428 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



Stone, Seneca glen, Canandaigua lake, by E. H. Eaton. This is a hardy 

 species, arriving in New York early in April (5 to 15 or 20) and even remains 

 throughout the winter according to the testimony of Mr Benedict who 

 took February specimens in the pine woods near Schenectady in 1881. 

 In the fall the latest residents are usually observed between October 15 

 and November i. 



Haunts and habits. It is probable that the Pine warbler is even more 

 particular in the coverts which it selects for a home than the Black-poll 

 or the Nashville warbler. I have never found it except in pine groves, 

 especially groves of pitch pine and red or Norway pine. Even in the 

 migration season it is rarely found far from the pines and here it remains 

 throughout the summer months. 



Its song is described by Allison as a " rather slow, monotonous trill. 

 I have heard the songs in two keys following each other so closely that it 

 seemed that they were executed by the same bird. These songs are uttered 

 at all seasons, I think; certainly not more than a few weeks in December 

 mark a cessation. The ordinary call note is a rather soft, lisping chirp 

 somewhat like that of the Parula warbler. During courtship and while the 

 young are being fed, a rapid and incessant chipping is common." Gerald 

 Thayer says: ' Its common song is clear and sweet; an unbroken, fluent 

 trill, with a tone character at once distinguishable from those of other 

 trilling wood birds of New England. It is uttered in an even scale, but 

 is often crescendo in its first half and diminuendo in its second." 



Clarence F. Stone thus describes its breeding habits: " The Pine 

 warbler is rare in this locality (Yates county) at all times. I know of but 

 10 pairs that are breeders here. Along the Hammondsport glen in Steuben 

 county there are at least 4 or 5 pairs that remain throughout the summer. 

 Hereabouts this warbler haunts only the woods that are thickly inter- 

 spersed with red pines. On May 24, 1903, I found the first nest about 

 55 feet up in a Norway pine and 6 feet from the trunk in the end of a limb 

 among clusters of cones. The female remained on the nest until I reached 

 toward her, when she dropped to the lower branches and soon returned 



