430 
WOOD WARBLERS 
with a few specks of black, umber, or rufous-brown at the larger end, *66 x 
*50. Date , Corpus Christi, Tex., Apl. 24; Mercer Co., Ills., May 25. 
This is a common bird in its range, and is locally not uncommon 
as far east as Illinois. “In their food, habits, and actions they are very 
similar to the White-eyed. Their call- and alarm-notes are not quite 
so harsh, and their song is delivered in a less emphatic manner; an 
indescribable sputtering, that does not rank it high in the musical 
scale” (Goss). 
1901. Cary, M., Proc. Neb. Orn. IJn., 46-48 (habits). 
The Bahama Honey Creeper {635. Ccereba bahamensis) was found by 
Dr. Wurdemann in January, 1858, on Indian Key, southeastern Florida, but 
has not, to my knowledge, been taken by subsequent observers. The upper 
parts are sooty black, the rump and middle of the underparts yellow, and a 
line over the eye, the throat, and the lower belly are white or whitish ; length 
about 4*50. 
58. Family Mniotiltiml Wood Warblers. (Fig. 70.) 
The Wood Warblers are found only in America. About one hundred 
and fifty-five species are known, of which fifty-five visit the United 
States, there being nearly twice as many in the Eastern as in the Western 
States. With three or four exceptions, they are inhabitants of wood- 
land, but, during their migrations, may be found in the trees of lawns 
or orchards. They feed almost exclusively upon insects, and are thus 
highly migratory, thousands of miles frequently separating their sum- 
mer and winter homes. 
The majority are among the last of the spring arrivals; their coming 
caps the climax of the migration, and the first severe frost leaves but 
few with us. They migrate by night, and are chief among the victims 
of lighthouses and electric-light towers. When migrating, they are 
generally found in straggling companies composed of a number of species, 
which during the day travel slowly through the woods from tree to tree. 
They capture their insect food in a variety of ways. Some species 
flit actively from branch to branch, taking their prey from the more 
exposed parts of the twigs and leaves; others are gleaners, and care- 
fully explore the under surfaces of leaves or crevices in the bark; while 
several, like Flycatchers, capture a large part of their food on the wing. 
As a rule, they are arboreal, but many are thicket-haunting, and some 
are terrestrial. 
Several species have remarkable vocal ability, but, generally speak- 
ing, they have rather weak voices, and take low rank as songsters. 
Warblers are at once the delight and the despair of field students. 
To the uninitiated, their existence is unknown, and when search reveals 
the before unsuspected fact that our woods are thronged with birds as 
exquisitely colored as the daintiest tropical forms, we feel as though a 
new world were opened to us. Entering an apparently deserted bit of 
woods, we hear faint voices, lisping tseeps, and soon discover that the 
tree tops are animated with flitting forms. What limitless possibilities 
