Life Histories of North American Wood Warblers, Part One and Part Two. Arthur Cleveland Bent
music of the worm-eating and parula warblers and the chipping sparrow. It also resembles, according to Aretas A. Saunders (MS.), one of the songs of the blue-winged warbler. Brewster (1891) says:
The song is unlike that of any other species of Helminthophila with which I am acquainted and most resembles the song of the Parula Warbler. It is of the same length and of nearly the same quality or tone, but less guttural and without the upward run at the end, all of its six or eight notes being given in the same key and with equal emphasis. Despite these differences it would be possible to mistake the performance, especially at a distance, for that of a Parula singing listlessly. The voice, although neither loud nor musical, is penetrating and seems to carry as far as most Warblers'. Besides the song the only note which we certainly identified was a low hissing zee-e-eep, very like that of the Black-and-white Creeper.
Widmann (1897), observing a singing male for 8 hours, says that “the bird kept singing nearly all the time at the rate of ten times a minute with the regularity of clockwork, and its sharp, rattling notes reminded me strongly of an alarm-clock. In this regard it recalls one of the performances of Parula, whose rattle is of the same length and quality, except that it has a certain rise at the end, by which it is easily distinguished.”
Wayne (1910) heard one singing exactly like a prothonotary warbler, this song lasting for more than 20 minutes. And Howell (1924) mentions two Bachman’s warblers, observed in Alabama, that “had the habit of singing on the wing, the song being delivered just before the bird alighted on a perch after a short flight.”
Field marks.—[Author’s Note: Under certain circumstances Bachman’s warbler might be mistaken for a black-throated green warbler, but, fortunately, the two species do not frequent similar habitats at the same seasons. Mr. Brewster (1891) calls attention to the difficulty of distinguishing it from the parula warbler, when the two are seen against the sky in a lofty tree-top; at such times—
the chestnut throat-markings of the Parula showed quite as dark and distinct as the black cravat of the Bachman’s Warbler.
The latter bird, however, was the larger or rather plumper-looking of the two, and if the upper side of the wings could be seen the absence of the white bars which are so conspicuous on the wings of the Parula Warbler was quickly noticed. * * * Of course it is only the male Bachman’s Warbler which can be confounded with the Parula, for the female—setting aside occasional individuals which have black on the throat—is most like the Orange-crowned Warbler. * * * Both sexes of Bachman’s Warbler habitually carry the feathers of the crown a little raised, giving the head a fluffy appearance.]
Fall.—[Author’s Note: Wayne (1925) says: “The Bachman’s Warbler has left South Carolina before the advent of August; the latest date I have is a young male taken by me on July 16, 1919.” But he records a specimen which struck the lighthouse on Tybee Island, Ga., on September 23, 1924; he thought that this bird might have come from somewhere in the Mississippi Valley region, where the species breeds much later than in South Carolina. Atkins sent the following notes to W. E. D. Scott (1890):
Key West, Florida, 1889. First arrival from north, July 17, one adult male and one young female. Next observed July 23, three birds. Not seen again until July 31, though I was watching for them almost continually; three birds again on this date. August 4, found them more common perhaps a dozen birds in all were seen. From this time till August 25 inclusive, I found them regularly in small numbers. On August 8, 11, and 25 they were most abundant, particularly so on the first-named date, when as many as twenty-five or thirty birds were seen. After the 11th there was a decline in the numbers until the 25th, when they were again almost as numerous as on the 8th, but none were observed after the 25th.
Bachman’s warbler is said to spend the winter in western Cuba and the Isle of Pines, migrating through Florida and the Keys.]
DISTRIBUTION
Range.—Southeastern United States and Cuba.
Breeding range.—Although Bachman’s warbler was described more than a hundred years ago its range is still very imperfectly known. After its discovery near Charleston, S. C., in 1833, the bird remained unknown until rediscovered in 1886 near Lake Pontchartrain, La. The first nest was found in 1897 in southeastern Missouri, nearly the northwestern border of the range as now known. It was not until 1901 that the species was again found near Charleston and in 1905 the first young birds were collected in the same swamp where the type specimen was collected.
Bachman’s warbler breeds, locally north to northwestern Arkansas (possibly Winslow, Big Creek, and Bertig); southeastern Missouri (Grandin, Senath, and has occurred in Shannon County); central Kentucky (Russellville and Mammoth Cave); possibly occasionally in southern Indiana, since a pair was seen throughout the breeding season at Indianapolis; north-central Alabama (Irondale); and southern South Carolina (Charleston). East to the coastal swamps of South Carolina (Charleston), and Georgia (Savannah). South to Georgia (Savannah and possibly the Okefenokee Swamp); southern Alabama (Tensas River); and southern Louisiana (West Baton Rouge Parish). West to southeastern Louisiana (West Baton Rouge Parish) and northwestern Arkansas (Winslow, possibly). In addition, specimens have been recorded at Fayetteville, Ark.; Versailles, Ky.; Aylett, Va.; and Raleigh, N. C.
Winter range.—The only known wintering place for the Bachman’s warbler is the island of Cuba. It has occurred in the Bahamas in fall migration. Color is given to the theory that this species may occasionally spend the winter in the deep swamps of Georgia and Florida, by the collection of a specimen in Okefenokee Swamp on December 30, 1928, and the occurrence of several in December of 1932. A specimen was collected at Melbourne, Fla., on January 27, 1898.
Migration.—That Bachman’s warbler migrates through the Florida Keys is indicated by the large number seen at Key West in fall migration and by the many that have struck the light at Sombrero Key. On March 3, 1889, 21 birds of this species struck the light and five more were killed on April 3.
Early dates of spring arrival are: Florida—Lukens, February 27. Georgia—Atlanta, April 18. Alabama—Woodbine, March 20. Mississippi—Deer Island, March 21. Louisiana—Mandeville, February 27.
In spring the latest date at Dry Tortugas Island, Fla., is April 9 and the earliest fall arrival at Key West, Fla., July 17.
Fall departure dates are: Georgia—Savannah, September 24. Florida—Key West, September 5.
Egg dates.—Missouri: 4 records, May 13 to 17.
South Carolina: 19 records, March 27 to June 17; 10 records, March 27 to April 4.
VERMIVORA PEREGRINA (Wilson)
TENNESSEE WARBLER
Plate 14
HABITS
Alexander Wilson (1832) discovered this warbler on the banks of the Cumberland River in Tennessee and gave it the common name it has borne ever since, although it seems inappropriate to name a bird for a State so far from its main breeding range in Canada. Only two specimens were ever obtained by him, and he regarded it as a very rare species, possibly a mere wanderer from some other clime, hence the name peregrina. Audubon never saw more than three individuals, migrants in Louisiana and at Key West. And Nuttall, it seems, never saw it at all. Its apparent rarity in those early days was, perhaps, due to the fact that it is inconspicuously colored and might easily be overlooked or mistaken for a small plainly colored vireo or for the more common Nashville warbler; its fluctuation in numbers from year to year in different places may also have suggested its apparent rarity. Here in Massachusetts, we have found it very common in certain years and very scarce in others.
Spring.—Professor Cooke (1904) says: “In spring migration the Tennessee warbler is rarely found east of the Alleghenies, nor is it so common in the Mississippi Valley as during the fall migration.” And he makes the rather surprising statement that “the Biological Survey has received no notes from the South Atlantic States on the spring migration of the Tennessee warbler, nor from Alabama, Mississippi, or Louisiana, though two birds were seen in April in Cuba and some were taken on the island of Grand Cayman, and