WORM-EATING SWAMP WARBLER.
Motacilla vermivora, Gmel. Syst. Nat. I, 1788, 951. ? Sylvia vermivora, Lath. Ind. Orn. II, 1790, 499.—Wils. III, pl. xxiv, fig. 4.—Aud. Orn. Biog. I, pl. xxxiv. Sylvicola vermivora, Rich. Helinaia vermivora, Aud. Birds Am. II, pl. cv.—Lembeye, Av. Cuba, 1850, 35, pl. vi, fig. 4. Helmitherus vermivorus, Bon.; Cab.; Baird, Birds N. Am. 1858, 252; Rev. 179.—Sclater, P. Z. S. 1859, 363 (Xalapa).—Ib. Catal. 1861, 28, No. 175.—Sclater & Salvin, Ibis, I, 1859, 11 (Guatemala); Cab. Jour. 1860, 329 (Costa Rica); Ib. 1856 (Cuba).—Gundlach, Cab. Jour. 1861, 326 (Cuba; somewhat rare). Vermivora pennsylvanica, Bon., Gosse, B. Jamaica, 1847, 150. Helmitherus migratorius, Raf. J. de Phys. 88, 1819, 417.—Hartlaub; Vermivora fulvicapilla, Swainson, Birds, II, 1837, 245.
Sp. Char. Bill nearly as long as the head; upper parts generally rather clear olive-green. Head with four black stripes and three brownish-yellow ones, namely, a black one on each side of the crown and one from behind the eye (extending, in fact, a little anterior to it), a broader median yellow one on the crown, and a superciliary from the bill. Under parts pale brownish-yellow; tinged with buff across the breast and with olivaceous on the sides. Tail unspotted. Female nearly similar. Length, 5.50; wing, 3.00; tail, 2.35.
In autumnal specimens the light stripes on the head are deeper buff than in spring.
Hab. Eastern Province of United States (rather Southern); Southeastern Mexico; Guatemala; Cuba; Costa Rica; Veragua; Orizaba (winter, Sumichrast); Yucatan (Lawrence).
Habits. Much remains to be ascertained in regard to the history, habits, and distribution of this interesting species. So far as is now known it is hardly anywhere very common during the breeding-season. Yet its abundance and wide distribution as a migrant during the winter months in various extended localities appear to warrant the belief that it must be correspondingly abundant in summer in localities that have escaped our attention. It has been occasionally met with in the Central and Southern States, as far west as Eastern Mexico, and as far to the north as Southeastern New York. Specimens have been procured from Cuba, Mexico, Central America, and the northern portions of South America. It is a regular winter visitant of Jamaica, whither it goes in the autumn in considerable numbers, and is very widely diffused.
It reaches Pennsylvania about the middle of May, and leaves in September. Wilson noticed a pair feeding their young about the 25th of June.
He supposed this bird to have a more northern distribution than belongs to it. In the interior they are met with, according to Audubon, as far north as the southern shores of Lake Erie, where he found them in the autumn. Mr. Audubon found them more numerous in New Jersey than anywhere else. In Ohio and Kentucky they are comparatively rare. Mr. Ridgway informs me that this is a rather common species in Southern Illinois in the thickest damp woods in the bottom-lands along the Wabash River.
According to Wilson, these birds are among the nimblest of its family, and are remarkably fond of spiders, darting about wherever there is a probability of finding these insects. Where branches are broken and the leaves withered, it searches among them in preference, making a great rustling as it hunts for its prey. Their stomachs are generally found full of spiders and caterpillars.
These birds are arboreal in their preferences, residing in the interior of woods, and are seldom seen in the open fields. They resort to the ground and turn over the dry leaves in quest of insects. They are very unsuspicious and easy of approach.