Nashville Warbler (Vermivora ruhricapUla riihricapilla) 



Range : Breeds in Canadian and Transition Zones from southern Saskatche- 

 wan, northern Ontario, central Quebec, and Cape Breton Island south to 

 Nebraska, northern IlHnois, northern Pennsylvania, northern New Jersey, and 

 Connecticut ; winters from Vera Cruz and Chiapas to Guatemala. 



As Wilson never saw but three individuals of the Nashville warbler, all taken 

 near Nashville, Tennessee, he not unnaturally named his new discovery for that 

 city, apparently believing it to be a local species. Far from being so, however, it 

 is now known to inhabit most of the eastern United States. Without doubt the 

 bird is much more common than it was in Wilson's time, perhaps due to the fact 

 that second growth and areas of low woods, its preferred haunts, have largely 

 replaced the denser forests of the early part of the nineteenth century. One can- 

 not wander far afield in Massachusetts in summer time without hearing its song or 

 songs, since it is not only a frequent and vivacious songster, but has a number of 

 ditties in its repertoire, including a flight song. 



I never found but one nest, and this was on a little pine-wooded knoll in a 

 small depression in the earth, only partially concealed by thin grass. I should 

 never have found it but for the fact that the bird flushed from between my feet. 

 So far as known, the Nashville always nests on the ground. Its preference for the 

 ground as a nesting site is the more remarkable, since the bird rarely or never 

 hunts there, but prefers to seek its insect food among the foliage, often of the 

 tallest elms and chestnuts and other giants of the forest. 



The Calaveras warbler {Vermivora rubicapilla giitturalis) is a form closely 

 allied to the Nashville, but confined chiefly to the Pacific coast, extending eastward 

 to eastern Oregon and northern Idaho. Fisher is quoted by Chapman as saying: 

 "The Calaveras warbler is a characteristic denizen of the chaparral and is found 

 on both slopes of the Sierra Nevadas about as far south as Mount Whitney. It 

 frequents the belts of the yellow, sugar, and Jeffry pines, and ranges up into the 

 red-fir zone. During the height of the nesting season, while the female is 

 assiduously hunting among the dense cover of bushes, the male is often singing in 

 a pine or fir, far above mundane household cares." 



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