2. THE BLACK-POLL WARBLER
Length: About 5 inches.
Male: A black crown and white cheeks, giving the effect of a black cap pulled down over the eyes; throat and belly white; back and sides gray, streaked with black; two white wing-bars; two outer tail-feathers with white spot near tip.
Female: Olive-green above, streaked with black; breast and sides with yellowish wash.
Range: Widely distributed; common in the East during migration. Breeds in the forests of Alaska and north-central Canada, in Michigan, northern Maine, and the mountains of New Hampshire and Vermont.
Black-poll Warblers are similar in coloring to the black-and-white warblers, but are duller and less striking in appearance. In the breeding season, father, mother, and young differ in plumage, though a practiced eye may see resemblances, but in the fall they don coats so similar that they seem to have adopted a family costume.
The migration of black-poll warblers is interesting. Dr. Wells W. Cooke says: “All black-poll warblers winter in South America. Those that are to nest in Alaska strike straight across the Caribbean Sea to Florida and go northwestward to the Mississippi River. Then the direction changes and a course is laid almost due north to northern Minnesota, in order to avoid the treeless plains of North Dakota. But when the forests of the Saskatchewan are reached, the northwestern course is resumed, and, with a slight verging toward the west, is held until the nesting site in Alaska spruces is attained.”[141]
GROUP THREE—THE BLACK, WHITE, AND YELLOW WARBLERS
1. THE MYRTLE WARBLER
OR
YELLOW-RUMPED WARBLER
Length: A little over 5½ inches, one of the larger warblers.
Male: The grayish upper parts, white under parts, (both streaked with black), and the black cheeks of the Myrtle Warbler remind one of the Black and White Creeping Warbler. Its four patches of yellow,—on the crown, rump, and on each side are distinctive. The wings and tail are brownish-gray; wings, with two white bars; tail with graduated patches of white near end of outside feathers; white throat and belly.
Female: Browner above; breast less heavily streaked with black.
Notes: The notes and song of this warbler are described by Mr. Forbush as follows: “The Myrtle Warbler has a variety of notes, but the one usually uttered spring and fall is a soft chirp or chup, which, at a little distance, exactly resembles the sound produced by a large drop of water as it strikes the ground or leaf-mold. These sounds are so similar that after storms in the woods I have often found it difficult to distinguish the note of this warbler from the splash of the large drops that were still falling from the trees. The song is a rather weak warble, very sweet, and often of long duration.... It has quite as many variations as the song of any warbler that I now recall.”[142]
Range: Breeds in the forest-belt of Canada and Alaska, south to Minnesota, Michigan, New Hampshire, Maine, Vermont, Massachusetts, and the mountains of New York, winters from Kansas, New Jersey, southern New England to West Indies, Mexico, and Panama, and from central Oregon to southern California.
The Myrtle or Yellow-rumped Warbler is found in North America except in the western United States. It is so abundant and so distinctly marked as to be better known than many warblers. “Trim of form and graceful of motion, when seeking its food it combines the methods of the wrens, creepers, and flycatchers. This bird is so small and nimble that it successfully attacks insects too minute to be prey for larger birds. Flies are the largest item of food; in fact only a few flycatchers and swallows eat as many flies as this bird.”[143]
The Myrtle Warbler is especially fond of bayberries and may be found, even in winter, where these berries are to be obtained. New Jersey and Cape Cod are favorite feeding places.