MYRTLE WARBLER 145 



In the spring the Myrtle Warbler is often found in the woods, 

 but in autumn it is rather a bird of bushy second growths, scrubs, 

 and hedgerows, where its characteristic tchip and the flash of its 

 yellow rump seem as much a part of the season as the peek of 

 White-throated Sparrows or twitter of Juncos. Especially is it 

 to be found in numbers where the myrtle or bayberries — after 

 which it is named — flourish; the supply of these berries gener- 

 ally determining the bird's presence or absence, during the winter. 

 At this season insects' eggs or larvae are also eaten, the bird 

 at times frequenting our homes to glean from the cocoons placed 

 in sheltered crevices about our buildings. 



In the summer the Myrtle Warbler dwells in coniferous growths. 

 Gerald Thayer writes that it is "a regular breeder in the Monadnock 

 region, common among the scattered spruces on the mountain's rocky 

 ridge, and on the higher of the neighboring hills, but uncommon in 

 the intervening lower country (1,500-1000 feet). During both migra- 

 tions it is by long odds our most abundant Warbler, — everywhere, 

 high and low. A big, brisk, tame, restless Warbler ; the first to reach 

 Monadnock in the spring and the last to leave in the fall. It ranges 

 from the ground and low bushes to tree-tops, in scrub-lands and half- 

 open woods, avoiding the deep forests. Recognizable even in dingiest 

 immature plumage by its neatly-defined bright yellow rump." ( Thayer, 

 MS.) 



In Louisiana, in winter, Allison states that "open woods, prefer- 

 ably not of coniferous trees, are its typical haunts; but the bare, open 

 fields, the thick roadside hedge of Cherokee rose or Osage orange — in 

 both of which these birds roost in large numbers — the weeds and 

 shrubs in neglected city lots; the trees and shrubbery of yards and 

 parks, all invite Myrtle Warblers. Perhaps the place where a Wood 

 Warbler is least to be expected is the sandy sea-beach ; but along the 

 shores of the Gulf I have often seen them flitting along, alighting 

 sometimes on the sand, sometimes on half-buried logs and posts. 

 They make frequent fly-catching excursions from these perches, after 

 the manner of the American Redstart." {Allison, MS.) 



Song. — The Myrtle Warbler has an easily recognizable and 

 characteristic tchip or tchep, which, once learned, readily identifies the 

 species. (But see also under D. cerulea.) 



"Two call-notes are common; the first, serving to announce the 

 arrival of the bird in fall, and used through much of the winter — not 

 at all or but little, in spring — is uttered in flight. It resembles the syl- 

 lable sweet uttered with rising inflection. The second is of rather 



