20 Wood, Autumn Warbler Hunting. [jar^ 



AUTUMN WARBLER HUNTING. 



BY J. CLAIRE WOOD. 



Desiring to get some idea of the relative abundance of the late 

 warblers and also to add a few to my collection, I spent September 

 25 and 28 and October 2, 1904, among them. Fourteen species, 

 represented by 331 individuals, were met with. October 6 was 

 the next date but I was only an hour in the woods. However, four 

 species were noted represented by 11 birds. This was the last 

 day I looked for them, but while woodcock hunting on October 

 16 I met with three Bay-breasted Warblers (Dendroica castanea) 

 and three Black-polls (J), striata), and a Northern Yellow-throat 

 (Geothlypis trlchas brachidactyla) was flushed on October 23. 

 This interested me in the question of how late any of the Mnio- 

 tiltidse could be found here. Local and other lists of about the 

 same latitude in the transition zone were consulted but the data 

 were meager and somewhat unsatisfactory; in fact, no careful 

 work seems to have been done this far north after early October. 

 It became evident that the only way to get a proper idea of relative 

 abundance and time of departure was to investigate personally. 

 I began August 20, 1905, and started with the intention of devot- 

 ing all my spare time to warbler hunting until the day came when 

 no more were seen. This was not carried out, for the reason that 

 it took seven hours to locate the single specimen observed October 

 26, and convinced me that the prospect of meeting with a later 

 bird was not worth the trouble. Prior to October 1 my observa- 

 tions were restricted to a small piece of timber on P. C. 49, but 

 when the warblers became scarce I included a large piece of second 

 growth on P. C. 31, both in Ecorse Township, Wayne County, 

 Michigan. 



The fascination of warbler collecting is in not knowing what 

 you will find. Locality and conditions influence the method of 

 hunting. Silence dominates the woods here from late August 

 until the third week in September. Now and then you hear the 

 dreamy note of a Wood Pewee (Contopus virens) and the monoto- 

 nous warble of a Red-eyed Vireo (Vireo olivaceus), or a crow may 



