298 BIRDS OF ALABAMA 



earliest record of its arrival in spring is on March 26, 1890, at 

 Greensboro, Dr. Avery having taken a specimen on that date. 

 Others were taken there May 10, 1887 and August 14, 1890. 

 McCormack found the bird in small flocks at Leighton be- 

 tween August 8 and September 9, 1889 and Saunders found 

 it locally common at Woodbine between April 10 and June 3, 

 1908.J Graves reports it as a rare migrant on Sand Moun- 

 tain, seen April 22, 1911. I found it common in niigration at 

 Lock 14, Warrior River, April 6 ; Squaw Shoals, April 11 and 

 12 (1912) ; Muscle Shoals, April 22 to 25 (1914) ; and on 

 Sipsey Fork, near Mellville, May 1 to 5 (1914) ; several were 

 heard at Florence, May 5 (1912). 



In the breeding season I have observed it at Erin, Monte 

 Sano, Guntersville, Squaw Shoals, Tuscaloosa, and Autauga- 

 ville. At Guntersville it was common in heavy deciduous tim- 

 ber along Short Creek, but at the other localities was rather 

 rare. Holt took an immature bird and heard several songs 

 of this species at Ardell, June 27, 1913, and Peters noted a 

 few in the same locality in June, 1914. So far as known, the 

 nest of this warbler has never been found in Alabama. 



General habits. — This handsome little sky-blue warbler is a 

 lover of heavily timbered river bottoms and moist mountain 

 slopes, and, as it spends most of its time in the very tops of 

 the tallest trees, it is rarely seen unless the observer is par- 

 ticularly looking for it. In migration, however, it often 

 descends to the lower branches. It has a cheerful, melodious 

 song, which greatly resembles one of the songs of the parula 

 warbler. Langille renders it: "rheet, rheet, rheet, rheet, 

 ridi, idi-e-e-e-e-ee," beginning with several soft, warbling 

 notes, and ending in a rather prolonged but quite musical 

 squeak. The nest is described as "saddled on a horizontal 

 limb of considerable size, some distance from the tree, and 

 some forty or fifty feet from the ground."* 



Food habits. — Examination of 4 stomachs of this species 

 taken in Alabama showed the food to consist of Hymenoptera, 

 beetles, weevils, and caterpillars. 



iSaanders, A. A., The Auk, vol. 26, p. 422, 1908. 

 •Langille, J. H., Op. cit., p. 826, 1884. 



