rattling cry is quite suggestive of the common notes of these birds. They have 

 one note, however, which is entirely distinctive. It is a labored but singularly 

 penetrating production with a peculiar vowel quality (like a German umulated u), 

 .-^uem or j^eem. At the same time the bird often displays his wing with its 

 sulphur-colored watermark, and speedy recognition follows. 



Cape May Warbler (Dendroica tigrina) 



Range: Breeds in Canadian Zone from southern Mackenzie, northern 

 Ontario, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia south to Manitoba, northern Maine, 

 and New Hampshire, and in Jamaica; winters in the Bahamas and the West 

 Indies to Tobago. 



Not only is the Cape May one of our most beautiful warblers, but its rarity 

 adds greatly to the zest with which one hails the discovery of even an individual. 

 This species, however, is far more numerous even in New England, especially 

 in fall, than it used to be, and in time the bird may even be listed in many of 

 the eastern States as among the more common migrants. 



Although the bulk of the species undoubtedly migrates north through the 

 Mississippi Valley, rarely a spring passes that a few individuals are not reported 

 about Washington, D. C, and I have seen several in a day. At this time of 

 year the Cape May often forsakes the woodlands and appears in orchards or 

 even in city parks, and probably not a season passes that one or more do not 

 visit the Smithsonian or Agricultural Department grounds. Chapman tells us 

 that in Florida he has seen the species ''actually common, feeding in weedy patches 

 among a rank growth of pokeberries." 



The bird is rather a sluggish, but persistent, insect hunter, though it adds to 

 its bill of fare one item, grapes, which is bringing it into ill repute in patts of 

 Pennsylvania and Virginia. The sharp-pointed bill of the Cape May enables it 

 readily to puncture the skin, its apparent purpose being to satisfy its thirst with 

 the sweet juice. 



The Cape May is a persistent songster, but its song is weak and squeaky 

 and by no means worthy of so superb a creature. Comparatively little is recorded 

 of this bird's nesting habits. It is known to summer from northern Maine north- 

 ward. A nest found by Banks at St. Johns, New Brunswick, was built in a 

 cedar less than three feet from the ground. 



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