WORM-EATING WARBLER 
(Helmitheros vermivorus) 
Range: Breeds mainly in the Carolinian 
Zone trom southern Iowa, northern Illinois, 
eastern and western Pennsylvania, and the 
Hudson and Connecticut River valleys south 
to southern Missouri, Tennessee, Virginia, and 
mountains of South Carolina; winters from 
Chiapas to Panama, in Cuba and the Bahamas. 
He who would make the acquaintance of 
the worm-eating warbler must seek it in its 
own chosen home, far from which it never 
strays. It is a bird of shaded hillside and 
dark thickets along watercourses. Though 
nimble in its movements and an active insect 
hunter, it is an unobtrusive little warbler, 
garbed in very modest colors, and is likely 
wholly to escape the notice of the unobservant. 
There seems to be an unusual degree of 
jealousy among the-males, and a pair, the 
hunting and the hunted, are often seen pur- 
suing a rapid, zigzag flight through trees and 
bushes. I imagine that in such cases the pur- 
suing male, whose angry notes show how much 
in earnest he is, is asserting the right of do- 
main over his own hunting grounds, and 
driving from his preserves an intruder. 
Like several of our terrestrial warblers, the 
worm-eater has caught the trick of walking, 
perhaps borrowing it from his thrush neigh- 
bors, and he rarely or never hops. In his case 
the term “terrestrial” must be modified by 
the statement that to a certain extent he is 
a connecting link between the arboreal mem- 
bers of the family, as the black-throated green 
and Tennessee, which descend to the ground 
only casually, and such species as the Con- 
necticut and the Swainson, which seek their 
food chiefly on the ground. Of the musical 
ability of the worm-eating warbler little is to 
be said save that his song is so very feeble that 
one must listen carefully to hear it at all, and 
that it much resembles that of our familiar 
“chippy” when heard a long distance off. 
This warbler nests on the ground, often on a 
hillside or in a shallow depression, and the 
pairs seem so much attached to their old home 
that they may confidently be looked for in 
the same place year after year. 
GOLDEN-WINGED WARBLER 
(Vermivora chrysoptera) 
Range: Breeds in Alleghanian Zone from 
central Minnesota, southern Ontario, and Mas- 
sachusetts south to southern Iowa, northern 
Illinois, northern Indiana, northern New Jer- 
sey, and northern Georgia; winters from Gua- 
temala to Colombia. 
Though less gaudily colored than certain 
others of our warblers, the golden-wing ranks 
high in the family for beauty, and its trim 
form and tastefully contrasted tints of gray, 
black, and yellow may well excite admiration. 
It is almost wholly limited to eastern States, 
rarely indeed being found west of the Missis- 
sippi, and its summer haunts are in the north- 
ern parts of its range. Though common in 
some localities, the golden-wing in most places 
82 
is sufficiently rare always to interest the bird 
observer, and in Massachusetts if several are 
heard or seen in a long tramp the day may well 
be esteemed a red-letter day. The bird is to 
be looked for in deciduous timber, and is espe- 
cially fond of elms and birches as hunting 
grounds. I have often seen it busy in elms so 
high up that only with difficulty could it be dis- 
tinguished from the Tennessee, Nashville, and 
other strikingly different warblers in company 
with it. Like the blue-wing, it has the habit of 
clinging to the tip of a branch or cluster of 
flowers, back downward, examining the spot 
with the most exact scrutiny. 
Once heard, its song is not to be forgotten 
nor mistaken for that of any other warbler, 
unless possibly the blue-wing. It possesses a 
buzzing, insectlike quality and is well repre- 
sented to my ears by the syllables ze-ze-ze-ze, 
the latter notes in a higher pitch. It seems 
strange that a bird so distinctly arboreal in 
habits should choose to nest on the ground; 
but numerous nests of the golden-wing have 
been found, all of them practically on or a few 
inches from the earth, though usually sup- 
ported by weed stalks or grass stems. 
ORANGE-CROWNED WARBLER 
(Vermivora celata celata) 
Range: Breeds in lower Hudsonian and Can. 
adian Zones from Kobuk River, Alaska, south- 
east to central Keewatin and Manitoba, and 
south locally in the Rocky Mountains to New 
Mexico; winters in the Gulf and South Atlan- 
tic States to South Carolina and south through 
Mexico to Mount Orizaba. 
The orange-crowned warbler is much better 
known as a migrant, especially a fall migrant, 
than as a summer resident. Its summer home, 
in fact, is so far north that it is beyond the 
ken of most observers, although the bird occa- 
sionally summers, and no doubt nests, in 
Maine and Wisconsin. Seton found it a com- 
mon summer resident in Manitoba; Kennicott 
discovered it nesting about the Great Slave 
Lake among clumps of low bushes; while Nel- 
son found it common in summer in the wooded 
regions of northern Alaska. For some reason 
or other of late years the orange-crown seems 
to be a much commoner migrant in Massa- 
chusetts, and perhaps generally in New Eng- 
land, than formerly, and the sight of three or 
four in a day occasions no great surprise. It 
winters in Florida and in other of the South 
Atlantic States, and the cause of its rarity in 
the Eastern States in spring is due to the fact 
that it migrates up the Mississippi Valley. The 
orange-crown is one of the most plainly col- 
ored of the warbler tribe, and there is little 
about it to attract the notice of the casual 
observer. The song is said to consist of a 
few sweet trills, and, as is the case with the 
ditties of so many of its kind, has been likened 
to that of the familiar little “chippy.” 
BLUE-WINGED WARBLER (Vermivora 
pinus) 
(For text, see page 87) 
