384 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Aug. 



For the New England Farmer. 



THE BIRDS OF NEW EWGLAITD— No. 19. 



WORM-EATING WARBLERS. 



■Worm-eating Warbler — Swainson's Warbler — Blue-winged Yel- 

 low Warbler — Golden-winged Warbler — N.ishville Warbler 

 Orange-crowned Warbler — Tennessee Warbler. 



The VermivorcB, or Worm-eating Warblers, 

 constitute a well marked section among our nu- 

 merous tribe of Warblers. They are surpassed by 

 no other group in the agility they exhibit in pro- 

 curing their food, and, in some respects, in their 

 habits, considerably resemble the Titmice. Their 

 colors are generally plain, and in their feeble 

 songs we observe nothing particularly notewor- 

 thy. As their name indicates, their food chiefly 

 consists of caterpillars, and the larvaj of other in- 

 sects that infest the trees, and spiders. Though 

 the group is widely distributed over the eastern 

 parts of the United States, none of the species are 

 found to be anywhere very common, and several 

 are extremely rare, and our knowledge of their 

 history is quite imperfect. 



The Worm-eating Warbler, (Hehnitherus 

 vermivorus, Bona]).,) though somewhat common in 

 some of the Middle and Southern States, is quite 

 rare in New York and New England. This spe- 

 cies winters in Mexico and tropical America, 

 reaching Louisiana about the first of April, and 

 slowly proceeds northward to breed. Audubon 

 mentions having found them more numerous in 

 New Jersey than elsewhere. Its food is said to 

 eonsist of caterpillars and spiders ; of the latter it 

 is said to be extremely fond. Aububon describes 

 the nest as being built externally of dried moss 

 and the green blossoms of hickories and chestnut 

 trees, and neatly lined within with fine fibrous 

 roots. The structure is commonly placed among 

 the twigs of a low bush. The eggs are four or 

 five, cream-colored, with a few reddish dots at 

 the larger end. 



The length of this species is five and one- 

 fourth inches ; alar extent, eight. Above fine ol- 

 ive, streaked on the head with black ; beneath, 

 dull buff, approaching orange on the breast, and 

 waved with dusky lines on the vent. 



The Swainson's Warbler, {Helmitherus 

 Sioainsonii, Bonap.,) was discovered by Back- 

 man in 1832, near Chai'leston, S. C, and first de- 

 scribed by Audubon in the second volume of his 

 Ornithological Biograpliy. It is exceedingly rare, 

 and seems to be a southern species. l)e Kay, 

 however, includes it among the birds of New 

 York, and alludes to its having been seen in Mas- 

 sachusetts by Mr. Samuel Cabot, while Baird 

 tliinks it "hardly probable" that it has been seen 

 as far east as this State. Its history remains in- 

 complete. Mr. Backman "invariably found them 

 in swampy, muddy places, usually covered with 

 more or less water ;" and observes that he found 

 fragments of coleopterous insects in their gizzards, 

 as well as small worms. Its notes are described 

 as "loud and clear, and more like a whistle than a 

 song," on which account it has been called the 

 Whistling Warbler. 



Length five inches and a half; extent, eight 

 and a half. Above dull olive, green, on some 

 parts tinged with reddish ; beneath, and line over 

 the eye, white. 



The Blue-winged Yellow Warbler, {Hel- 

 minthophaga solitaria, Cab.,) winters in tropical 



America, but is found in summer throughout the 

 eastern parts of the United States, reaching Penn- 

 sylvania in its northward migration early in May. 

 On its first arrival, like many other of our War- 

 blers, it frequents gardens and orchards, gleaning 

 among the blossoms for those destructive insects 

 that help make up its food, and afterwards retii-es 

 to the more sequestered forests to spend the sum- 

 mer and rear its young. Its nest, which is quite 

 peculiar, Wilson observes, "is fixed in a thick 

 bunch or tussock of long grass, sometimes shel- 

 tered by a briar bush. It is built in the form of 

 an inverted cone, or funnel, the bottom thickly 

 bedded with dry beech leaves, the sides formed of 

 the dry bark of strong weeds, lined with fine, dry 

 grass. These materials are not placed in the usu- 

 al manner, circularly, but shelving downwards on 

 all sides from the top ; the mouthbeing wide, the 

 bottom very narrow, filled with leaves, and the eggs 

 or young occupying the middle. The female lays 

 five eggs, pure white, with a few very faint dots of 

 reddish near the greater end." It' seems to be 

 quite rare in this State. 



Length four inches and three-fourths ; extent, 

 seven. Above, green oHve ; lower parts yellow ; 

 lares black ; inner vanes of the outer tail feathers, 

 white ; two bars of white across the wings. 



The Golden-winged Warbler, (Flelmin- 

 thophaga chrysoptera, Cab.,) is said by De Kay 

 to be rare in New York, as it likewise appears to 

 be in New England, though it has been seen as 

 far northward as 50° ; it has been seen as far 

 south as Bogota in South America, and known to 

 spend the winter in Mexico. It is regarded as a 

 rare species, and its history still remains very im- 

 perfect. Its habits are said to considerably re- 

 semble those of the Titmice, but more nearly 

 those of the Worm-eating Warbler described 

 above. 



This neat and pretty species measures five inch- 

 es in length, and seven in extent. Color above, 

 dark bluish grey ; crown and wing coverts golden 

 yellow ; band through the eye, chin and "throat, 

 black ; lower parts white ; inner webs of the three 

 primary tail feathers white. Female, similar but 

 duller. 



The Nashville Warbler, {Helminthophaga 

 riificapilla, Baird,) seems to be fast becoming a 

 common species in many sections of New Eng- 

 land, though formerly regarded as so rare. Wil- 

 son, who first described it, in 1811, saw but three 

 individuals ; Audubon, in 1832, had seen but 

 three or four, and Nuttall probably had not met 

 with it at the same date, though he observes it 

 had been seen near Salem, in this State. De Kay, 

 some twelve years later, mentions it as "exceed- 

 ingly rare," and gives us no further information of 

 its history. It has now come to be a common 

 species in collections of the birds of this State. 

 For several years past I have seen scores of them 

 every May, frequenting the orchards and gardens, 

 actively gleaning among the blossoms of the fruit 

 trees, as well as in the thickets and forests ; and 

 in 1861, many lingered in the deep woods till in- 

 to June, and I began to expect them to remain all 

 the summer. It lias been found to range through- 

 out eastern North America to Greenland, but I 

 am unable to find any account of its nest, the old- 

 er writers on American Ornithology merely con- 

 signing it to the northern parts of the continent 

 to rear its young, in common with numerous oth- 



