WARBLERS 287 



and on the Tensaw River, a short distance below Mount Ver- 

 non, Peters collected another, May 27, 1914, this being the 

 sixth specimen taken in the State. This bird was probably 

 breeding, but no female was seen. L, S. Golsan reports see- 

 ing an immature individual of this species near Autaugaville, 

 August 26, 1912, and a female which seemed to be nesting near 

 Prattville, May 21, 1916. He also heard one singing at Long- 

 vie?7, April 7, 1917. In Bear Swamp, near Autaugaville, May 

 25, 1919, E. G. Holt discovered a nest and 4 fresh eggs of this 

 warbler — the first ever found in the State.* 



General habits. — This warbler is a lover of timbered 

 swamps, but is sometimes found in dry, upland situations. It 

 is not a conspicuous bird, and by reason of this and its fond- 

 ness for almost inaccessible swamps it is often overlooked and 

 may be more widely distributed than is supposed. It lives 

 chiefly in the "lower stories" of the woods and is usually not 

 at all suspicious of man. A male observed near Autaugaville 

 in April, sat quietly on a limb of a tree and sang with great 

 regularity for 15 or 20 minutes while I was vainly trying to 

 locate him. Finally I discovered him almost above me, about 

 15 feet above the water. The song is a short, simple, buzzing 

 trill, rapidly repeated on one tone. It resembles the song of 

 the worm-eating warbler in form, but has more the quality 

 of that of the parula warbler. 



On Sipsey Fork, in the hill country of Winston County, we 

 found two individuals in a region quite different from the 

 usual habitat of the species. The first was shot from a little 

 clump of willows bordering a field on the river bank, and the 

 second was found in heavy timber a few hundred yards down- 

 stream, at a point where the hills rise abruptly from the 

 water's edge, the region being practically devoid of the 

 swamps usually favored by this warbler. This bird was ex- 

 tremely tame and at times came within 15 feet of the observer. 

 Both this and the one observed by Peters in Bear Swamp 

 had the habit of singing on the wing, the song being delivered 

 just before the bird alighted on a perch after a short flight. 

 The flight on such occasions strongly resembles that of the 

 Acadian flycatcher (Empidormx virescens). 



•HoK, E. G., The Auk, vol. 37, PP. 103-104, 1920. 



