Arthur Cleveland Bent

“ The home-coming of a brooding bird, after a brief airing and feeding, is heralded several hundred yards distant by frequent chips and short flights from branch to branch near the ground, in leisurely fashion and circuitous route, until at length, arriving above the nest, she runs down a sapling and is silent. The bird is a close sitter and if approached from the open front will often allow a few minutes’ silent inspection, eye to eye, at arm’s length, sometimes not vacating until touched, then she runs off in a sinuous trail, not always feigning lameness before the young are out. ”

“ Chaparral hillsides and brushy open woods are the favorite haunts of the Lutescent Warbler. Its nest is built on or near the ground, usually in a bramble tangle or under a rooty bank, and the bird itself hunts near the ground, flitting here and there through the miniature jungle of wild lilacs, baccharis and hazel bushes. Its dull greenish color harmonizes with the dusty summer foliage of our California chaparral, and with the fallen leaves and tangle of stems that constitute its normal background. ”

“ Wherever there are birds at all, this bird is sure to be there. From the seacoast to the mountains, in city parks and gardens, in orchards and in chaparral, the Audubon’s warbler is equally at home. On any country walk scores are sure to be seen, starting up from the ground or out of the trees with wavering and erratic flight, showing in departure a flash of white-marked tail-feathers and a gleaming yellow rump spot, and uttering the incessant chip that, better than any marking, serves to identify the fleeting bird. ”

“ The parents, too, when they are feeding the young birds, pay little attention to us and come fearlessly to them even when we stand near. At such times they work in a seeming panic of hurry, flying about in the low growth searching for food, or visiting the smallest branches high up in the trees, where they cling to the terminal twigs, hanging like chickadees as they probe among the curled up leaves (insect nests) for food hidden there, then back to the waiting young, seemingly in continuous motion and without the slightest pause in their nervous activity. ”

“ A meadow wholly surrounded by woods is frequently selected. The ideal place to search for a nest of the species is in one of those woodland meadows, which has a clear brook flowing through it, with briers, tussocks of grass and a fresh growth of goldenrod scattered around in profusion, with birch trees and wild grape vines growing near the edges where the meadow meets higher ground—and all this bordered by tall oak, chestnut and maple trees which furnish an abundance of shade to the vegetation of the meadow itself. ”

“ In the broken prairie where the yellow pines have taken their stand upon the crest of the tableland, and in the rocky canyons clothed with the scraggly scrub oaks slipping down to narrow grass-grown creek-bottoms, Virginia’s Warbler chooses its nesting grounds.
Plants seem to burst into life during the early weeks in May. * * * The flowers of the scrub oaks tinge the hillsides with a greenish-yellow bloom; the green of bursting leaves and grasses soon blends with the nodding blossoms of the pasque-flower ”

“ The orange-crowned warbler is a rare bird in New England, but we may look for it with some hope of success in the very late autumn, through November and even into December, during the soft, calm days of Indian Summer. As we walk along over the dead leaves, wet from last night’s frost, watching for the bird in the shrubs by the roadside and in neglected [94] pastures, almost the only sound is the ticking of the falling leaves as they hit against the branches; and mistiness is all about us. ”

“ The males rarely meet in the mating season without fighting, even though no female may be near. Sometimes one of them turns tail at the outset; and the other at once giving chase, the pursuer and pursued, separated by a few inches only, go darting through the woods, winding, doubling, now careering away up among the tree-tops, now down over the water, sweeping close to the surface until the eye becomes weary with following their mad flight. During all this time the female usually busies herself with feeding, apparently entirely unconcerned as to the issue. ”

“ A bird more difficult to observe I have rarely if ever met with. His life seemed to be confined almost entirely to the tops of the tallest deciduous trees, where he would generally feed, with apparent design, on the side most remote from the would-be observer, exhibiting a wariness not expected on the part of a warbler, and finally leaving the tree, the first intimation of his departure being a more distant song. ”

“ The tail is habitually carried at an elevation considerably above the line of the back, which gives them a smart, jaunty air, and if the dorsal aspect be exposed, in a clear light, the peculiar marking of the crown is quite conspicuous. Seen as they usually are, however, dimly flitting ahead through the gloom and shadow of the thickets, the impression received is that of a dark little bird which vanishes unaccountably before your very eyes, leaving you quite uncertain where to look for it next ”

“ The white curls of birch bark, the much weathered twigs, the fluffy shining bands and knots of spider’s silk, made a very dainty looking structure. After the first morning, I did not see the male about the nest. As a general thing, I find that, if birds are observed building, the male usually leaves his part of the work to the female. The lady bird continued to shape the nest with her breast, turning around and around, as if swinging on a central pivot, just her beak and tail showing above the rim. ”

“ Behavior.—A favorite locality for the golden-winged warbler to spend the summer in eastern Massachusetts may be the border of a wooded swamp where tall elm and maple trees shade a dense undergrowth of ferns and other moisture-loving plants, a swamp which runs out toward drier ground where abounds a growth of gray birches or a tangle of raspberry canes, wild grapevines, and goldenrod. Such a spot furnishes countless situations for hiding the nest in the thick vegetation growing in the half-wet half-dry ground, and also a source of food near at hand in the high branches of the trees. ”

