48 



NORTH AMERICAN FAUNA 69 



nearly 6 acres, and that of another nearly 4 acres (table 2). The 

 overlapping territories occupied by the same Dismal Swamp male 

 in 1966, 1967, and 1968 (fig. 20) contained 4.8, 1.7, and 1.6 acres 

 respectively. In contrast, territories in the floodplain forest cane- 

 brakes seldom exceeded 1 acre. In two Dismal Swamp territories, 

 only a part of each defended area was suitable for feeding and 

 nesting; whereas in the canebrakes virtually all of the defended 

 area was utilized for feeding. The "excess" area of the Dismal 

 Swamp territories is used mainly for singing, but it is also 

 defended. 



Sometimes in discontinuous habitat a male may occupy a split 

 territory or a territory composed of separate segments. One such 

 territory in Monkey John Swamp, a few miles north of Savannah, 

 Ga., had three segments. Two of the segments were on opposite 

 sides of a cypress (Taxodium distichum) pond; the third was 

 across a road from the pond. The occupied segments totaled 0.6 

 acre (table 2). 



Table 2. — Size of Swainson's Warbler territories 



Size 



Locality (acres) Reference 



Ocmulgee River bottom, Bibb County, Ga. 0.3 .-Meanley, 1969, p. 247. 



Monkey John Swamp, Jasper County, S.C 0.6 Do. 



Savannah River bottom, Richmond County, Ga. 0.72... .Griscom and Sprunt, 1957, p. 51. 



Do 0.79 Do. 



Ocmulgee River bottom. Bibb County, Ga. 0.83 - Do. 



Little River Swamp, Tift County, Ga. 0.91 Do. 



Dismal Swamp, Nansemond County, Va. 1.7 ....Meanley, 1969, p. 247. 



Do. 3.9 Do. 



Do 4.8 Do. 



Males may remain in the same area for most of the summer. 

 One marked Arkansas male occupied the same territory for at 

 least 4 months (April 15 to August 15). Six males occupied the 

 same territories in my Dismal Swamp study area from April 20 

 to at least June 30, the date of my last visit that season. 



However, shifting of boundaries takes place from time to time, 

 and the size and shape of territories change. In the Dismal Swamp 

 where Swainson's Warblers have plenty of room to spread out 

 because of low population densities, and where territories are 

 seldom contiguous, a territory may retain its identity throughout 

 the breeding cycle. 



During various phases of the breeding cycle different parts of 

 the territory may receive major use, but the original territory 



