The Tennessee Warbler 



parts entirely overlaid with warbler green; underparts sordid yellow (pyrite yellow), 

 shading on sides. Adult female: Similar to adult male, but duller, more sordid, 

 below. In fall and winter correspondingly deeper-toned throughout, sometimes 

 actually dusky on belly. Length of adult male (skins) about 112 (4.41); wing 65 

 (2.56); tail 42 (1.65); bill 9.6 (.38); tarsus 16.8 (.66). Females average a little smaller. 



Recognition Marks. — "Warbler" size; a difficult "warbler green" nondescript. 

 May be distinguished with certainty from the V. celata type in spring only, when the 

 gray crown, whitish underparts, and whitish superciliary stripe may be noted. In 

 fall, note the more sordid, less yellow, underparts, and the usual presence of a super- 

 ciliary line, now yellowish. Smaller than V. celata. 



Nesting. — Does not breed in California. Nest: Low in bushes, or on the 

 ground sunk in moss or crowding vegetation at base of small tree; of weed-fibers, 

 grass, etc., lined with hair. Eggs: 4 to 7, usually 6; white, speckled and wreathed 

 with dull reddish brown and vinaceous gray. A typical set averages 16.3 x 11.9 

 (.64 x .47). Season: June; one brood. 



General Range. — Eastern and northern North America. Breeds in Canadian 

 zone from upper Yukon valley and southern Mackenzie south to southern British 

 Columbia, and east to the Atlantic Coast, including northern New York and New 

 England; winters from Oaxaca to Colombia and Venezuela; migrates chiefly through 

 the Mississippi and eastward with diminishing frequency to the Atlantic seaboard; 

 rare in Cuba and Florida; accidental in California. 



Occurrence in California. — One record: Pasadena, Sept. 27, 1897, by Joseph 

 Grinnell. 



Authorities. — Grinnell, Pasadena Acad. Sci. Pub., no. 2, 1898, p. 45 (Pasadena, 

 Sept. 27, 1897; one spec.) ; Norris, Auk, vol. xix., 1902, p. 88 (desc. habits, nest and eggs; 

 British Columbia). 



ALTHOUGH RATED only "accidental in California" on the basis 

 of a single specimen taken by Mr. Grinnell at Pasadena (Sept. 27th, 

 1897), we cannot help wondering whether the fault has not been rather 

 one of non-recognition on our part than non-occurrence. The Tennessee 

 Warbler breeds in the central mountains of British Columbia; and while 

 it is undoubtedly true that the bulk of the migrants in quitting the Colum- 

 bian Rockies and the Upper Yukon Valley take a sharp southeasterly 

 course to rejoin their fellows from Keewatin and Ungava, it would be 

 passing strange if there were not a certain proportion deflected by the 

 western route. The bird is of that non-committal type with which our 

 thickets are already so well provided ; and since it is also somewhat secre- 

 tive in habit, it might easily pass unnoticed among the throngs of our 

 western migrants. 



Wilson first found this bird on the banks of the Cumberland in Ten- 

 nessee, and promptly named it after their common hostess. Both Wilson 

 and Audubon regarded it as extremely rare, the former having seen but 

 two specimens, and the latter three. Inasmuch as it is now considered 

 one of the common migrants of the Mississippi Valley, one scarcely knows 



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