WORM-EATING WARBLER 

 (Helmitheros vermivorus) 



Range : Breeds mainly in the Carolinian 

 Zone from southern Iowa, northern Illinois, 

 eastern and western Pennsylvania, and the 

 Hudson and Connecticut River valleys south 

 to southern Missouri, Tennessee, Virginia, and 

 mountains of South Carolina ; winters from 

 Chiapas to Panama, in Cuba and the Bahamas. 



He who would make the acquaintance of 

 the worm-eating warbler must seek it in its 

 own chosen home, far from which it never 

 strays. It is a bird of shaded hillside and 

 dark thickets along watercourses. Though- 

 nimble in its movements and an active insect 

 hunter, it is. an unobtrusive little warbler, 

 garbed in Very modest colors, and is likely 

 wholly to escape the notice of the unobservant. 



There seems to be an unusual degree of 

 jealousy among the males, and a pair, the 

 hunting and the hunted, are often seen pur- 

 suing a rapid, zigzag flight through trees and 

 bushes. I imagine that in such cases the pur- 

 suing male, whose angry notes show how much 

 in earnest he is, is asserting the right of do- 

 main over his own hunting grounds, and 

 driving from his preserves an intruder. 



Like several of our terrestrial warblers, the 

 Worm-eater has caught the trick of walking, 

 perhaps borrowing it from his thrush neigh- 

 bors, and he rarely or never hops. In his case 

 the term "terrestrial" must be modified by 

 the statement that to a certain extent he is 

 a connecting link between the arboreal mem- 

 bers of the family, as the black-throated green 

 and Tennessee, which descend to the ground 

 only casually, and such species .as the Con- 

 necticut and the Swainson, which seek their 

 food chiefly on the ground. Of the musical 

 ability of the worm-eating warbler little is to 

 be said save that his song is so very feeble that 

 one must listen carefully to hear it at all, and 

 that it much resembles that of our familiar 

 "chippy" when heard a long distance off. 

 This warbler nests on the ground, often on a 

 hillside or in a shallow depression, and the 

 pairs seem so much attached to their old home 

 that they may confidently be looked for in 

 the same place year after year. 



GOLDEN-WINGED WARBLER 

 (Vermivora chi'ysoptera) 



Range : Breeds in Alleghanian Zone from 

 central Minnesota, southern Ontario, and Mas- 

 sachusetts south to southern Iowa, northern 

 Illinois, northern Indiana, northern New Jer- 

 sey, and northern Georgia ; winters from Gua- 

 temala to Colombia. 



Though less gaudily colored than certain 

 others of our warblers, the golden-wing ranks 

 high in the family for beauty, and its trim 

 form and tastefully contrasted tints of gray. 

 black, and yellow may well excite admiration. 

 It is almost wholly limited to eastern States, 

 rarely indeed being found west of the Missis- 

 sippi, and its summer haunts are in the north- 

 ern parts of its range. Though common in 

 some localities, the golden-wing in most places 



is sufficiently rare always to interest the bird 

 observer, and in Massachusetts if several are 

 heard or seen in a long tramp the day may well 

 be esteemed a red-letter day. The bird is to 

 be looked for in deciduous timber, and is espe- 

 cially fond of elms and birches as hunting 

 grounds. I have often seen it busy in elms so 

 high up that only with difficulty could it be dis- 

 tinguished from the Tennessee, Nashville, and 

 other strikingly different warblers in company 

 with it. Like the blue-wing, it has the habit of 

 clinging to .the tip of a branch or cluster of 

 flowers, back downward, examining the spot 

 with the most exact scrutiny. 



Once heard, its song is not to be forgotten 

 nor mistaken for that of any other warbler, 

 unless possibly the blue-wing. It possesses a 

 buzzing, insectlike quality and is well repre- 

 sented to my ears by the syllables ze-ze-ze-ze, 

 the latter notes in a higher pitch. It seems 

 strange that a bird so distinctly arboreal in 

 habits should choose to nest on the ground ; 

 but numerous nests of the golden-wing have 

 been found, all of them practically on or a few 

 inches from the earth, though usually sup- 

 ported by weed stalks or grass stems. 



ORANGE-CROWNED WARBLER 



(Vermivora celata celata) 



Range: Breeds in lower Hudsonian and Can- 

 adian Zones from Kobuk River, Alaska, south- 

 east to central Keewatin and Manitoba, and 

 south locally in the Rocky Mountains to New 

 Mexico ; winters in the Gulf and South Atlan- 

 tic States to South Carolina and south through 

 Mexico to Mount Orizaba. 



The orange-crowned warbler is much better 

 known as a migrant, especially a fall migrant, 

 than as a summer resident. Its summer home, 

 in fact, is so far north that it is beyond the 

 ken of most observers, although the bird occa- 

 sionally summers, and no doubt nests, in 

 Maine and Wisconsin. Seton found it a com- 

 mon summer resident in Manitoba; Kennicott 

 discovered it nesting about the Great Slave 

 Lake among clumps of low bushes; while Nel- 

 son found it common in summeY in the wooded 

 regions of northern Alaska. 'Eprjsome reason 

 or other of late years the orange-crown seems 

 to be a much commoner migrant in Massa- 

 chusetts, and perhaps generally" iri New Eng- 

 land, than formerly, and the sight of three or 

 four in a day occasions no great surprise. It 

 winters in Florida and in other of the South 

 Atlantic States, and the cause of its rarity in 

 the Eastern States in spring is due to the fact 

 that it migrates up the Mississippi Valley. The 

 orange-crown is one of the most plainly col- 

 ored of the warbler tribe, and there is little 

 about it to attract the notice of the casual 

 observer. The song is said to consist of a 

 few sweet. trills, and, as is the case with the 

 ditties of so many of its kind, has been likened 

 to that of the familiar little "chippy." 



BLUE-WINGED WARBLER (Vermivora 

 pinus) 



(For text, see page 311) 



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