186 GRACE'S WARBLER 



Nestling. Above dusky grayish brown with an olive tint; below grayish 

 or white the breast, and even belly and sides spotted with blackish; wing- 

 coverts blackish or grayish, conspicuously tipped with whitish. 



General Distribution. Southwestern United States and north- 

 western Mexico. 



Summer Range. Breeds in northern Mexico and in the moun- 

 tains of New Mexico and Arizona, north to Colorado (La Plata 

 County) ; accidental in north central Colorado (Loveland, April 25, 

 1889), and in California (Santa Paula, Ventura Co., May 3, 1881). 



Winter Range. Northern Mexico. 



Spring Migration. Arrivals have been noted in Arizona as fol- 

 lows: Fort Whipple, April 24, 1865, Pima Co., April 22, 1885, 

 Huachuca Mountains, April 27, 1902, April 12, 1903. 



The Bird and its Haunts. If the spring or summer visitor to 

 the Grand Canon will explore the neighboring yellow pine forests 

 he will find Grace's Warbler a not uncommon inhabitant of tree-tops, 

 so high that no small amount of looking will be required to com- 

 plete a satisfactory identification. 



Discovered by Dr. Coues on the summit of Whipple's Pass, New 

 Mexico, July 2, 1864, and named by him for his sister, Grace's War- 

 bler is now known as a common summer resident of the pine forests of 

 Arizona, and New Mexico and southward into Mexico. Its nest was 

 not discovered, however, until 1890, when H. H. Keays, as recorded 

 by Ladd, found it breeding in Yavapai Co., Arizona. 



Grace's Warbler has several relatives so near that they are doubt- 

 less geographical representatives whose distribution seems to throw 

 some light on the tropical (particularly West Indian) origin and sub- 

 sequent northern dispersal of the Mniotiltidae. To the southward it 

 is replaced by the slightly differentiated D. g. decora, which reaches 

 Honduras, in the east Dendroica dominica is its probable representa- 

 tive, while in Porto Rico and St. Lucia it finds surprisingly near allies 

 in Dendroica adelaidce and Dendroica delicata, respectively. 



Song. "Its song is a sweet warble, frequently uttered from the 

 lower pine boughs." (Mearns). 



Nesting Site. A nest found by H. Keays in Yavapai County, 

 Arizona, was placed on a limb of a pine sixty feet up. Two nests 

 recorded by Howard 2 were placed respectively in a pine and in a red 

 fir at the extremity of a limb some fifty feet up. 



Nest. Keays' nest is described by Ladd 1 as "very compact; out- 

 side diameter 3 inches by I 1-2 inches high; inside diameter I 3-4 

 inches by i 1-4 inches deep. The body of this nest is composed of 

 horse-hair strings and vegetable fibers. The most abundant vegetable 



