Introduction 



The Swainson's Warbler (Limnothlypis swainsonii) is one of 

 the least known of songbirds in the southern United States and 

 one that is widely sought by bird enthusiasts. It is unusually 

 appealing to the student of birds because it is hard to find, be- 

 cause its forbidding habitat is challenging, and because it is as- 

 sociated with the Audubon-Bachman period of North American 

 ornithology. 



The difficulty of becoming well acquainted with the Swainson*s 

 Warbler has been noted by a number of field ornithologists. In the 

 Alabama River bottoms, Arthur H. Howell of the U.S. Biological 

 Survey reported (1928, p. 284-285) it as confined to the deep 

 swamps and riverbottom woods where canebrakes occur, and re- 

 marked that its secretive habits conceal it from all but the most 

 persistent observers. In the big swamps above Mobile in May 

 1911, July 1913, and May 1914 he heard at least nine of these 

 warblers, but because of the impenetrable vegetation was unable 

 to collect any. 



Maurice G. Brooks, Professor of Wildlife Management at West 

 Virginia University, and his coworker W. C. Legg (Brooks and 

 Legg, 1942, p. 81) found this elusive warbler extremely difficult 

 to observe in the dense shadows of the "rhododendron hells" of 

 the Alleghenies : 



With their neutral brown coloration, their rapid movements, and their ap- 

 parent liking for the centers of the thickets, they seemed to blend imper- 

 ceptibly into their surroundings. 



While the remarks of Sprunt and Chamberlain (1949, p. 435) 

 are generally true — that ''Swainson's Warbler remains today one 

 of the few land birds really difficult to find and study" — ^there are 

 times when it can be observed at closer range than almost any 

 other songbird. It is not a very suspicious bird. It seems hard to 

 find chiefly because of the character of its habitat. 



The bird student seeking this species in a briery-viny entangle- 

 ment or canebrake disrupts the peaceful atmosphere of the bird's 

 home, naturally frightening it. Or perhaps it is the never-ending 

 wall of nearly impenetrable vegetation between the observer and 

 the bird that discourages one. But in some habitats, when the 



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