No. 74.
MYRTLE WARBLER.

A. O. U. No. 655. Dendroica coronata (Linn.).

Synonym.—Yellow-rumped Warbler.

Description.—Adult male in spring: Above slaty blue with black streaks, smaller on sides of crown and nape, broader on back; below white, with black on upper breast, sides of middle breast, and sides in endless variety of patterns; a large patch on each side of breast, a partially concealed patch in center of crown, and rump, bright yellow (lemon or canary); superciliary line white; a deep black patch on side of head; wings fuscous; tail darker; middle and greater coverts narrowly tipped with white, forming two rather conspicuous bars; three outer pairs of tail-feathers with white blotches on inner webs, decreasing centrally; bill black; feet dark. Female in spring, and both sexes in fall: Duller; the blue of upperparts overlaid with brownish; a brownish wash on sides of breast and flanks; black of breast obscure,—restricted to centers of feathers; yellow of breast-spots pale or wanting. Immature: Brownish above; whitish below with a few obscure dusky streaks. Length 5.25-5.75 (133.3-146.1); av. of five males: wing 2.98 (75.7); tail 2.22 (56.4); bill .38 (9.7); tarsus .78 (20).

Recognition Marks.—Larger; white throat as distinguished from D. auduboni, which it otherwise closely resembles.

Nesting.—Not known to breed in Washington. Nest as in next species. Eggs indistinguishable.

General Range.—“Eastern North America chiefly, straggling more or less commonly to the Pacific; breeds from the northern United States northward, and winters from southern New England and the Ohio Valley southward to the West Indies, and through Mexico to Panama” (A. O. U. ’95). “An abundant summer resident on Vancouver Island and mainland (B. C.), chiefly west of Cascades” (Kermode).

Range in Washington.—Spring and fall migrant, probably of regular occurrence east and west of the Cascades.

Migrations.—Spring: Tacoma, Apr. 27, 1906, 1907; Seattle, May 3, 1908; Chelan, May 22, 1905; Yakima, Apr. 30, 1891.

Authorities.—Baird, Rep. Pac. R. R. Surv. IX. pt. II., 1858, 272, 273. C&S. Rh. Ra. D². Kk. B. E.

Specimens.—U. of W. Prov. C.

While only a little less lovely than its local kinsman, the Audubon Warbler, by as much as it has four patches of gold instead of five, this beautiful migrant appears to have been very largely lost to sight in the throng of its more brilliant relatives. Rathbun, writing from Seattle, says of it: “A regular and not uncommon spring migrant, associating with D. auduboni. Have no fall record.” Bowles from Tacoma says: “An irregular fall migrant, very numerous some years, the fall of 1905 for example. Have never seen it in spring.” Yakima, April 30, 1891; Chelan, May 22, 1905; Tacoma, April 27, 1907, are some of my own records. Fannin gives the species as “An abundant summer resident, chiefly west of the Cascades,” in British Columbia, and it should occur regularly within our borders during migration.

The tchip note of the Myrtle Warbler is indistinguishable from that of D. auduboni, but a single glimpse of the white throat is sufficient to establish identity. Those seen have necessarily been at close quarters and ranging low, in willow thickets, along the margins of ponds, etc., but it is altogether possible for a migrant troop to hold to the tree-tops in passing and so elude observation from “Forty-nine” to the Columbia.

No. 75.
AUDUBON’S WARBLER.

A. O. U. 656. Dendroica auduboni (Towns.)

Synonym.—Western Yellow-rumped Warbler.

Description.—Adult male: Similar to D. coronata but throat rich gamboge yellow; auriculars bluish gray instead of black; a large white wing patch formed by tips of middle and outer edges of greater coverts; tail with white blotches on inner webs of four or five outer feathers; usually more extensively black on breast. Adult female: Similar to adult male but duller (differences closely corresponding with those in D. coronata); the white of wing patch nearly obsolete; the yellow of throat paler and often, especially on chin, more or less displaced by white (young females even of the second summer are sometimes absolutely without yellow on throat but the more abundant white on rectrices is distinctive as compared with D. coronata). Seasonal changes follow very closely those of D. coronata but yellow of throat is usually retained in winter save in young females and (occasionally) young-males. Length of adult about 5.50 (139.7); wing 3.00 (76); tail 2.45 (57); bill .41 (10.4); tarsus .80 (20.3).

