NATURAL HISTORY OF THE SWAINSON'S WARBLER 17 



10 localities in surrounding Shelby County. These warblers occur 

 regularly in most of the Coastal Plain riverbottoms of western 

 Tennessee and in the Reelfoot Lake area. Men gel (1965, p. 389) 

 reported the species as ''fairly common locally in lowland forests 

 of extreme western Kentucky (Fulton, Hickman, and Ballard 

 Counties), rare and local in swamp forests of the Pennyroyal and 

 Western Highlands." 



The Gulf Coastal Plain extends as far northward as the south- 

 ern tip of Illinois, a short distance above the confluence of the 

 Ohio and Mississippi Rivers. Records from the Coastal Plain of 

 southern Illinois are as follows: Olive Branch, Alexander County, 

 May 15 and 20, 1909, and Reevesville, Johnson County, June 

 21-22, 1909 (Howell, 1910, p. 216) ; Cairo, Alexander County, 

 September 1, 1938, female collected (Ammann, 1939, p. 185-186) ; 

 and DuQuoin, Perry County, a few miles north of the Coastal 

 Plain, June 7, 1907 (Gross, 1908, p. 225). 



The breeding range of the Swainson's Warbler west of the 

 Mississippi Valley is imperfectly known. It has been found during 

 the breeding season as far west as Brazos County, Tex. (Purring- 

 ton, 1966, p. 35) ; and in southeastern Oklahoma (McCurtain 

 County) just beyond the Coastal Plain (Sutton, 1967, p. 491). 



Southern Appalachians 



The Swainson's Warbler breeds in the mountains in south- 

 central West Virginia, perhaps southeastern Ohio, eastern Ken- 

 tucky, southwestern Virginia, eastern Tennessee, western North 

 and South Carolina, and northern Georgia and Alabama. 



In West Virginia, Swainson's Warblers occur mostly on the 

 Allegheny Plateau, west of the main Allegheny ridges. M. G. 

 Brooks and W. C. Legg (1942, p. 78) found the species locally 

 common near Mt. Lookout, Nicholas County, where elevations 

 are between 2,200 feet and 1,300 feet at the Gauley River level. 

 The three principal streams along which Swainson*s Warblers 

 were found are Gauley River; Collison Creek, a tributary of the 

 Gauley ; and Anglins Creek, a tributary of Meadow River. 



The Swainson's Warbler breeds commonly in the mountain 

 ravines opposite Charleston, W. Va., in the Kanawha River Valley. 

 Charleston lies at an elevation of about 600 feet, and the birds 

 are found from the city limits upward. Fifty miles west of 

 Charleston, in the Ohio River Valley, there are records from 

 Huntington, W. Va., (Seeber and Edeburn, 1952) and across the 

 river at Chesapeake, Lawrence County, Ohio (Green, 1947, p. 

 211). M. G. Brooks (1965, p. 281) states that Swainson's War- 

 blers are known from 14 West Virginia counties. 



