414 
WOOD WARBLERS 
more restricted; black chest spots more sharply defined. Young } first 
plumage: upper parts thickly streaked with dusky on brownish gray 
ground; lower rump grayish white, narrowly streaked with dusky ; under 
parts grayish white, streaked. Male: length (skins) 4.80-5.39, wing 2.95- 
3.19, tail 2.09-2.42, bill .39-.43. Female: length (skins) 4.80-5.08, wing 
2.87-3.07, tail 2.13-2.32, bill .39-.43. 
Remarks. — The yellow throat distinguishes the adult Audubon warbler 
from the yellow-rump, and the amount of white on the tail distinguishes 
the young, auduboni having four or five feathers marked with white, coro- 
nata , only two or three. 
Distribution. — Breeds in Canadian and Transition zones from British 
Columbia south to Arizona, and from California to Sioux County, Ne¬ 
braska ; winters from western United States to Guatemala, and eastward 
to western parts of Texas and Kansas; accidental in Massachusetts and 
Pennsylvania. 
Nest. — Usually in pines or spruces, but sometimes in deciduous trees and 
bushes a few feet from the ground, made largely of strips of fine bark and 
pine needles, lined with fine roots, hair, and a few feathers. Eggs : usu¬ 
ally 4, generally olive white or greenish, sparsely spotted and dotted with 
black, brown, and lilac gray. 
Food. — Similar to that of the yellow-rumped warbler. 
The Audubon warbler in its dull, streaked winter dress is a com¬ 
mon winter bird in the warm valleys of the west, and one of the 
commonest in the San Francisco parks. Its flight and all its move¬ 
ments seem to be regulated by gnats, its days one continuous hunt 
for dinner. When insects are scarce it will fly hesitatingly through 
the air looking this way and that, its yellow rump spot always 
in evidence, but when it comes to an invisible gauzy-winged throng 
it zigzags through, snapping them up as it goes; then, perhaps, 
closing its wings it tumbles down to a bush, catches itself, and 
races pellmell after another insect that has caught its eye. In the 
parks it is especially fond of the palm tops frequented by the golden- 
crowned sparrows, and dashes around them in its mad helter-skelter 
fashion. The most straight-laced, conventional thing it ever does is 
to make flycatcher sallies from a post of observation when it has 
caught its insect. If it actually sits still a moment with wings hang¬ 
ing at its sides, its head is turning alertly, its bright eyes keen for 
action, and while you look it dashes away with a nervous quip ' into 
midair, in hot pursuit of its prey. 
Auduboni is so preoccupied with its hunting that it pays little 
heed to observers. At Stanford, in December, when the birds were 
common, one has flown in from the rosebushes to the piazza rail near 
me, looked around for a moment, and then ignoring my presence 
flown down to the floor and gone hopping jauntily about in the 
shadow of the vines looking for insects. 
When spring comes these warblers are off to the mountains, for 
they are true Canadian zone birds. In July we have met them near 
