GOLDEN- WINGED WARBLEE. 35 



642. Helminthopliila chrysoptera (Linn.)- Golden-winged Warbler. 



Breeding range. — The bulk of the golden-wing-ed warblers breed 

 in an area rather restricted, but the summer home of the species 

 as a whole is quite extended. The center of abundance is Michigan, 

 lower Ontario, and northern Wisconsin. A few individuals pass 

 westward to eastern Minnesota, and accidental visitants have been 

 noted at Winnipeg, Manitoba. The species breeds sparingl}" in north- 

 ern Illinois, northern Indiana, and extends eastward through New 

 York to southeastern New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut, 

 and northern New Jersey. The southern limit of the breeding range, 

 which is not well settled, takes a southerly dip in the mountains from 

 Pennsylvania to northern Georgia, where at 2,000 to 4,000 feet eleva- 

 tion the bird is locally almost as common as in Michigan. The sum- 

 mer range thus coincides almost exactly with the Alleghenian zone, 

 marking the golden-winged warbler as one of the few species whose 

 breeding range is practicalh^ confined to the zone. 



Migration range. — The species is recorded as occurring in eastern 

 Missouri and eastern Iowa in migration, but it is not 3-et known in 

 Kansas, and the earlier records of its appearance in Nebraska are not 

 corroborated by later observations. One accidental occurrence in New 

 Mexico has been recorded. 



Winter range. — The records show that most golden- winged warblers 

 spend at least five months of the year in the mountains of Central and 

 South America, though a few occur along ' the coast. The principal 

 winter home seems to extend from southern Nicaragua to Costa Rica, 

 Panama, and Colombia. The species has been noted in winter in north- 

 ern Guatemala at Vera Paz above 4,000 feet. It has not been recorded 

 as occurring in Honduras or western Nicaragua and is rare in Mexico, 

 as shown b}^ the fact that it has never been taken there by an}" of the 

 parties of the Biological Survey. One of Gould's specimens in the 

 National Museum is marked Mexico; Renardo records a few seen in 

 the winter season of 1885-86 at Campeche and Merida,^ and a single 

 specimen was taken by A. E. Colburn at Paso Nuevo, Vera Cruz, 

 March 16, 1901. These are the only records of the occurrence of the 

 bird in Mexico. There is but one record of its occurrence in Cuba, 

 this being in April. 



In Costa Rica it was noted in September, 1889, and October, 1890, 

 at San Jose,* and in the fall of 1895 on the west slope of the moun- 

 tains at 1,400 to 2,000 feet/ It is uncommon in winter along the coast 

 of southeastern Nicaragua, ^^ where, however, specimens were taken 

 November 5, 1892. In Panama it has been taken quite frequentl}^, 



«Eenardo, O. & 0., XI, p. 118, 1886. 



& Cherrie, Auk, VII, p. 335, 1890; YIII, p. 278, 1891. 



c Underwood, Ibis, p. 433, 1896. 



(^Richmond, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., XVI, p. 483, 1893. 



