Dendroica nigrescens, Baird.
BLACK-THROATED GRAY WARBLER.
Sylvia nigrescens, Townsend, J. A. N. Sc. VII, II, 1837, 191 (Columbia River).—Aud. Orn. Biog. V, 1839, 57, pl. cccxcv. Vermivora nig. Bon.; Nutt. Sylvicola nig. Aud. Birds Am. II, pl. xciv. Rhimanphus nig. Cab. 1850. Dendroica nig. Baird, Birds N. Am. 1858, 270; Rev. 186.—Sclater, P. Z. S. 1858, 298; 1859, 374 (Oaxaca; high mountains in March).—Heermann, P. R. R. Rep. X, iv, 40.—Cooper & Suckley, P. R. R. Rep. XII, ii, 1859, 180.—Cooper, Orn. Cal. 1, 1870, 90. ? Sylvia halseii, Giraud, Birds Texas, 1838, pl. iii, fig. 1, ♀ (suggested by Sclater).
Sp. Char. Head all round, forepart of the breast, and streaks on the side of the body, black; rest of under parts, a stripe on the side of the head, beginning acutely just above the middle of the eye, and another parallel to it, beginning at the base of the under jaw (the stripes of opposite sides confluent on the chin), and running further back, white. A yellow spot in front of the eye. Rest of upper parts bluish-gray. The interscapular region and upper tail-coverts streaked with black. Wing-coverts black, with two narrow white bands; quills and tail-feathers brown, the two outer of the latter white, with the shafts and a terminal
streak brown; the third brown, with a terminal narrow white streak. Bill black; feet brown. Length, 4.70; wing, 2.30; tail, 2.10.
Hab. Western and Middle Provinces of United States. Migratory southward into Western Mexico (Oaxaca); Orizaba (winter, Sumichrast).
Female (53,373, East Humboldt Mountains, Nev., July 14). Similar to the male, but crown ash medially streaked with black, instead of continuous black; the streaks on back narrow and inconspicuous; the black of the throat confined to the jugulum, appearing in spots only on anterior half. A young female (No. 53,376, East Humboldt Mountains, August 10) is plain brownish-ash above, lacking entirely the streaks on the back, and those on sides of crown extremely obsolete. There is no black whatever on throat or jugulum, which, with the well-defined supra-loral stripe and lower parts in general, are soiled white, more brownish laterally. The other features, including the yellow spot over the lores, with the wing and tail markings, are much as in the adult. A young male (53,375), same locality and date, differs from the last in having the sides of the crown black, and the throat-patch almost complete, but much hidden by the broad white borders to the feathers. An adult autumnal male (7,690, Calaveras River) is like the spring adult, but the ash is overspread by brownish, nearly obliterating the dorsal streaks, and dividing the black of the crown; the black throat-patch is perfectly defined, but much obscured by white borders to the feathers.
Habits. The Black-throated Gray or Dusky Warbler, so far as is now known, belongs to the Western and Middle Provinces, occurring certainly as far to the south as San Diego, in California, and as far to the north as Fort Steilacoom, in Washington Territory, penetrating in winter into Mexico. The most easterly localities in which it has been met with are in Arizona and New Mexico. The Smithsonian Institution has received specimens also from Columbia River, Calaveras, Cal., and Fort Defiance.
This species was first obtained and described by Mr. Townsend, who found it abundant in the forests of the Columbia, where it breeds and remains until nearly winter. Its nest, which he there met with, resembles that of Parula americana, only it is made of the long and fibrous green moss, or Usnea, peculiar to that region, and is placed among the upper branches of oak-trees, suspended between two small twigs.
Mr. Nuttall states that it arrives on the Columbia early in May, and from the manner in which its song was delivered at intervals, in the tops of deciduous trees, he had no doubt that they were breeding in those forests as early as May 23. This song he describes as delicate, but monotonous, uttered as it busily and intently searches every leafy bough and expanding bud for insects and their larvæ in the spreading oak, in which it utters its solitary notes. Its song is repeated at short and regular intervals, and is said by Mr. Nuttall to bear some resemblance to t-shee-tshāy-tshaitshee, varying the feeble sound very little, and with the concluding note somewhat slenderly and plaintively raised. Dr. Suckley speaks of this bird as moderately abundant