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.
2. THE MAGNOLIA WARBLER
Length: About 5 inches.
Male: Smaller than the Myrtle Warbler, and at first glance, not unlike it in appearance, because each bird has a yellow rump, a striped breast, dark gray upper parts, and back and breast streaked with black. The head of the Magnolia Warbler, however, has no yellow patch, but a broad white line over the eye, black cheeks and forehead, and yellow under parts, (instead of white), which are heavily streaked with black. The wings have large white patches instead of bars; the tail is black, with a broad white band extending across the middle,—a distinguishing mark.
Female: Similar to male, but duller.
Song: “It is one of our full-voiced warblers, the song resembling the syllables wee-to, wee-to, wee-a-tee or witchi, witchi, witchi, tit, witchi-tit, witchi-tit, witchi-tit, the first four words deliberate and even, the last three hurried and higher pitched.... The song is louder than the yellow warbler’s.”[144]
Habitat: “Throughout the migration season, the Magnolia warbler is common throughout our orchards and shade trees, as well as woodlands.... In its nesting grounds, this warbler prefers coniferous growth, especially young spruces.”[144]
Range: Breeds from southern Mackenzie, Keewatin, northern Quebec, and Newfoundland to central Alberta, Saskatchewan, Minnesota, northern Michigan, and northern Massachusetts; in the mountains of West Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, New York; winters from southern Mexico to Panama.
Mr. C. F. Stone in “Birds of New York” says: “Every hemlock-clad gully or hemlock woods where the trees are close and limbs intertwined afford suitable haunts for this lively and emphatic singer.... Among the smaller gullies 1 or 2 pairs may be found, and in the larger gullies it is not unusual to locate 12 or 15 pairs during the nesting period. In some of these situations the Magnolia does not seem to occur, perhaps because it is so persecuted by red squirrels and cowbirds. The latter seems to make a specialty of presenting this warbler with one or more of its eggs, generally puncturing the eggs of the Magnolia before leaving the nest.”[144]