VIRGINIA'S WARBLER yy 



Adult $, Fo//.— Similar to adult ? in Spring blit slightly browner above, 

 crest tipped with brownish gray, yellow of breast with whitish, flanks browner. 



Young 9, Fa/i.— Similar to adult ? in Spring but crown-patch nearly obso- 

 lete, rump and under tail-coverts duller, under parts huffier, no yellow breast- 

 patch. 



Nestling.— Aho\e grayish brown; throat and breast paler, belly whitish; 

 upper and under tail-coverts saffron; wings and tail as in young c?, greater 

 and median coverts brownish gray narrowly but sharply tipped with buffy. 



General Distribution. — Rocky Mountains of the United States, 

 north to Colorado (common), Utah (Wasatch Mts., Salt Lake City) 

 and Nevada (East Humboldt Mountains). Winters in Mexico. 



Migration. — The first migrant was seen at Cooney, New Mex., 

 April lo, 1889; Huachuca, Ariz., April 10, 1902; Beulah, Colo., May 

 6, 1905 ; Monon, Colo., May 3, 1905. 



The Bird and its Haunts. — "Virginia's Warbler was discovered 

 at Cantonment Burgwyn in New Mexico, by Dr. W. W. Anderson, 

 and first described, in i860, by Professor Baird who dedicated it 

 to the wife of the discoverer. The type specimen remained unique 

 until 1864, when the present writer took a second example at Fort 

 Whipple, on the fifteenth of August; this was a young bird very 

 likely bred in the vicinity. Shortly afterward, 1869, Mr. Ridgway 

 ascertained that the bird was abundant in the East Humboldt and 

 Wahsatch Mountains, where it was breeding in thickets of scrub 

 oak. * * * 



"Mr. C. E. Aiken shortly afterward extended the known range of 

 the species to include the eastern foothills of the Rocky Mountains in 

 Colorado, where it breeds. This excellent observer found it in various 

 parts of the State, but especially along the eastern base of the moun- 

 tains, where, in its favorite haunts, it sometimes outnumbers all other 

 Warblers put together. It is a shy and timid species, generally dart- 

 ing, with its sharp note of alarm, into its place of concealment when 

 approached. In summer it frequents the scrub of the hillsides, at any 

 elevation up to about 7,500 feet, but during the migrations it is found 

 indifferently in the pine forests and among the cottonwoods and 

 willows along the streams." {Coues.) 



"This species is quite common in the {Sine regions throughout 

 Arizona, but I have not seen it at a lower efevation than 5,000 feet. 

 Unlike other Warblers in this section, they keep almost entirely in 

 the underbrush, where they are continually on the move and at the 

 same time uttering a quick chirp as if in distress." {Howard'^.) 



Song. — "The male is very musical during the nesting season, 

 uttering his swee ditty continually as he skips through the bushes in 



