DUSKY WARBLER 91 



which has been facetiously called 'museum color'. Ordinarily the 

 crown-patch is invisible as the little fellow fidgets among the imder- 

 growth, but at a distance of three feet Mr. W. L. Finley was able to 

 distinguish it when the bird rufifled its feathers in alarm." 



Song.— "In March they begin to sing their simple trill, which is 

 rather musical and audible for a long distance." (Finley^.) 



Nesting Site. — "Nests on the ground, on dry hillsides overgrown 

 with brush." (Bowles, MS.) Finley^ mentions nests found "under 

 some dry ferns in the bank of a little hollow. * * * on a hillside 

 under a fir tree, placed on the ground in a tangle of grass and brier. 

 * * * In an arrow-wood bush three feet from the ground and amid 

 a bunch of sprouts, and in a bush two feet up." 



Nest. — "Loosely made of dry leaves and grasses lined with fine 

 grass and a little hair" (Carriger, Sonoma County, California, 

 C. W. C). 



^■ggs. — 3 to 5, usually 4. Ground color white to creamy white 

 spotted and specked with reddish brown and lilac-gray more heavily 

 at the larger end, slightly tending to wreathe, with very few specimen? 

 showing blotches. Size; average, .66X.51. The eggs of this bird show 

 very little variation in size, one set of four showing the remarkable 

 varia:tion of only i- 100 of an inch in length and none in breadth, three 

 eggs measuring .64X.50 and one .63X.50. (Figs. 26-28.) 



Nesting Dates. — Dublin, Alameda Co., Calif., April 5; Sonoma, 

 Calif., June 7 {C. W. C.) ; Tacoma, Wash., May 3-May 28 {Bowles). 



Biographical References 



(l) W. L. Finley, The Lutescent Warbler [in Oregon], Condor, VI, 

 1904, 131. 



Dusky Warbler 



VERMIVORA CELATA SGRDIDA (Towns.) 



Suhspecific Characters. — Similar to V. c. lutescens but darker, more heavily 

 tipped above, duskier more strongly streaked below; wing averaging slightly 

 shorter, the bill and tail slightly longer. Wing, 2.20; tail, 2.00; bill, .40. 



General Distribution. — Santa Barbara Islands, California, and 

 adjoining mainland. 



Summer Range. — Santa Barbara Islands. 



Winter Range. — Santa Barbara Islands and adjoining mainland. 

 {GrinnelP.) 



The Bird and its Haunts. — In their summer home on San Qemente 

 Island, GrinnelP says: "Dusky Warblers were quite numerous in the 

 weed-patches and brush along the ravines nearly to the beaches. But 



