The Sinffing of Birda. B.P.Bioknell. 



Helminthophila peregrina ( Wils.) Ridgnv. Tennessee 

 Warbler. 



The transient presence of this species, in the upper foliage of 

 the woodland in May, is usually revealed by its attractive songJ^ 

 In the autumn it passes in silence. Auk, I, July, 1884. T?. ijX- 



The Tennessee Warbler destructive to Grapes.— Mr. N. S. 

 Goss, of Neosho I'alls, Kansas, writes me substantially as follows respect- 

 ing an interesting and hitherto unrecorded trait of the Tennessee Warbler 

 (Helminthoplmgaperegnna) : "While visiting my brother, Capt. B. F. Goss, 

 at his home in Pewaukee, Wis., the 13th of September last, he handed me 

 for identification the embalmed bird herewith enclosed, remarking that 

 the birds were very destructive to his grapes, puncturing them with their 

 bills, and eating the pulp, or succulent part of the grapes. I at once pro- 

 nounced the bird to be a young Tennessee Warbler On visiting his 



grounds we found, I should think, about twenty birds scattered singly 

 here and there among the vines. They were very wild and kept continu- 

 ally in motion, uttering now and then a sharp, but not loud chip, as they 

 darted from the grapes into the raspberry-bushes, and when followed they 

 flew to a young grove of timber near by. I succeeded, however, in killing 

 four. I enclose also one of those for your examination." 



" These birds," he further adds, " are likely to prove destructive to the 

 grapes in that latitude (43° and further north), but I think that in their 

 southward migration they do not reach us (latitude 38°) until the grape 

 season is over. I at first thought the grapes thus punctured contained the 

 e<T"S or larva: of some insect ; but examination proved, on the contrary, 

 thlt only the largest and healthiest-looking grapes ^^^^^ attacked." - 

 J. A. Allen, Cambridge, MasBnlL N.O.O. 5. Jan.. 1880. P. • 



Destruction of Birds by the Cold Wave of May 2ist and 22nd. 

 — It seems worthy of note that, judging iTom indications in this vicinity, 

 the destruction of bird life by the recent cold wave must have been very 

 considerable. 



On the morning of May 2ist, a specimen of Helminthophila peregrina 

 was piclved up so nearly chilled to death that it died shortly afterwards. 

 The same was. also true of a specimen of Dendraica fenmylvanica . On 

 the morning of May 22nd, three other specimens of the following species 

 were pickedup here which had apparently died of cold: Dendratca macu- 

 losa, Myiodiocfes pnsillns, and Empidonux minimus. 



These facts suggest that the abundance of bird life may, to a considerable 

 extent, be inliiienced by sudden extreme changes of temperature, as well 

 as by heavy gales.— F. 'i 1. King, J^iver FalU. Wis., May 24. 1S82. 



p. 



. 



siinj A[aii)ua '.lauiiung ui jaqio oq) m '.lojinAV 

 ui gsuo auo ui si)uuoqn pooj ajqtn-'SaA 



pun iTiuiiux! oin loi.iisip ipvo uj ■\{\.io^ ^uaiuop 

 -ui aqi r)Ai:o[ iiiin pidi.nii.id aures aq) u<> 



putuao losuuqd .Suui.uiq am luib suin.ignu 



Cherrie, Birds, San Jose, Costa Rica. 



. Helminthohila peregrina. Recorded the first this fall, October 20. 

 1 series of 15 Tennessee Warblers, taken from the beginning of Septem- 

 llber to the beginning of March, there is not one that is not more or less 

 strongly tinged with greenish yellow, very different from the breeding 

 llbird found in the United States. 



Auk, 8, July .iSSL V.J7i' 



O.&O. X. Mar. 1885. p.Ji^ 



