THE TENNESSEE WARBLER. 



{Helminthofihila fieregrina.) 



And all about, the Mils are crowned 



With woods that seem to burn and glow, 

 And purple asters, from the ground, 



Look up and watch the armies go; 

 Long, swaying ranks of swallows strong, 



And bobolinks, alert and gay, 

 And warblers, full of life and song — 



All moving swiftly on their way. 



— Frank H. Sweet, "Flocking of the Birds." 



During the spring and fall migrations, 

 the Tennessee Warbler is a common bird 

 in many localities of the eastern United 

 States. Its breeding range extends from 

 [Minnesota, New York and northern New 

 England northward to the latitude of 

 Hudson Bay, and it winters in Mexico 

 and Central America. 



This "nymph of the woodland" is a 

 very active bird and extremely dexterous 

 in catching insects which it seeks in the 

 foliage of trees, both of the forest and 

 the orchard. It seems to be especially 

 fond of the willow trees and shrubs that 

 grow on the banks of water courses, 

 where there is an abundance of insect 

 life, and it is not aji uncommon vis- 

 itor in the denser foliage of tamarack 

 swamps. While it prefers the borders of 

 an open forest, it not infrequently visits, 

 during its fall migration, corn fields and 

 vineyards and may even be seen in large 

 gardens. 



Constantly alert, the Tennessee War- 

 bler flutters through the outer foliage of 

 trees where, with its sharp and slender 

 bill, which is admirably adapted for the 

 purpose, it picks innumerable small in- 

 sects from the leaves and twigs. Like a 

 titmouse, it will frequently swing from 

 the underside of a twig or even a leaf in 

 its pursuit of an insect. Though it de- 

 stroys a large number of the smaller in- 

 sects, it seems also to have another use 

 for its sharp bill which has brought upon 

 it the enmity of the grower of small 



fruits. It has been shown by several ob- 

 servers that in the fall it will puncture 

 ripe grapes in order to obtain the sweet 

 juice. Because of this habit it has been 

 called Grape-sucker, and in some vine- 

 yards the injury produced by the pretty 

 little green Warbler has been quite seri- 

 ous. Mr. Amos W. Butler says, in his 

 "Birds of Indiana" : "It sometimes eats 

 the fruit of the poison ivy and becomes a 

 distributer of its seeds." From the ex- 

 amination of stomachs of several of these 

 Warblers, it is evident that the amount 

 of damage that is done by the punctur- 

 ing of grapes and the distribution of nox- 

 ious seeds is greatly overbalanaced by 

 the large number of insects, many of 

 which are harmful to vegetation, which 

 they destroy. 



The Tennessee Warbler quite closely 

 resembles both the Nashville and the 

 orange-crowned warblers when young. 

 Mr. Chapman gives the following method 

 of distinguishing the young of the three 

 species : "The Nashville is distinctly 

 yellow on the breast and under tail-cov- 

 erts ; the orange-crowned is pale green- 

 ish yellow, with dusky streaks and yel- 

 low under tail-coverts ; the Tennessee is 

 pale greenish yellow, without streaks and 

 with the under tail-coverts white." The 

 adults are easily distinguished. 



Its song is not easily described. By 

 many the sons: has been likened to that 

 of the Nashville warbler, but Mr. Brad- 

 ford Torrev savs that the two are so de- 



