The Townsend Warbler 



the black streaks thickening and merging with black of chest in front, scattering on 

 flanks, and reappearing on under tail-coverts; upper sides and flanks and remaining 

 underparts, posteriorly, white as to ground; back, scapulars and rump yellowish olive- 

 green (warbler green), sharply streaked with black, shading into black of head on hind- 

 neck; longer upper tail-coverts abruptly bluish gray; wings and tail blackish with 

 some edgings of light gray; two white wing-bars formed by tips of middle and greater 

 coverts; three outer pairs of tail-feathers blotched with white on inner webs in de- 

 scending ratio. Bill black with paler tomia; feet and legs brown; iris brown. Adult 

 male in fall and winter: Scarcely different; the black areas only suggestively veiled, 

 that of the throat by scanty yellow tips, that of the pileum by warbler green. [Note: 

 This characterization is based on four California-taken specimens in the Museum of 

 Vertebrate Zoology, and bearing dates of Nov. 25, Dec. 31, Jan. 6, and Jan. 22, re- 

 spectively. The description given under this head by Ridgway (Birds of N. & M. 

 America, Bull. 50, U. S. N. M., Pt. ii., p. 560) and others applies only to first year 

 males.] Adult female: Much like adult male, but black areas somewhat restricted 

 and much reduced in intensity; black spottings of back nearly obsolete; pileum chiefly 

 warbler green, upon which black appears mesially as streaks; cheek-patch olive-green; 

 throat chiefly yellow; the black of chest greatly reduced, appearing only as irruptive 

 patches and streaks. Immature male: Similar to adult female, but blacks every- 

 where a little more prominent, less veiled. Length about 127 (5.00). Av. of 10 adult 

 males in M. V. Z. colls: wing 66.5 (2.62); tail 53.4 (2.10); bill 9.5 (.37); tarsus 19.3 

 (.76). Av. of 10 adult females: wing 63.3 (2.49); tail 50.4 (1.98); bill 9.5 (.37); tarsus 

 18.4 (.72). 



Recognition Marks. — Warbler size; black on crown, cheeks, and throat of 

 adult male. Female and young exhibit same pattern with blacks reduced, or changed to 

 olive-green. Note breast yellow in contrast with Dendroica virens. Crown black or 

 olive-green, and superciliary yellow, in contrast with D. magnolia (which is warbler 

 blue on top of head). 



Remark. — Mr. Swarth has called my attention to the close resemblance in color 

 pattern between Dendroica townsendi and D. nigrescens. If with townsendi as a base, 

 one should substitute warbler blue for warbler green, and white for yellow (with the 

 retention of a single spot over the lores), he would have an almost exact replica of 

 D. nigrescens. Not impossibly there is a real phylogenetic hint here. 



Nesting. — Not known to breed in California. Nest: Of coarse and fine weed- 

 stems and grasses, lined with fine grasses, flower-stems or horsehair; settled rather loose- 

 ly upon horizontal pine or fir branch at any height, or nestled near trunk in top of 

 evergreen sapling. Eggs: 4 or 5; white, speckled and spotted, chiefly about larger end, 

 with reddish brown and dark brown. Av. size, 15.2 x 12.7 (.60 x .50) (Reed). 



General Range. — Western North America. Breeds from Prince William 

 Sound and the Upper Yukon, south to Washington and western Montana; winters 

 regularly from central California to Guatemala, and sparingly north to Puget Sound. 

 Migration includes western Texas and several of the Rocky Mountain states. 



Distribution in California. — A winter resident in west central California; of 

 regular occurrence from Marin County south to Santa Barbara; more sparingly through- 

 out the San Diego district, including the Santa Barbara Islands. Also a common 

 migrant through southern and interior California. Dr. Grinnell's surmise (Condor, 

 vol. vii., 1905, pp. 52-53) that we have here two geographical races is probably a valid 

 one. According to this authority, the winter resident birds have shorter wings, and 

 hail from the northwest coast district; the longer- winged migrants which pass in 

 numbers in late April and up to mid-May, have spent the winter in the remoter South, 



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