“Oct. 25, 1941, Plymouth, Mass. A sizable flock were feeding actively, flying back and forth across the narrow Eel River, feeding among foliage, catching flies and eating bayberries. One came within 6 feet of me and calmly ate bayberry after bayberry.”
Voice.—Aretas A. Saunders contributes the following account of the songs: “The songs of the myrtle warbler show some differences from those heard from birds on migration or on the breeding grounds. The song in general is a series of short, rapid notes in a rather colorless simple, but musical quality. The number of notes, in my 41 records, varies from 7 to 21 and averages about 12. The songs heard on migration, however, average 11 while those on the breeding grounds average 14.
“The songs heard on migration are quite indefinite in form; the pitch rises and falls irregularly, and no two songs are much alike. An individual bird may sing many variations, each song it sings often being a little different from the others. The notes, however, are all about the same length and loudness, accented notes that stand out from the others being rare. This song shows indications of a somewhat primitive character.
“The song on the breeding grounds is somewhat more definite; the notes are often joined in 2-note phrases, the first note of each phrase higher in pitch than the second and each phrase successively higher, so that the song trends upward in pitch. This is true of 10 of my 13 records of the song on the breeding grounds in the Adirondacks. The other 3 have a slight downward trend. In addition to the more regular form, these songs have a somewhat brighter, livelier, and more musical sound than those heard on migration.
“Songs of this species vary from 1 to 24⁄5 seconds in length. There are usually about seven notes per second. Only 3 of my records show any irregularity in the time of the notes, that is having some notes that are shorter or longer than the others. Pitch of the songs varies from F‴ to E‴´, a half tone less than an octave. Single songs vary from one to four and a half tones, averaging about two and a half tones; only 5 records are greater in range, and only 16 are less, nearly half of the records having the average range.
“Since the myrtle warbler winters in Connecticut, I am able to get the first dates of singing. In 30 years of records the average date is April 13; the earliest April 2, 1923, and the latest April 25, 1920. In the Adirondacks the last date of singing noted was July 31, 1926.
“The call-note, tchick, is louder than in most warblers. I found it pitched on D″. Another note is a fainter tseet tseet, usually doubled and pitched on F-sharp‴.”
Francis H. Allen (MS.) describes the song in a different way as follows:
“The only syllabifications I find in my notes are of a bird heard at West Bridgewater, Vt., June 19, 1907, which sang whee whee whee whee whee whee whee whee hew hew, sometimes with three or even four hews at the end and sometimes with only one; and one of a bird at South Tamworth, N. H., July 23, 1942, whose song consisted of two trills, ching ching ching ching ching weedle weedle weet.