The Ornithologist and Oölogist. Vol. VIII, No. 11, November, 1883 / Birds: Their Nests and Eggs

Note.—The stations and observers, to which these numbers refer, are given in the O. and O. for April.
A group of entirely different habits and of comparatively rare occurrence is composed of the Cape May Warbler, ( P. tigrina ,) Bay-breasted Warbler, ( D. castanea ,) and the Connecticut Warbler, ( O. agilis .) These all leave the United States to winter, and pass entirely beyond it to breed; at least, we know the first two do so, and it is generally supposed that the last does also, although its nest and eggs have never yet been found. No. (30) was the only observer who saw the first two, and he found the Cape May Warbler on the 2d of May, and the Bay-breasted for the first time May 3d, and the last time both male and female were seen on the 21st of that month. Both (30) and (52) observed the Connecticut Warbler, which is the rarest regular migrant in the Mississippi Valley, during the Spring, and on the Fall return seems to shun its Spring course and passes southward through New England. No. (30) saw it on 5-14, 5-18 and the last one 5-24, while (52) procured his first specimen 5-26, and saw it three times afterward, the last being 5-29. Different in habits from the rest of their Warbler brethren are the Warbler Thrushes, the Golden-crowned Thrush, or Oven-bird, ( S. auricapillus ,) the Small-billed Water Thrush, ( S. nævius ,) and the Large-billed Water Thrush, ( S. motacilla .) Their ranges differ widely. The bulk of all of them winter beyond our limits, though a few of the first remain in Florida, and numbers of the second are scattered over all the Southern States and occasionally as far north as Southern Illinois. But while the first two breed over all the Mississippi Valley, the last breeds regularly only to Middle and Northern Illinois and sometimes as far north as Southern Minnesota. The first Golden-crowns reached (30) 4-17, and passing north with medium speed (38) found them about 4-26, (52) 4-28, and (51) on 5-5, while farther west, like the other Warblers, they were somewhat later, appearing at (21) on 5-5, and (45) on 5-6. No. (30) found a nest 5-15, with three eggs and a Cowbird’s, while only three days before they were just beginning to be common at (52), and the height of the season was not until 5-19. The Large-billed was the earliest of the three to migrate, arriving at Southern and Central Illinois about the 10th of April, and at (21) on the 14th, but after that, moving rather slowly, reached its usual northern limit at (41) on 5-10. It will be convenient to study five more Warblers together, not because they migrate at the same time, but because their places of wintering and breeding are the same, and their habits, during migration and even the general appearance of some of them, are alike. He must have sharp eyes who can recognize at sight, while in the trees, the Nashville Warbler, ( H. ruficapilla ,) the Orange-crowned Warbler, ( H. celata ,) and the Tennessee Warbler, ( H. peregrina ;) while the Black-capped Yellow and the Canadian Fly-catching Warblers, ( M. pusillus ) and ( M. canadensis ,) share with them a liking for low shrubs, and are not uncommonly found with them.