The first comprehensive account of its habits was given to Dr. Chapman (1907) by H. P. Attwater, of San Antonio, Tex. He says of its summer haunts in the counties named above:
The Golden-cheek is not a bird of the forest, being seldom met with in the tall timbered areas in the wilder valleys along the rivers, or in the tall trees which fringe the streams in the cañons; but its favorite haunts are among the smaller growth of trees, on the rough wooded hillsides, and which covers the slopes and “points” leading up from the cañons, and the boulder strewn ridges or “divides” which separate the heads of the creeks. The trees which compose this growth consist chiefly of mountain cedar (juniper), Spanish or mountain oak, black oak, and live oak on the higher ground, and live oak and Spanish oak clumps or thickets on the lower flats among the foothills, interspersed in some localities with dwarf walnut, pecan and hackberry. All these trees grow on an average from 10 to 20 feet high, the cedar often forming almost impenetrable "brakes". Whatever space remains among the oaks and cedars is generally covered with shin oak brush, which is a characteristic feature of the region. The cedar or juniper appears to possess some peculiar attraction for this bird for they are seldom found at any great distance from cedar localities, and they seem to divide the greater part of their time between the cedars and Spanish oaks, searching for Insects, with occasional visits to other oaks, walnuts, etc., but seldom descending as low as the shin oak brush, which averages four to five feet. It is quite probable that future observations will show, that some favorite insect food which comprises a portion of their “bill of fare,” is found among the cedar foliage.
Spring.—The golden-cheeked warblers arrive in central Texas about the middle of March, sometimes a little earlier or later. The adult males precede the young males and females by about 5 days. Mr. Attwater (Chapman, 1907) says: “The song of the male is the first unmistakable notification of its arrival and within a few days it is quite common and the females are also observed. In the localities described the Golden-cheeked Warbler is by no means a rare bird, and it is by far the most abundant of the few Warblers, which breed in the same region.”
Nesting.—W. H. Werner was apparently the first to find the nest of the golden-cheeked warbler, in Comal County, Tex., in 1878, about which he wrote to Mr. Brewster (1879): “The four nests that I have found were similar in construction, and were built in forks of perpendicular limbs of the Juniperus virginiana, from ten to eighteen feet from the ground. The outside is composed of the inner bark of the above-mentioned tree, interspersed with spider-webs, well fastened to the limb, and in color resembling the bark of the tree on which it is built, so that from a little distance it is difficult to detect the nest.” Two of these nests were examined by Mr. Brewster both so much alike that the following description of one will suffice:
It is placed in a nearly upright fork of a red cedar, between two stout branches to which it is firmly attached. Although a large, deep structure, it by no means belongs to either the bulky, or loosely woven class of bird domiciles, but is, on the contrary, very closely and compactly felted. In general character and appearance it closely resembles the average nest of the Black-throated Green Warbler (Dendroica virens). It is, however, of nearly double the size, in fact, larger than any Wood Warbler’s nest (excepting perhaps that of D. coronata) with which I am acquainted. It measures as follows: external diameter, 3.50; external depth, 3.45; internal diameter, 1.60; internal depth, 2.00. The exterior is mainly composed of strips of cedar bark, with a slight admixture of fine grass-stems, rootlets, and hemp-like fibres, the whole being kept in place by an occasional wrapping of spider-webs. The interior is beautifully lined with the hair of different quadrupeds and numerous feathers; among the latter, several conspicuous scarlet ones from the Cardinal Grosbeak. The outer surface of the whole presents a grayish, inconspicuous appearance, and from the nature of the component materials is well calculated to escape observation. Indeed, it must depend for concealment upon this protective coloring, as it is in no way sheltered by any surrounding foliage.
Attwater (Chapman, 1907) says:
Of over fifty nests of this bird which I have examined, most of them were securely placed in perpendicular forks of the main limbs of cedar trees, about two-thirds up in the tree; average fifteen feet from the ground. My highest record is twenty-one feet, and lowest six feet. I have also found them in similar positions in small black oak, mountain oak, walnut and pecan trees. * * * The favorite nesting haunts are isolated patches or clumps of scrubby cedars, with scant foliage, on the summits of the scarped cañon slopes, and in the thick cedar “brakes.” In cedar the older growth of trees is always selected, and no attempt at concealment is made. I have never found a nest in a young thrifty cedar with thick foliage.
The male is always to be heard singing in the vicinity of the nest, and the old nesting localities, and occasionally the same tree is selected apparently and returned to one year after another.
Nearly all the nests reported by others were in cedars and were similar in construction to those described. There are five nests of the golden-cheeked warbler in the Thayer collection in Cambridge, of which only one was in a cedar; two were in Spanish or mountain oaks and two in live oaks; four of these had more or less admixture of lichens, mosses, bits of dry leaves, and plant down in the bases, and feathers of quail, cardinal and other birds in the linings. The smallest nest in the series measures externally 21⁄2 inches in diameter and 2 inches in height; it is very neatly and firmly woven.
Plumages.—Ridgway (1902) describes the juvenal plumage of the golden-cheeked warbler as follows: “Pileum, hindneck, back, scapulars, rump, and upper tail-coverts plain grayish brown or brownish gray; sides of head, chin, throat, chest, and sides pale brownish gray; rest of under part white, the breast very indistinctly streaked with pale gray; wings and tail essentially as in adults, but middle coverts with a mesial wedge-shaped mark of dusky.”