BLUE-WINGED WARBLER (Vermivora 

 pinus) 



(For illustralion, see page ^^4) 



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 conlmed to the Eastern States, but it 

 ranges 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 casrulescens caerulescens) 



Range: Breeds in Canadian and Transition 

 Zones from northern Minnesota, central On- 

 lario, and northeastern Queljec 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 warljlers, 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 com.mon resident of the 

 northern woods, in the mouni-ains it breeds as 

 far south as Maryland, while a color variety 

 of the bird {Dendroica cccrulescens cairnsi) 

 nests in the southern Alleghenies from Penn- 

 sylvania south to Georgia. 



Thajer, 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 discoveryr for that city, apparently believ- 

 ing it to be a local species. Far from being so, 

 however, it is now known to inhaljit 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 p:ne-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 (I'cnnii'ora rubri- 

 capilla guttiii-alis) 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 Ncvadas 

 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." 



87 



