164 GOLDEN-CHEEKED WARBLER 



with steep, rocky sides, have been cut by erosion, leaving peaks and 

 terraced hills, intersected with ravines, gorges and defiles, presenting 

 wild picturesque mountainous scenery. 



"The Golden-cheek is not a bird of the forest, being seldom met 

 with in the tall timbered areas in the wider valleys along the rivers, 

 or in the tall trees which fringe the streams in the canons; but its 

 favorite haunts are among the smaller growth of trees, on the rough 

 wooded hillsides, and which covers the slopes and 'points' leading up 

 from the canons, and the boulder strewn ridges or 'divides' which 

 separate the heads of the creeks. The trees which compose this growth 

 consist chiefly of mountain cedar (juniper), Spanish or mountain oak, 

 black oak, and live oak on the higher ground, and live oak and Spanish 

 oak clumps or thickets on the lower flats among the foothills, inter- 

 spersed in some localities with dwarf walnut, pecan and hackberry. 

 All these trees grow on an average from 10 to 20 feet high, the cedar 

 often forming almost impenetrable 'brakes'. Whatever space remains 

 among the oaks and cedars is generally covered with shin oak brush, 

 which is a characteristic feature of the region. The cedar or juniper 

 appears to possess some peculiar attraction for this bird for they are 

 seldom found at any great distance from cedar localities, and they 

 seem to divide the greater part of their time between the cedars and, 

 Spanish oaks, searching for insects, with occasional visits to other 

 oaks, walnuts, etc., but seldom descending as low as the shin oak 

 brush, which averages four to five feet. It is quite probable that 

 future observations will show, that some favorite insect food which 

 comprises a portion of their 'bill of fare', is found among the cedar 

 foliage. 



"The song of the male is the first unmistakable notification of its 

 arrival and within a few days it is quite common and the females are 

 also observed. In the localities described the Golden-cheeked Warbler 

 is by ho means a rare bird, and it is by far the most abundant of the 

 few Warblers which breed in the same region. In the shaded and 

 watered canons a few Kentuckys and Parulas are always found nest- 

 ing, and occasionally a Sycamore and Black and White Warbler, but 

 they are all rare breeding birds, compared with the Golden-cheek. 



"Like most of the same sex of other Warblers the female of this 

 species is very shy, and seldom noticed except when an intruder 

 disturbs the nest or when feeding the young after leaving it, but the 

 male Golden-cheeked Warbler is by no means a shy bird. He keeps 

 continually flying from tree to tree in search of insects, and on fine 

 days uttering his song at short intervals from early dawn until after 



