The Wilson Warblers 



chryseola it is the smallest of our warblers, and during migrations it is one 

 of the commonest, especially east of the Sierras. Pileolata appears in the 

 lowlands of the San Diegan district and upon the great deserts by the 

 middle of April ; but its northern movement is quite leisurely, and loiterers 

 may be encountered anywhere up to June ist, and even later in the north- 

 ern portion of the State. Grinnell surmises that this race breeds in 

 Modoc County, but I failed to find a single example in the Warner Moun- 

 tains between June 7 and July 12; so pending discovery of an actual nest, 

 I must beg to consider the question open. 



Partly because of his unseasonable dalliance, this tiny golden frag- 

 ment becomes one of the most conspicuous of migrants in certain sections. 

 Life is a great adventure anyway, and the migratory flight, undertaken 

 before family cares have become a factor in the bird's life, is a rollicking, 

 care-free quest. The Pileolated Warblers, therefore, range higher in the 

 trees during migration than is their midsummer wont. At the lower levels 

 they swarm over the mesquite of the desert oases, or the willow trees of 

 the river bottoms; and the pines know their coming as well as do the 

 huckleberry thickets, which will ultimately swallow them up in the far 

 north. As they go, they "work" their passage most conscientiously, for as 

 Coues says : : "They peer into the crevices of the bark, scrutinize each leaf, 

 and explore the very heart of the buds, to detect, drag forth and destroy 

 those tiny creatures, singly insignificant, collectively a scourge, which prey 

 upon the hopes of the fruit-grower, and which, if undisturbed, would bring 

 his care to nought." 



No. 100b Golden Warbler 



A. O. U. No. 685b. Wilsonia pusilla chryseola Ridgway. 



Synonym. — Golden Pileolated Warbler (properly so-called, but the bird, 

 because of its local abundance, deserves the shorter name. Moreover, although "golden" 

 is the commonest color among the Warblers, the name has not been pre-empted). 



Description. — "Similar to W. p. pileolata, but slightly smaller and much more 

 brightly colored; olive-green of upperparts much more yellowish, almost olive-yellow 

 in extreme examples; yellow of forehead and superciliary region (especially the former) 

 inclining more or less to orange; yellow of underparts purer, more intense" (Ridgway). 

 Length of adult males (skins) 1 10.5 (4.35); wing 55.4 (2.18); tail 49.1 (1.93); bill 8.3 

 (.327); tarsus 18.2 (.72). 



Recognition Marks. — As in preceding; brighter. 



Nesting. — Nest: A firmly knit, but bulky and often almost spherical mass 

 of felted grasses and mosses, lined with finest grasses, rootlets, moss, or finely shredded 

 bark or hair; set carelessly among ferns, or in low bushes or briary tangles. A splendid 

 moss-ball from Eureka measures 6 inches in width by 5 in depth outside, while the 



'Birds of the Colorado Valley, p. 201. 

 5H 



