306 University of California Publications in Zoology. t v L - 6 



WARBLEKS WITHOUT WHITE MARKINGS. 

 OF INTERMEDIATE RANGE. 



Level of Nest. Level of Nest. 



Vermivora peregrina ground Oporornis tolmiei 6"-4' 



Vermivora celata celata ground Wilsonia pusilla chryseola 3'-5' 



Vermivora c. lutescens ground Wilsonia canadensis ground 



Vermivora c. sordida 2'-8' Setophaga ruticilla 2'-30' 



Vermivora rubricapilla ground Dendroica aestiva 3'-25' 



Oporornis Philadelphia 6'-20' 



OF LOWEST RANGE. 



Helinaia swainsoni ground Oporornis formosa ground 



Helmitheros vermivorus ground Oporornis agilis ground 



Vermivora virginiae ground Geothlypis trichasr ground 



Vermivora luciae 2'-6' Geothlypis t. occidentalis 6"-5' 



Seiurus aurocapillus ground Icteria virens l'-5' 



Seiurus motacilla ground Wilsonia pusilla ground 



Seiurus novel) or acensis ground 



Of the fifty-seven warblers here treated, thirty-three have 

 well-defined white top-patterns. Of these, twenty are high 

 rangers, a number of them emphasizing their preference by 

 choosing a nesting site at the extraordinary level of seventy, 

 eighty, or even ninety feet from the ground. 



It is a curious fact that a careful sifting of the recorded 

 observations discovers no unmarked warbler belonging properly 

 to the high feeding beats. A few, such as Vermivora celata, occur 

 at variable heights and may be seen in the tops of trees ; but these 

 usually nest low, upon or near the ground, and are usually 

 assigned an intermediate feeding beat. It seems to be true on 

 the whole that the plain "protectively colored" warblers are 

 unrepresented in the upper strata of our deciduous forests, that 

 they are common at the medium levels, and, as shown in the table, 

 belong mainly in the lower stratum, that of thickets, brush 

 areas, tangles about marshy places. Briefly put, the situation 

 among warblers seems to be: no plain plumages seen at the 

 highest levels. But the converse no marked plumages at lowest 

 levels is not strictly true. No arbitrary line is drawn. About 

 the same number of the marked and unmarked occupy the inter- 

 mediate feeding beats and nesting sites. It seems reasonable to 

 infer, however, from the results shown by this tabulation that 



