BLACK AND WHITE WARBLER 
(Mniotilta varia) 
Length, about 4% inches. Easily known by 
its streaked black and white plumage. 
Range: Eastern North America. Breeds 
from central Mackenzie, southern Keewatin, 
northern Ontario, Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, 
and New Brunswick to eastern Texas, Louisi- 
ana, central Alabama, and northern Georgia, 
west to South Dakota; winters in Florida and 
from Colima and Nuevo Leon to Colombia, 
Ecuador, and Venezuela. 
A warbler in form and general make-up, a 
creeper by profession and practice, this readily 
identihed species, in its striped suit of black 
and white, may be observed in any bit of east- 
ern woodland. Here it flits from tree to tree 
or climbs over the trunks and branches, scan- 
ning every crack and cranny for the insects 
that constitute its chief food. Though not a 
lover of open country, it frequently visits the 
orchard, where it performs its part in the task 
of keeping insect life within due bounds. It 
nests on the ground and hides its domicile so 
skillfully that it is not often found. None of 
the warblers are noted as songsters, but the 
black and white creeper, as I like best to call 
it, emits a series of thin wiry notes which we 
may call a song by courtesy only. In scramb- 
ling over the trunks of trees it finds and de- 
vours many long-horned beetles, the parents of 
the destructive root-borers; it also finds weev- 
ils, ants, and spiders. 
YELLOW WARBLER (Dendroica estiva 
and races) 
Length, little more than 5 inches. Mostly 
yellow, breast and belly streaked with reddish 
brown. 
Range: North America, breeding generally 
throughout its range south to California, New 
Mexico, Missouri, and northern South Caro- 
lina ; winters in Central and South America. 
The ‘ ‘yellow bird,” or wild canary, as it is 
sometimes called; is one of the commonest of 
the warbler tribe and ranges over a vast extent 
of territory, being found here and there from 
ocean to ocean. Unlike some of its relatives, 
it prefers open thickets, especially of willows, 
to thick woodland, and often builds its pretty 
nest by the roadside or in garden shrubbery. 
Though not an expert musician, the yellow 
warbler sings early and often, and in zeal 
makes up what it lacks in quality of voice. 
Because its nest is easily found by the initiated, 
this warbler is often victimized by the infa- 
mous cowbird, and is forced to bring up one, 
or even two, young cowbirds in place of its 
own rightful progeny. It is pleasant to be able 
to record the fact that sometimes the clever 
warbler knows enough—how it knows it is an- 
other matter—to evade the unwelcome respon- 
sibilities thus thrust upon it, and builds a plat- 
form over the alien egg, and then continues its 
domestic affairs as originally planned. Indeed, 
cases are on record when two cowbirds’ eggs 
have been found in a nest, each covered up by 
a separate layer of nest material. 
(See Biol. Surv. Bull. 17, p. 20 et seq.; 
Bull. 20.) 
also 
83 
AUDUBON’S WARBLER (Dendroica 
auduboni) 
Length, about 5 inches. Much like the yel- 
low-rump, but with yellow crown and throat 
patch. 
Range: Breeds from central British Colum- 
bia, Alberta, and southwestern Saskatchewan 
to our southern border, east to South Dakota 
and Nebraska; winters from California and 
Texas south to Guatemala. 
No member of the wood warbler family is 
more characteristic of the group than this 
beautiful bird. In voice, coloration, and habits 
it is almost the counterpart of the yellow-rump 
of the Eastern States, for which indeed it 
might easily be mistaken were it not for its 
yellow throat, the corresponding area in the 
yellow-rump being white. It summers in the 
mountains and shows off to advantage against 
the dark foliage of the pines. It seems to have 
little fear of man and in winter frequents 
orchards, gardens, and dooryards. Wherever 
it may be, it keeps up an incessant hunt for its 
insect food, in the pursuit of which, like many 
others of its family, it sometimes essays the 
role of flycatcher, being very expert and nimble 
on the wing. This warbler also devours large 
numbers of ants, flies, scale and plant lice, and 
noxious bugs. 
(See Biol. Surv. Bull. 30, pp. 43-46.) 
REDSTART (Setophaga ruticilla) 
Length, nearly 5% inches. To be distin- 
guished from other warblers by its coloration 
and its motions. (See below.) 
Range: Breeds from central British Colum- 
bia and eastern Canada to Washington, Utah, 
Colorado, Oklahoma, and North Carolina; win- 
ters in the West Indies and from Mexico to 
Ecuador. 
Its beauty of form and plumage and its 
graceful motions place this dainty bird at the 
head of our list of wood warblers—a place of 
distinction indeed. The bird appears to be the 
incarnation of animated motion and _ fairly 
dances its way through the forest. Spanish 
imagination has coined a suggestive and fitting 
name for the redstart, candelita, the little 
“torch-bearer.” The full appropriateness of 
the name appears as the graceful creature flits 
through the greenery, displaying the salmon- 
colored body and the bright wing and _ tail 
patches. The redstart is not unknown in some 
parts of the West, but it is essentially a bird 
of the Eastern States, where it is a common 
inhabitant of open woodland districts. While 
it builds a rather neat and compact structure 
of strips of bark, plant fibers, and the like, 
placing it in a sapling not far from the ground, 
the nest is not the thing of beauty one might 
be led to expect from such a fairy-like crea- 
ture. Ornamental as the redstart is, it pos- 
sesses other claims on our gratitude, for it is 
a most active and untiring hunter of insects, 
such as epittle insects, tree-hoppers, and leaf- 
hoppers, and both orchard and forest trees are 
benefited by the unceasing warfare it wages. 
(See Biol. Surv. Bull. 17, p. 20 et seq.) 
