Bird n of Xortli Carolina, page 217). 



"Wilson, the discoverer of this species, found only tlio tliree specimens, taken near Xashville, 

 Tennessee, on wliicli his descriplion was l)ased; and in the early part of the last century it was 

 considered a rare liird. Brewster, (luotinf; Samuel t'ahot, says that soon after 1836 'a few birds 

 began to appear every season. They increased in numbers, (rrailually but steadily, until they 

 had become so common that in 1842 he obtained ten specimens in the course of a single morning.' 



"Recounting his own experience in the Cambridge region, Brewster adds: 'In 1SG8, and for 

 some fifteen years later, I found Nashville \\'arblers breeding rather numerously in W'altham, 

 Lexington, .Arlington, and Behnont, usuallj' in dry and somewhat baiTen tracts sparsely co\ered 

 with gray birches, oaks, or red cedars, or with .scattered i)itch-pines. A few birds continued to 

 occupy certain of these stations, but in all of the towns just mentioned the Nashville \\'arl)ler is 

 less conunon anil tlecideilly less generally distributed in summer now than it was twenty-live 

 or thirty years .ago.' 



"(Jerald Thayi'r writes: 'Birch \\'arblcr' would l)e a good name for this bird, as it appears in 

 the .Monadnock region, where it breeds alnmdantly. For here it is nowhere so common as in 

 al)andoiied fields and mountain pastures half smothered by small gray birches. From the airy 

 upper story of these low and often dense birch copses the Nashvilles sing; and among the club- 

 mo.sses and ferns, and the hardhacks and otiier .srcubby bushes at their bases and around their 

 borders the NashvilU^s builil their nests. But .such is merely their most characteristic home. 

 They are so common and widespread tliat it is hard to get out of earshot of their song during the 

 breeding sea.soii. Dark spruce woods they do not favor, nor big. mi.xeil virgin timl>er; but even 

 in tliese places one is likely t,o find them wherever there is a little 'oasis' of sunlight and smaller 

 deciduous gi'owth. They are fairly common among the scanty spruces, mountain ashes, and 

 white birches of the rocky ui)per ridge of .Mount .Mi)na<liiock, almost to the top — 3,1(59 feet. 



" 'The Nashville's proper domain or "beat," iluring the breeding season, lies between the 

 ground and the tot)s of tlie lower trees — mainly deciduous trees. He is a little, active, foliage- 

 colored \Varl)ler, imshowily yellow-breasted, inconsi)icuously gi-ay-headed (except for a yellow 

 throat, and a rufous crown-spot which scarcely shows at all), with a dim white eye-ring, but 

 without white tail-spots, wing-bars, or any other bold markings. In demeanor it is one of the 

 most nervously agile and restless of the gleaning warblers.' (Th.^.yeh, MSS.)." (Chapman's 

 ]\'(irlil('rs of Xorlli Annriru.) 



280. Vermivora celata celata (Say). ()u.\*\c!e-luow\kd W.\ki!lku. 



Description. — 01i\e-gi'een, never ashy on head; crown-patch orange brown, more or less con- 

 cealed; underparts greenish yellow. L., .5.00; W., ■2..5.5; T., 1.9.5. 



Range. — Northern North America, ca,sually on the Atlantic co.ast during the migrations. 

 Winters in the South .Vtlantic and (lulf .States and southward. 



Rdtiyc in Xorth Ciirolinn. — Only known as an occasional fall migrant and winter visitor in 

 Buncombe and Currituck counties. 



Fig. 226. Or.\ncje-crownkd Wakhi-kr. 



Taken by Cairns on October 18, 189.3 (male), and on January 1.5, 1894 (female). 

 Both of these records were furnished us by Brewster, in whose collection the speci- 

 mens are now pres(>rved. One was collected by Ludlow (Iriscom at Paniunkcy 



