NATURAL HISTORY OF THE SWAINSON'S WARBLER 



39 



Figure 18. — Mature mountain cove hardwood habitat of the Swainson's 

 Warbler near Charleston, Kanawha County, W. Va., May 1965. Tulip 

 poplar is the dominant plant species. 



Allegheny Plateau in West Virginia 



In West Virginia the Swainson's Warbler is best known from 

 the rugged Allegheny Plateau region of the south-central and 

 southwestern part of the State. Studies of its habitats have been 

 concentrated mainly in the Mt. Lookout section of Nicholas County 

 along the Gauley River drainage (Brooks and Legg, 1942), and 

 at Charleston in the Kanawha River area (Sims and DeGarmo, 

 1948). 



In the Mt. Lookout region Brooks and Legg (1942, p. 78-79) 

 found Swainson*s Warblers in virtually all areas containing 

 tangles of rhododendron, mountain laurel (Kalmia latifolia), hem- 

 lock, and American holly. In May 1940 they recorded 10 or 11 

 singing males within 1.5 miles along Franzy Creek, a small branch 

 of Collison Creek. 



On the south side of the Kanawha River, in Donley Hollow, 

 at the edge of the city of Charleston, Eleanor Sims found 18 

 Swainson's Warbler nests during 1945-47 (Sims and DeGarmo, 

 1948, p. 1). This is a rather good indication of the local abundance 

 of the species in this section of the Allegheny Plateau. 



At the foot of the mountain where Donley Hollow meets the 

 floodplain the elevation is only 600 feet. As one travels up the 



