BULLETIN 



OF THE 



Michigan Ornithological Club 



Published QaARTKRLY ix TifE Interests of Ornithology 



IN THE Great Lake Region. 



Vol. V. MARCH, 1904. No. 1. 



DISCOVERY OF THE BREEDING AREA OF KIRTLAND'S 



WARBLER. 



NORMAN A. WOOD. 



Early in June, 1903, the Museum assistant, Mr. E. H. Frothingham, 

 with a friend, Mr. T. G. Gale, went to Oscoda County, Michigan, to fish the 

 An Sable river. On one of their short trips Mr. Frothingham, who is an 

 experienced held ornithologist, heard a bird song which he did not recog- 

 nize. Mr. Gale shot the bird. The skin was preserved and was found on 

 their return to be a male Dendroica kirtlandi. It was labeled "4 mile plains 

 north of the Au Sable. T. G. Gale, June loth, 1903." On questioning Mr. 

 Frothingham with regard to this bird, he said : 'Tt was there in sOme 

 numbers and in full song. The song and the bird were new to me and I 

 thought best to secure a specimen by which to identify it." I asked him 

 why he did not take more, and he said 'T knew they had nests and hated to 

 take breeding birds. I never thought of its being J^irtland's Warbler." 

 This is not to be wondered at on account of its rarity. 



In many discussions on this subject Mr. A. B. Covert and I had decided 

 that this bird would be found breeding in north Michigan. I was of the 

 opinion that it bred in the Upper Peninsula, north of Mackinac. He said, 

 "If it were not for the Mackinac record I should also look for it in the 

 Canadian zone of the Lower Peninsula." Time has shown his assertion to 

 be correct, and I believe more time will also confirm my opinion. Mr. A. W. 

 Butler (Birds of Indiana, p. 1072), says: "The summer home of this 

 warbler would seem to be northern Michigan and Wisconsin." This is the 

 only record I have found expressing this opinion. ♦ 



When I saw this skin of Kirtland's Warbler, taken in northern Michi- 

 gan, I concluded there was its summer home, and there it would be found 

 breeding. I took the skin to the Curator, Mr. Chas. C. Adams, who also 

 saw the importance of the discovery, and the necessity of sending a man 

 to the spot at once I was honored with this commission, and at 4 :45 

 P. M. of June 20th, T boarded the Toledo, Ann Arbor and Northern 

 R. R. train, bound for Roscommon, in the extreme north of that county. 

 I arrived at this old lumber town at 4 A. M. June 30th, after a tedious 



