WOOD WARBLERS: Family Compsothlypidae [ 59 ] 



by McCabe and Miller (1933) in their newly described S. n. linnaeus from 

 British Columbia. We can see no appreciable difference between it and 

 skins from the Middle West and are therefore continuing to use the above 

 name for it. 



Macgillivray's Warbler: 



Oporornis tolmiei (Townsend) 



DESCRIPTION. -"Adult male in spring and summer: Head, throat, and breast slate gray; 

 throat feathers edged with ash; rest of under parts yellow; lores deep black; eyelids 

 with distinct white spots; back olive green, sometimes tinged with gray. Adult 

 female in spring and summer: like adult male, but crown, hind neck, and sides of head 

 and neck mouse gray fading to pale grayish or grayish white on throat and breast . 

 Adult male in jail and winter: like summer male, but feathers of crown and hind neck 

 tipped with brown and light edges of feathers on throat and chest broader, some- 

 times almost concealing black centers. Adult female in jail and winter: like summer 

 female, but plumage softer, and sides of throat and chest more grayish. Young 

 female in first autumn: like fall adult female, but crown and hind neck like back instead 

 of gray, throat and chest yellowish instead of grayish; marks on eyelids yellowish, 

 and streak over lores pale yellow. Male: length (skins) 4.67-5.44, wing i. 34-2.. 56, 

 tail ~L. 08-1.48, bill .43-. 46. Female: length (skins) 4.63-5.04, wing 1.15-1.36, tail 

 1.91-1.18, bill .41-. 48." (Bailey) Nest: Low in bushes or weeds, made of dried 

 grass and lined with same. Eggs: 3 to 5, white or creamy white, speckled on larger 

 end with brown and lilac and sometimes marked with irregular lines (Plate 86). 



DISTRIBUTION. General: Breeds from Alaska, central British Columbia, central Al- 

 berta, and southern Saskatchewan south to central California, northern Arizona, 

 and New Mexico. Winters to South America. In Oregon: Common summer resi- 

 dent of timber and brush areas. 



THIS DARK-HEADED little inhabitant of the brush patches, Macgillivray's 

 Warbler, is a common bird in the Cascades and west to the coast as well 

 as in the Blue Mountains and desert ranges to the south. It arrives in 

 late April and remains until late September (earliest date, April 2.0; latest, 

 October 12., both Multnomah County). In western Oregon, it frequents 

 the blackberry patches and dense thickets of Spiraea or Salal, and in the 

 eastern part of the State, it is equally at home in the dense growth of 

 willow about the springs and along the stream bottoms. The birds are 

 much in evidence in their chosen haunts in late April and early May 

 while the courtship is in progress, but when household cares occupy the 

 daylight hours they become as elusive as field mice, slipping about 

 through the thickets like shadows, only the sharp alarm note betraying 

 their presence to an intruder. 



Historically, this warbler has been known as an Oregon bird since 

 Townsend collected specimens in May 1835. Audubon (1839) reported 

 this date and also the first nesting record, a nest containing young found 

 on June 12., 1835. Both these records are from the Columbia River near 

 the present site of Portland (Fort William). Since then many writers 



