WORM-EATING WARBLER. 29 



eating warbler i.s found in summer but rarely outside of the Carolinian 

 life zone. 



Winter range. — The center of abundance in winter is Guatemala, 

 where the species is generally distributed both in the mountains and 

 along the coast. The southernmost record is that of a specimen taken 

 at Santa Fe, Panama. Northward from this point the bird has been 

 taken at San Jose, Costa Rica;" on the island of Bonacca,* off the north 

 coast of Honduras; at Merida, Yucatan, and on the islands of Cozu- 

 mel,^ Cayman Brack/ and Jamaica.^ It is a regular winter resident 

 in Cuba, and a few individuals winter in southern Florida. One of 

 the parties of the Biological Survey found it moderately common at 

 Huehuetan on the coast of Chiapas, Mexico. It has been taken at 

 Orizaba and Jalapa in the temperate region of Vera Cruz, and also 

 along the coast of southeastern Tamaulipas, at Alta Mira.^ The last 

 is the northernmost record in Mexico, and the date — elanuary 26 — 

 indicates that the bird was wintering. The westernmost point at 

 which the species has been noted is Pachuca, Hidalgo,-^ where a few 

 have been seen during the latter part of the winter. There are sev- 

 eral records from the Bahamas, during November, December, and 

 January, and the species was noted on New Providence Island''' by the 

 naturalists of the Albatross from March 23 to April 16 and on the 

 island of Great Abaco^ March 3. One was taken on the island of 

 Great Inagua'^ September 22, 1891. This is to the present time the 

 extreme southeastern record. 



Spring migration. — The northward movement of the worm-eating 

 warbler probabl}" begins in March, as the earliest migrants have been 

 noted at the Tortugas April 5, 1890, and the earliest records of striking 

 at Sombrero Key are April 8, 1887, and April 3, 1889. Records for 

 ten years give the average date of arrival at Raleigh, N. C. , as April 2-1, 

 with extremes of April 19 and April 30. In the mountains at Ashe- 

 ville, N. C. , the average date for four 3^ears was April 21, which shows 

 that the worm-eating warbler is one of the few birds seen in the moun- 

 tains as early as on the plains. Other records of average date of 

 arrival are: White Sulphur Springs and Frenchcreek, W. Va., April 

 28; Washington, Ma}^ 2; Beaver, Pa., May 4; southeastern New York, 

 Ma}^ 7; central Connecticut, Ma}' 11; St. Louis, April 29, and Brook- 

 ville, Ind., April 23. The bird was noted at Taunton, Mass., May 9, 

 1890. The time of arrival on the coasts of Louisiana and Texas is 

 about the same as in southern Florida; the earliest recorded dates are 



«Cherrie, Auk, YIII, p. 278, 1891. /Renardo, O. & O., XI, p. 118, 1886. 



^Salvin, Ibis, p. 246, 1888. (/Ridgway, Auk, VIII, pp. 334, 335, 1891. 



cCory, Auk, VI, p. 31, 1889. ^^Cory, Auk, IX, p. 49, 1892. 



^^ Scott, Auk, X, p. 340, 1893. 

 « Richmond, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., 

 XVIIl, p. 631, 1896. 



