280 BIRDS OF ALABAMA 



WOOD WARBLERS: Family Compsothlypidae.* 



BLACK AND WHITE WARBLER: Mniotilta varia 

 (Linnaeus) . 



State records. — ^The black and white warbler (fig. 21), 

 sometimes known as the black and white creeper, is a common 

 migrant and a moderately common summer resident in the 

 northern half of Alabama (fig. 22). It is recorded in the 

 breeding season at Florence, Leighton, Elkmont, Sand Moun- 

 tain, Guntersville, Woodbine, Talladega Mountains, Ardell, 

 Autaugaville, and Greensboro. 



Migrants from the south arrive by the middle of March, 

 having been noted at Coosada, March 13; Woodbine, March 

 14; Shelby, March 18; Sand Mountain (near Carpenter), 

 April 1 ; and Leighton, April 9. In fall, migrating birds have 

 been observed at Leighton, October 2; Autaugaville, October 

 16 ; and Castleberry, October 10. Eggs were taken by Grolsan 

 near Autaugaville, April 25, 1891, and Holt saw a pair of the 

 birds feeding large young on Gunters Mountain, June 17, 1913. 



General habits. — This warbler lives chiefly in deciduous 

 woodland and is rarely seen away from its favorite habitat. 

 In habits it resembles the creepers but structurally is a true 

 warbler. Its mode of progression is by a series of hops by 

 which it ascends the trunk or limbs of a tree, often in a spiral 

 course, searching in the crevices of the bark for its insect food. 

 It clings with ease to the under side of a branch after the man- 

 ner of the nuthatch. Its song, though not loud, is incisive 

 and easily recognized. Langille writes it : "Ki-tsee, ki-tsee, 

 ki-tsee, ki-tsee, as slender to the ear as 'hair-wire' to the eye 

 * * *."t The second syllable of each note is strongly ac- 

 cented. 



The nest is placed on the ground in deciduous woods, at the 

 base of a tree, bush, or stump, or beside a log or stone; it is 

 quite bulky and sometimes partially roofed over. 



Food habits. — According to Forbush this species feeds on 

 wood-boring insects, bark beetles, click beetles, curculios. 



•Mniotiltidae of the A. O. U. Check-liat; for change of name see The Auk. vol. 87, 

 p. 444. 1920. 



fLangille, J. H., Our birda in their haunta, p. 276, 18S4. 



