158 



THE SYCAMORE WARBLER. 



This is the first of the family to arrive in spring. It is always to be seen 

 before the Yellow-rumped and Yellow Warblers make their appearance, some- 

 times before the last snow and ice. I have seen them in considerable num- 

 bers on the 1 3th of April, and have kno\vn of its occurrence as early as April 

 9th. When on their migrations they confine themselves almost exclusively 

 to the trees which skirt the streams, and move northward by day with con- 

 siderable rapidity. During the whole day their characteristic song, tswee-a, 

 tsi\.'ee-a, tswce-a, tsivec, tswee, tsivec, tn-u'cc, may be heard, sometimes at a 



distance of a quarter of a 

 mile, as the birds feed in the 

 sycamore and elm trees. * 

 * * They are seldom seen 

 in woodland, though they 

 not infrequently visit the 

 shade trees and gardens of 

 the city. They are much 

 more abundant during the 

 spring migrations than at 

 any other time. In this lo- 

 cality it is not uncommon to 

 see a dozen in a morning's 

 w^alk, about one-third of 

 which may be captured." 



In marked contrast with 

 the preceding is the fact that 

 there are no records of the 

 bird's appearance in the re- 

 cent annals of the Wheaton 

 Club of this city. I have 

 met with only one specimen 

 in the state, a singing male, 

 in a secluded hollow near 

 Cincinnati, where it is still 

 regarded as not uncommon 

 The bird was seen on April 



25th, 1903, before the foliage was fully out, and during the three hours it 

 was under examination it divided its "time about evenly between a singk 

 ash tree on the brink of the glen and the central sycamores shown in the illus- 

 tration. The bird seemed to be gleaning insects from the swelling buds of 

 the ash, but he paused frequently to throw his head up and sing. The song 

 was rather deliberate, high-pitched, emphatic, of a singularly penetrating 

 quality, and unvaried in character, tszvee, tsivee, tsivee, tswee, the last note 



Taken in 

 Franklin 

 County 



AN IDEM, SPOT FOR SYCAMORE WARBLERS. 