Recognition Marks.—Warbler size; five spots of yellow; extensive white blotching of tail; yellow rump distinctive in any plumage save as compared with D. coronata, from which it is further distinguished (usually) by yellow or yellowish of throat (If this character fails, the more extensive white on tail will always hold).

AUDUBON WARBLER MALE, ⅚ LIFE SIZE
From a Water-color Painting by Allan Brooks

Nesting.—Nest: a well built, bulky structure of fir twigs, weed stems, rootlets, etc., heavily lined with horse-hair and feathers; placed usually on branch of conifer from four to fifty feet up, sometimes in small tree close against trunk, measures 4 inches in width outside by 2¾ in depth; inside 2 by 1½. Eggs: 3-5, usually 4, dull greenish white sparingly dotted with blackish or handsomely ringed, spotted and blotched with reddish brown, black and lavender. Av. size, .71 × .54 (18 × 13.7). Season: April-June; two broods. Tacoma, April 9, 1905, 4 eggs half incubated.

General Range.—Western North America, north to British Columbia, east to western border of the Great Plains, breeding thruout its range (in higher coniferous forests of California, northern Arizona, etc.) wintering in lower valleys and southward thruout Mexico. Accidental in Massachusetts and in Pennsylvania.

Range in Washington.—Common resident and migrant on West-side from tidewater to limit of trees; less common migrant and rare winter resident (?) east of the Cascades.

Migrations.—Spring: East-side: Yakima, March 11, 1900 (probably winter resident); Yakima, April 13, 1900; Chelan, April 20-24, 1896. West-side: Tacoma, April 24, 1906.

Authorities.—Sylvia auduboni Townsend, Journ. Ac. Nat. Sci. Phila. VII. 1837, 191 (“forests of the Columbia River”). C&S. L¹. Rh. D¹. Kb. Ra. D². Kk. B. E.

Specimens.—U. of W. P¹. Prov. B. BN. E.

As one considers the Thrushes, Wrens, and Sparrows of our northern clime, he is apt to grumble a little at the niggardliness of Mother Nature in the matter of providing party clothes. The dark mood is instantly dispelled, however, at the sight of this vision of loveliness. Black, white, and gray-blue make a very tasty mixture in themselves, as the Black-throated Gray Warbler can testify, but when to these is added the splendor of five golden garnishes, crown, gorget, epaulets, and culet, you have a costume which Pan must notice. And for all he is so bedecked, auduboni is neither proud nor vain,—properly modest and companionable withal.

Westerly, at least, he is among the first voices of springtime, and by the 10th of March, while all other Warblers are still skulking silently in the Southland, this brave spirit is making the fir groves echo to his melody. The song is brief and its theme nearly invariable, as is the case with most Warblers; but there is about it a joyous, racy quality, which flicks the admiration and calls time on Spring. The singer posts in a high fir tree, that all may hear, and the notes pour out rapidly, crowding close upon each other, till the whole company is lost in a cloud of spray at the end of the ditty. At close quarters, the “filling” is exquisite, but if one is a little way removed, where he catches only the crests of the sound waves, it is natural to call the effort a trill. At a good distance it is even comparable to the pure, monotonous tinkling of Junco.

I once heard these two dissimilar birds in a song contest. The Warbler stood upon a favorite perch of his, a spindling, solitary fir some hundred feet in height, while the Junco held a station even higher on the tip of another fir a block away. Here they had it back and forth, with honors surprisingly even, until both were tired, whereupon (and not till then) an Oregon Towhee ventured to bring forth his prosy rattle. It was like Sambo and his “bones” after an opera.

The range of Audubon’s Warbler is about coextensive with that of evergreen timber in Washington. It does not, however, frequent all the more open pine woods of the lower foot-hills in the eastern part of the State, nor does it occur habitually in the deeper solitudes of the western forests. Considered altitudinally, its range extends from sea-level to timber-line. And altho it is at home in the highest mountains, it is equally so in the city park and in the shade trees about the house. Under such varied conditions, therefore, its habits must vary widely.