618 
BIRDS OF NEW MEXICO 
Rosa, 4,600 feet (Bailey); Silver City, 6,000 feet, May 1-27, 1884 (Marsh); Dog 
Spring, Grant [Hidalgo] County, 4,800 feet, May 24, 1892 (Mearns); Shiprock, 5,500 
feet, common in May, 1907 (Gilman); and at the head of the Mimbres, 6,500 feet, 
common at first but soon became scarce, May 11-30, 1906 (Bailey). 
Fall migration is in full swing by the last of August, though the species is most 
common in September. Two were taken September 11,1913, near Koehler Junction 
(Kalmbach); it was noted east to Johnson Mesa, near Folsom, September 12, 1903 
(Howell); to Coyote Creek, near Black Lake, September 8, 1903, and on August 12, 
1903, as high as 11,600 feet, at the foot of Pecos Baldy, with a mixed flock of fall 
migrants (Bailey). 
It probably does not winter in New Mexico. The last was seen near Willis 
September 22, 1883 (Henshaw); it was still common September 30, 1903, at Lucero 
Creek (Bailey); [two or three were noted October 2, 1916, at White Water Creek 
(Skinner) 1; it was common October 1-12, 1908, in the higher parts of the Chuska 
Mountains (Birdseye); October 5, 1915, at Chloride (Ligon); common to October 8, 
1902, at Santa Rosa (Gaut); one at Espanola, October 16, 1904, and the last at 
Glenwood, November 2, 1906 (Bailey). 
In the spring migration, its return was noted at Cooney April 9, 1889, and at 
Carlisle, April 17, 1890 (Barrcll); also at Silver City April 5, 1914 (Kellogg); at 
Rinconada May 3, 1904 (Surber); and at Willis, May 2, 1900 (Birtwell); great 
numbers were seen 1 to 3 miles north of Albuquerque, May 3, 1920 (Ligon) ].— 
W. W. Cooke. 
Nest. —Usually in pines, firs, or spruces 20 to 50 feet from the ground, but also 
in deciduous trees and bushes only a few feet from the ground; sometimes bulky, 
made variously of twigs, strips of bark, weed stems, rootlets, moss, and dried grass, 
lined with fine grasses or horsehair and relatively large feathers. Eggs: Usually 4, 
dull white to greenish or bluish white, spotted and blotched with olive-brown, lilac 
and lavender, sparingly or boldly, but usually more or less wreathed around the 
larger end. 
Food. —Nearly 85 per cent insects and spiders and about 15 per cent weed seed 
and wild or belated fruit. The insects include ants, gnats, and other flies, one-sixth 
of the whole food; bugs, one-fifth of the food, including black olive scale, plant lice, 
leaf hoppers and tree hoppers; caterpillars, and snout beetles. It devours an “im¬ 
mense number” of ants. “It must be evident to the most casual reader that this bird 
is a valuable asset in the orchard and garden” (Beal). 
General Habits. —Great numbers of the active gnat-catching 
Audubon Warblers with their yellow throats and rumps were seen by 
us in the trees and bushes bordering Lucero Creek in the mountains 
above Taos, the last of September. In the sunny mornings they 
seemed to be everywhere, from the bushes to the tree tops, uttering 
their characteristic tchip as they flew. They busied themselves mainly 
picking up tidbits from the branches of the trees at this time, probably 
because, with snow on the mountains above, there were not many 
aerial insects left for them to catch. 
Earlier in September we had found them common in the Jemez 
Mountains above Santa Clara, at and above 10,000 feet; on stony 
ridges and among pine woods in Valle Santa Rosa and Jemez Canyon; 
and on the top of the San Mateo Mountains. 