“ Behavior.—Wayne’s warbler is essentially a high-ranging bird. It spends much of its time amid the topmost branches of cypress, magnolia, gum, and other swamp trees, rarely descending to even mid-sections [314] of this characteristic growth while feeding. Highly restless and exceedingly active in movements, it is constantly on the go and, as a consequence, is rather difficult to see and study satisfactorily, the oft-repeated song being the best indication of its whereabouts. As might be supposed, the female is even more elusive, and flits about like some swamp wraith, silent and mysterious. ”

“ Now they twist their heads into seemingly painful postures, the better to search the crannies in the bark or blossoms, now spring from a twig to snap up an insect in the foliage above their heads, instantly returning, and now flutter before a cluster of opening leaves, with the grace of a Hummingbird. ”

“ Robie W. Tufts tells me that he has seen the male at the nest; he saw a male come to a partly finished nest sit in it for over a minute as though testing the workmanship and sing twice while sitting there. The male is always very attentive during nest-building, following his mate back and forth on her trips for material and keeping close to her most of the time. His interest in the nest is so keen that it would be strange if he did not sometimes help.
The eastern yellow warbler builds a neat, strong nest, the materials being firmly and smoothly interwoven and the lining compactly felted. ”

“ As the woodland is cut in strips, there are always these growths in juxtaposition. Though the nest of the Nashville is always placed among the gray birches, the inevitable strip of evergreen woodland is near at hand, and a swale not far away. ”

“ Voice.—The song of the golden-winged warbler is an inconspicuous little buzzing sound which one might pass by unnoticed, or hearing it for the first time, might ascribe it to a mechanical sound made by some insect, not suspecting it to be the song of a bird. ”

“ When disturbed with young in the nest she will flutter off with open wings and tail, and, failing to lead one off, will return with her mate, who is seldom far off at this period, circling about the nest or intruder, and, if the young are well feathered, she will dash at them, forcing them from the nest and to shelter. Once this brave little bird dashed at me and ran up to my knee, scratching with her sharp little claws at every step. On the return the birds always make the vicinity ring with their protests—a quickly repeated chip. The period of incubation in one instance was thirteen days. ”

“ Other warblers, unquestionably migrants, visit this hillside in August, notably the Tennessee, an early arrival who has already traveled a long way.
The fall migration of the black-and-white is long-drawn-out. The bird does not depend, like many of the warblers, on finding food among the foliage, so it may linger long after the trees are bare of leaves, sometimes, here in New England, well into October. ”

“ So the season passes, till the young are on wing, when the different families, still with bonds unbroken, ramble at leisure through the woods, the young birds timid and feeble at first, venturing shorter flights than their parents, who seem absorbed in solicitude for their welfare, and attend them most sedulously, till they are quite able to shift for themselves. ”

“ When thus engaged it is not particularly shy and often seems quite unconscious of the presence of an observer. On migrations it seems to be sociably inclined and may be seen associated with the mixed flocks of warblers that are drifting through the tree tops. At these seasons it often visits our orchards and the shrubbery in our gardens, giving us a glimpse of green and gold among the blossoms and opening leaves. ”

“ Among these early wandering birds the black-and-white warbler is a very conspicuous species, perhaps because it is one of our commoner birds or, more probably, because of its habit of feeding in plain sight on the trunks and low branches of dead or dying trees and shrubs instead of hiding, like other warblers, high up in the foliage. It may be that the warblers we see at some distance from their breeding grounds thus early in the season have already begun their migration toward the south: they often appear to be migrating. ”

“ During the winter months, the Audubon warblers are truly social, and are nearly always met in flocks, sometimes containing 25 or more individuals. They are versatile in their modes of finding food. Sometimes, from the tops of the tall cypress trees near the summit of the Sierra de Tecpán, they would launch themselves on long and skillfully executed sallies to snatch up insects on the wing. As they twisted about in the air, they would spread their tails to reveal the prettily contrasting areas of black and white. At other times they foraged on the ground, like the myrtle warblers ”

“ The female is merely more dull in coloration than the male, and the young even duller. The hybrids between this and the golden-winged warbler are more puzzling, but in a general way they can be recognized; a nearly typical blue-winged warbler with a black throat is probably a Lawrence’s warbler; and a golden-winged warbler without a black throat or cheek and with a variable amount of white and yellow on the under parts and in the wing-bars, is probably a Brewster’s warbler. But there is an immense amount of individual variation between the two species, due to frequent crossing. ”

“ Although they are almost silent as they climb about feeding, if you stand quietly in the midst of a company of four or five, now and then you may hear a faint note, and at once the note comes from all sides, each bird apparently reporting its whereabouts—a sound which calls to mind the south-bound migrants as they roam through the quiet autumn woods. ”

“ In the parks it is especially fond of the palm tops frequented by the golden-crowned sparrows, and dashes around them in its mad helter-skelter fashion. The most straight-laced, conventional thing it ever does is to make flycatcher sallies from a post of observation when it has caught its insect. ”