A History of North American Birds; Land Birds; Vol. 1 of 3Baird, Spencer Fullerton
Science
A History of North American Birds; Land Birds; Vol. 1 of 3
Baird, Spencer Fullerton
Birds -- North America
HABITS. The Yellow-crowned Wood Warbler is one of the most common
species of this genus, as well as one of the most widely distributed.
It is found, at different seasons, throughout the eastern part of the
continent, as far west as the Great Plains, extending at the far north
to the Pacific Ocean. It has been found in Greenland, three specimens
having been taken within twenty years, and on the shores of the Arctic
Ocean, and during the winter in the West India Islands, Mexico, and
Central America. Specimens from Florida and Fort Steilacoom, Panama,
Guatemala, and Jamaica, and from Fort Rae, Anderson River, and the
Yukon, in the collection of the Smithsonian Institution, attest its
wide distribution. In Jamaica, in the neighborhood of Spanishtown,
this species has been known to breed. In view of the fact that this
bird is regarded, with good reason, as one of our most northern
species, breeding to the very shores of the frozen seas, the
occurrence seems erratic and remarkable. Yet it is not without
corresponding vagaries in other species, the _cærulescens_ breeding in
Cuba and the _tigrina_ in St. Domingo and Jamaica.
Mr. Paine, of East Randolph, Vt., states that these Warblers arrive in
his vicinity about the first of May, and remain there nearly two
weeks, and then all pass north. They do not return on their southern
flight until the last of September, when they remain about three
weeks. It is a very active, restless bird, chirping continually and
very sharply as it flies around in search of insects, but has not, so
far as he knows, any song.
In Southern Illinois, as Mr. Ridgway informs me, this bird is a common
winter sojourner, remaining late in spring with the migratory species.
It is very abundant throughout the winter in woods, orchards, and
door-yards.
Mr. Salvin found this species frequenting the more open districts
about Duenas, Guatemala, apparently preferring scattered bushes to the
denser underwood, and was an abundant species there throughout the
winter season.
It is but quite recently that we have known with certainty its place
and manner of breeding. Neither Wilson, Nuttall, nor Audubon appear to
have met with its nest, though the latter received one from Professor
McCulloch of Halifax.
In the summer of 1855, early in July, I obtained a nest of this
species in Parsboro’, Nova Scotia. It was built in a low bush, in the
midst of a small village, and contained six eggs. The parents were
very shy, and it was with great difficulty that one of them was
secured for identification. Though late in the season, incubation had
but just commenced.
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