When Arthur T. Wayne of Mount Pleasant, S. C., discovered the first nesting of this race he was sure it was not a typical Dendroica virens virens, and on April 25, 1918 he sent a male to Outram Bangs of the Museum of Comparative Zoology in Cambridge, Mass. Later he sent him six other specimens. Upon comparing them with specimens of D. v. virens, Bangs (1918) described it as a different race, giving it the name of the discoverer, waynei. Extracts from his published material are illuminating. He states, for instance, that “this series proves to represent a form easily distinguishable from true Dendroica virens (Gmelin). I take great pleasure in naming it after the keen ornithologist and excellent observer and collector who discovered it, and who noticed its peculiarities even without sufficient material with which to compare it.”
The subspecific differences are mainly a duller coloration, less yellowish, and of a paler shade, and the throat patch more restricted. Its principal variation from virens is its much smaller and more delicate bill. As Bangs points out, “measurements of a bill so small do not convey the same impression that an actual comparison of specimens does. The bill of the new form when compared to that of D. v. virens, appears not more than two-thirds as large.” Certainly this is true. So marked is the difference that a specimen of waynei placed amid a score or more of virens can easily be picked out even at some distance.
The southern limit of the breeding range of virens appears to be the high mountains of Carolina and Georgia and northern Alabama, usually at elevations of more than 4,000 feet; waynei is confined to a coastal strip (in some cases less than 5 miles from the ocean) so that the intervening area between it and virens averages about 300 miles. In all that distance, no northern black-throated green warbler appears except in scattered and isolated instances. The migratory route of waynei is as yet imperfectly known, but since virens is so scarce along the lower Atlantic coast as to be virtually absent, and since it has never yet been secured or reported along the Carolina and Georgia or northern Florida coasts, it would seem that any specimen seen in those localities would be waynei.
Spring.—Wayne (1910) said of this bird in South Carolina: “This species arrives with great regularity [Charleston County] as the following dates will show, viz., March 26, 1890; March 27, 1900; March 27, 1912; March 23, 1916. It is not common until the middle of April and its passage through the coast region requires so long a time that one not acquainted with the migrations of birds might readily believe that it bred here … that this species should remain on the coast until June, and not breed is very surprising.”
At that time he was, of course, unaware that the species contained two races, but, as Outram Bangs has pointed out (1918), these March arrival dates in coastal South Carolina occur when “true D. virens is still in winter quarters in Mexico and Central America.” Thus, it will be seen that the migration times must vary considerably, and the arrival of the coastal race is in advance of the true species, indicating a different and less distant winter home, another phase to consider when comparing the two.
There is almost a complete dearth of additional information on arrival dates in other southern states. My records of South Carolina arrival dates in recent years do not vary much from Wayne’s, and he has no earlier ones. I have but once encountered waynei in spring elsewhere than in South Carolina, this being a specimen observed in full song in Rhetta Lagoon, Cumberland Island, Ga., on April 15, 1932. However, that it was, in fact, a migrant is beyond all question for it is not present in its United States range in late fall and winter.
In his description of the race in 1918, Bangs stated that “it would seem not unlikely that the South Carolina form is resident and non-migratory, and I hope Mr. Wayne will be able to prove whether or not this is so.” This belief of Bangs’ was carried into the A. O. U. Check-List (1931) which gives the range of this form as “resident in the coastal district of South Carolina.” This is not the case; waynei does not remain in winter, and is therefore not resident but migratory, as I have previously pointed out (1932).
The migration of this race is as yet imperfectly known. While any coastal migrant black-throated green warbler would probably be referable to it, as virens appears to keep to the interior when travelling north, as a matter of fact there are almost no records of migratory occurrences. S. A. Grimes (MS.) tells me that he has never observed any black-throated green warbler in the area about Jacksonville, Fla., where he lives and where he is much afield, having had years of experience. Earle K. Greene (MS.) similarly states that his experience of over two years in the Okefenokee Swamp in southern Georgia failed to produce “a single individual.” Strictly in line with his observations are those of Francis Harper (MS.) whose experience in the Okefenokee is even more extensive than Greene’s. He writes in response to my request, “I have never found the slightest trace of the bird there.” This is strange, as the Okefenokee would seem to be typical habitat for the Wayne’s Warbler, but it evidently does not occur there.
Courtship.—Nothing is known of the courtship behavior of this bird, owing to the difficulty of observation, the very restricted range of the bird, and the dearth of local observers.