BLUE-WINGED WARBLER (Vermivora 
pinus) 
(For illustration, see page 84) 
Range: Breeds from southeastern Minne- 
sota, southern Michigan, western New York, 
Massachusetts (rarely), and southern Con- 
necticut south to northeastern Kansas, central 
Missouri, Kentucky, Maryland, and Delaware; 
winters from southern Mexico (Puebla) to 
Guatemala. 
Like the golden-wing, the blue-winged war- 
bler is confined to the Eastern States, but it 
tanges considerably farther west than that 
species and occurs almost or quite to the 
Plains. The blue-wing is in many ways an 
inconspicuous member of the warbler group, 
but, because of its perplexing relationship with 
the golden-wing, Brewster’s warbler, and Law- 
rence’s warbler, its ornithological] interest is ex- 
celled by few. Like the golden-wing, it prefers 
deciduous trees and second growths and shuns 
the deeper parts of the forests. It has the 
habit—shared by the golden-wing and chicka- 
dee—of hanging from the under side of any 
particular cluster it wishes to investigate, and 
no doubt it makes sure of insects that defy 
the less careful search of most other species. 
The ordinary song of the blue-wing is com- 
parable to the golden-wing’s, being in fact little 
else than an apology for a song, with the same 
insectlike quality. This warbler, though of 
distinctly arboreal habits, prefers to nest on 
the ground, or a few inches above it, in a tuft 
of grass, a clump of goldenrods, or at the foot 
of a sapling. 
The nest is rather bulky, composed of leaves 
and grasses, put together after the artless man- 
ner of its kind; but it is usually well concealed 
by the surrounding screen of grass.or weeds 
from any but chance discovery. 
BLACK-THROATED BLUE WARBLER 
(Dendroica czrulescens czrulescens) 
Range: Breeds in Canadian and Transition 
Zones from northern Minnesota, central On- 
tario, and northeastern Quebec south to cen- 
tral Minnesota, southern Michigan, southern 
Ontario, Pennsylvania (mountains), and north- 
ern Connecticut; winters from Key West, 
Florida, to the Bahamas, Greater Antilles, and 
Cozumel Island. 
The male black-throated blue warbler is one 
of the most conspicuous of the warblers, his 
black throat and blue back serving to distin- 
guish him at all times and all seasons. The 
female, despite her inconspicuous coloration, 
may always be identified by the white spot on 
the primaries. The bird is‘common and ranges 
widely through eastern North America, and 
few flocks of migrating’-warblers are without 
a greater or less number of this ‘species. 
Though in the main a common resident of the 
northern woods, in the mountains it breeds as 
far south as Maryland, while a color variety 
of the bird (Dendroica caerulescens cairnsi) 
nests in the southern Alleghenies from Penn- 
sylvania south to Georgia. 
87 
Thayer, as quoted by Chapman, says of the 
song: “There is not a more regularly and 
amply versatile singer among our eastern war- 
blers than the black-throated blue. It has at 
least four main songs, on which it is forever 
playing notable variations.” 
Whether in its northern or southern home, 
the black-throated blue warbler builds its nest 
of bark, roots, and other pliant material, loose 
and rather bulky, in a variety of saplings, 
bushes, and weeds, but always a few inches 
or a few feet from the ground. 
NASHVILLE WARBLER (Vermivora 
rubricapilla rubricapilla) 
Range: Breeds in Canadian and Transition 
Zones from southern Saskatchewan, northern 
Ontario, central Quebec, and Cape Breton Is- 
land south to Nebraska, northern Illinois, 
northern Pennsylvania, northern New Jersey, 
and Connecticut; winters from Vera Cruz and 
Chiapas to Guatemala. 
As Wilson never saw but three individuals 
of the Nashville warbler, all taken near Nash- 
ville, Tennessee, he not unnaturally named his 
new discovery for that city, apparently believ- 
ing it.to be a local species. Far from being so, 
however, it is now known to inhabit most of 
the eastern United States. Without doubt the 
bird is much more common than it was in Wil- 
son’s time, perhaps due to the fact that second 
growth and areas of low woods, its preferred 
haunts, have largely replaced the denser forests 
of the early part of the nineteenth century. 
One cannot wander far afield in Massachusetts 
in summer time without hearing its song or 
songs, since it is not only a frequent and viva- 
cious songster, but has a number of ditties in 
its repertoire, including a flight song. 
I never found but one nest, and this was on 
a little pine-wooded knoll in a small depression 
in the earth, only partially concealed by thin 
grass. I should never have found it but for 
the fact that the bird flushed from between my 
feet. So far as known, the Nashville always 
nests on the ground. Its preference for the 
ground as a nesting site is the more remark- 
able, since the bird rarely or never hunts there, 
but prefers to seek its insect food among the 
foliage, often of the tallest elms and chestnuts 
and other giants of the forest. 
The Calaveras warbler (Vermivora rubri- 
capilla gutturalis) is a form closely allied to 
the Nashville, but confined chiefly to the Pacific 
coast, extending eastward to eastern Oregon 
and northern Idaho. Fisher is quoted by Chap- 
man as saying: “The Calaveras warbler is a 
characteristic denizen of the chaparral and is 
found on both slopes of the Sierra Nevadas 
about as far south as Mount Whitney. It fre- 
quents the belts of the yellow, sugar, and Jeffry 
pines, and ranges up into the red-fir zone. 
During the height of the nesting season, while 
the female is assiduously hunting among the 
dense cover of bushes, the male is often sing- 
ing in a pine or fir, far above mundane house 
hold cares.” 
