SYCAMOEE WARBLEK. 85 



no record of its striking at the Florida lighthouses before September 

 13. Gosse records its arrival in Jamaica August 18, and from this 

 early date some writers have thought that it might breed on the island; 

 but in the light of the dates just given it will be seen that Gosse's 

 record corresponds with the migratory movements of the species in 

 Florida and Cuba. As might be expected from the foregoing records, 

 the yellow-throated warbler deserts at an early date its summer home. 

 The last fall bird was reported at Washington September 4, 1890; 

 Asheville, N. C, September 15, 1890; and at Raleigh, N. C, Septem- 

 ber 17, 1886, September 8, 1888, September 12, 1889, September 10, 

 1890, and September 1, 1891. Throughout October the birds strike the 

 Florida lighthouses, and even as late as November 7, 1891, one was 

 killed. The time occupied by the species in its fall migration exceeds 

 the entire period extending from the beginning of the spring migra- 

 tion to the date when its early hatched young are fully fledged. 



663a. Dendroica dominica albilora Ridgw. Sycamore Warbler. 



Breeding range. — The S3'Camore warbler is the western form of the 

 yellow-throated warbler, and is confined in summer principally to 

 the timbered parts of the central and lower Mississippi Valley. The 

 center of abundance is the lower Ohio Valley. Thence the species 

 ranges less commonly to the northern boundary of the Carolinian 

 life zone in West Virginia, Ohio, southern Michigan, and southern 

 Wisconsin, west to southeastern Nebraska and eastern Kansas, and 

 south to eastern Texas. The eastern range is bounded b}^ the Alle- 

 gheny Mountains. The bird breeds throughout its range in the 

 United States except the tropical part of the lower Rio Grande 

 Valley of Texas. The area of the summer home of the sycamore 

 warbler is therefore fairl}^ rectangular and is approximatel}^ 800 miles 

 north and south by 600 miles east and west. 



Winter range. — The sj^camore warbler is one of the few species 

 of the eastern United States found farther west in winter than in 

 summer. But the strangest feature of its life history is its wide 

 longitudinal distribution in winter. Its winter home extends from 

 the Pacific coast of Mexico in Tepic,^ and Colima,^ to Nicaragua^ 

 and Costa Rica/^ a distance of 1,500 miles. It is rare at both these 

 extremes — so rare, indeed, in western Mexico that it was not seen 

 b}^ any of the parties of the Biological Survey, although considerable 

 time was spent in these localities. In winter it is common in south- 

 ern Vera Cruz, Yucatan, and the Atlantic slope of Guatemala, and 



^Lawrence, Mem. Bost. Soc. Nat. Hist., II, p. 270, 1874. 

 &Baird, Rev. Am. Birds, I, p. 209, 1865. 

 ^Richmond, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., XVI, p. 484, X893. 

 ^^Zeledon, Anal. Mus. Nac. C. R., p. 106, 1887. 



