A. O. U. No. 646a. Helminthophila celata lutescens Ridgway.
Description.—Adults:—Similar to H. celata but brighter. Above bright olive-green; below definitely yellow—olive-yellow, gamboge, or even canary (on under tail-coverts). Immature: Above plain olive-green (not ashy, as in H. celata); below buffy yellow tinged with olive on breast and sides. Measurements as in preceding.
Recognition Marks.—Small warbler size; perhaps the most abundant of the eight or nine “yellow” warblers of the State; ochraceous crown-patch, of course, distinctive; not so bright as the Pileolated Warblers (W. p. pileolata and W. p. chryseola).
Nesting.—Nest: on the ground sunk in bed of moss, under protection of bush or weed, or in shelving bank, of coiled dry grasses, lined with finer; 1¾ inches wide by 1 inch deep inside. Eggs: 4, rarely 5, dull white marked with dots and a few small blotches of yellowish brown and lavender; in shape long to short ovate, rarely oval. Av. size .67 × .51 (17 × 12.9). Season: May 1 and June 1; two broods.
General Range.—Summer resident in Pacific Coast district from Cook Inlet to southern California, east to western ranges of Rocky Mountain System, where intergrading with H. celata; south in winter to western Mexico and Guatemala.
Range in Washington.—Of general occurrence thruout the lower levels; abundant in Puget Sound region.
Migrations.—Spring: April 3, 6, 7 (Seattle). April 24 (Chelan). March 28, 1908 (Seattle).
Authorities.—(?) Townsend, Journ. Ac. Nat. Sci. Phila., VIII., 1839, 153 part (Columbia River). Cooper and Suckley, Rep. Pac. R. R. Surv., XII., pt. II., 1860, 178. (T.) C&S. L¹, Rh. D¹. Kb. Ra. D². Kk. B. E.
Specimens.—U. of W. Prov. B. BN. E.
Yellow appears to be the prevailing color among our Washington Wood Warblers; and even of those which are not frankly all over yellow, as this one is, there are only two which do not boast a conspicuous area of this fashionable shade. And of all yellows, yellow-green, as represented by the back of this bird, is the commonest,—so common, indeed, as to merit the facetious epithet “museum color.” It is all very well in the case of the male, for he comes back (to Seattle) during the first week in April, before the leaves are fully out; and he is so full of confidence at this season that he poses quite demurely among the swelling buds of alder, maple, and willow. He is proud of his full crown-patch of pale orange, contrasting as it does with the dull yellowish green of the upperparts and the bright greenish yellow of the underparts,—and he lets you get a good view of it at twenty yards with the glasses. Besides that, he must stop now and then to vent his feelings in song. But the case of the female is almost hopeless—for the novice.
Taken in Oregon. Photo by Bohlman and Finley.
A HUNGRY CHICK.
LUTESCENT WARBLER, FEMALE AND YOUNG.
The song of the Lutescent Warbler appears to have been very largely overlooked, but it was not the bird’s fault. While waiting for his tardy mate, he has rehearsed diligently from the taller bushes of the thicket, or else from some higher vantage point of maple, dogwood, or fir tree. The burden is intended for fairy ears, but he that hath ears to hear let him hear a curious vowel scale, an inspirated rattle or trill, which descends and ends in a simple warble of several notes. The trill, brief as it is, has three qualities of change which make it quite unique. At the opening the notes are full and slow, but in the instant necessary to the entire recital the pace accelerates, the pitch rises slightly, and the component notes decrease in volume, or size. At the climax the tension breaks unexpectedly in the gentle, musical cadence of the concluding phrases, whose notes much resemble certain of the Yellow Warbler’s. The opening trill carries to a considerable distance, but the sweetness of the closing warble is lost to any but near listeners. The whole may be rendered graphically somewhat as follows; O-o-ā-ā-i-i-é-é-é-é-é-é wichy, wichy, wichy.
In the brush and under alarm these birds utter a brusque, metallic scolding note, which is perfectly distinctive locally, altho it much resembles that of the Oporornis group East. By this mark alone may the mere greenish female be certainly discerned.
Lutescent Warblers abound thruout western Washington, and easterly, when the Cascades are well passed, as upon the Pend d’Oreille. Jungle of any kind suits them, whether it be a thicket of young firs at Tacoma, an overgrown burn at Snoqualmie, a willow swamp in Yakima County, or a salmon-berry tangle on Destruction Island. Nests are of dead grasses well knitted and sunk flush with the ground, or below it, in some moss bed, at the base of a bush, or on some sloping hillside. Rarely the structure may be taken up into a bush. The female is a close sitter, but once flushed shows implacable resentment. She summons her mate to assist in the gentle art of exorcism, or else turns the tables and deserts outright. The latter, you understand, is quite the subtlest and most baffling form of revenge which a bird may compass in the case of an oölogist anxious to identify his find.
Taken near Tacoma. Photo by J. H. Bowles.
NEST AND EGGS OF LUTESCENT WARBLER.