Part 37

Fall.--As soon as the young are strong on the wing the family parties desert their breeding grounds, and after the molting season is finished they resort to the deciduous woods and join the migrating hosts of warblers and other small birds drifting southward through the tree-tops or along the roadside shade trees. The fall migration is apparently a reversal of the springtime routes, as they travel to their winter haunts in Mexico and the West Indies. Professor Cooke (1904) says that this warbler "passes through Florida in countless thousands, being second only to the black-throated blue warbler in the frequency with which it strikes the lighthouses. * * * By the middle of September the great flights begin and continue in full force for a month."

DISTRIBUTION

Range.--Southern Canada to Nicaragua and the West Indies.

Breeding range.--The Parula warbler breeds =north= to southern Manitoba (Shoal Lake and Caddy Lake); central Ontario (Off Lake, Rossport, and Lake Abitibi); and southern Quebec (Lake Timiskaming, Blue Sea Lake, Gaspé Peninsula, and Anticosti Island). =East= to Anticosti Island (Fox Bay); Prince Edward Island (Tignish); Nova Scotia (Halifax and Yarmouth); and the Atlantic coast south to central Florida (Deer Park, Lake Gentry, and St. Lucie). =South= to central Florida (St. Lucie, Bull Creek Swamp, and Tarpon Springs) and the Gulf coast to south-central Texas (Houston and San Antonio). =West= to central Texas (San Antonio and Kerrville); eastern Oklahoma (Caddo, red Oak, and Copan); eastern Kansas (Neosha Falls, Topeka, and Leavenworth); central Iowa (Des Moines); north-central Minnesota (Cass Lake and Itasca); and southeastern Manitoba (Shoal Lake).

Winter range.--The parula warbler winters =north= to southern Tamaulipas (Tampico); occasionally southern Florida (Tarpon Springs, Sanibel Island, and Miami); the Bahamas Islands (Nassau and Caicos); Hispaniola (Tortue Island and Samaná); Puerto Rico; the Virgin Islands (St. Thomas); and the Lesser Antilles (Saba). =East= to the Lesser Antilles (Saba, St. Christopher, Guadaloupe, and Barbados). =South= to the Lesser Antilles (Barbados); Jamaica (Kingston); and Nicaragua (Río Escondido). =West= to Nicaragua (Río Escondido); El Salvador (Barra de Santiago); western Guatemala (San José and Escuintla); southern Oaxaca (Tehuantepec); Veracruz (Tlacotalpan); and Tamaulipas (Tampico).

The above range is for the species as a whole, of which two geographic races are recognized: the southern parula warbler (P. a. americana) breeds in southeastern United States from Maryland southward, east of the mountains; the northern parula warbler (P. a. pusilla) breeds in the western and northern portion of the range.

Migration.--Late dates of spring departure from the winter home are: El Salvador--Barra de Santiago, April 18. Guatemala--San José, March 7. Yucatán--San Felipe, April 4. Virgin Islands--St. Croix, April 30. Puerto Rico--Mayagüez, May 7. Haiti--Port au Prince, April 4. Cuba--Habana, May 4. Bahamas--Cay Lobos, May 14.

Early dates of spring arrival are: Florida--Daytona Beach, March 3. Alabama--Coosada, March 25. Georgia--Savannah, March 8. South Carolina--Frogmore, March 5. North Carolina--Washington, March 26. West Virginia--Bluefield, April 9. District of Columbia--Washington, April 6. Pennsylvania--Carlisle, April 25. New York--Shelter Island, April 23. Massachusetts--Stoughton, April 25. Vermont--St. Johnsbury, April 21. Maine--Portland, April 29. Nova Scotia--Wolfville, May 8. New Brunswick--St. Stephen, May 9. Quebec--Quebec, May 10. Louisiana--New Orleans, February 15. Mississippi--Bay St. Louis, March 5. Arkansas--Helena, March 24. Tennessee--Athens, April 3. Kentucky--Eubank, April 4. Indiana--Bloomington, April 21. Ohio--Columbus, April 28. Michigan--Ann Arbor, April 29. Ontario--Toronto, May 2. Missouri--Columbia, April 5. Iowa--Grinnell, April 28. Wisconsin--Madison, April 30. Minnesota--Red Wing, May 5. Texas--Hidalgo, March 5. Oklahoma--Caddo, March 25. Kansas--Independence, April 8. Nebraska--Havelock, April 20.

Late dates of fall departure are: Minnesota--St. Paul, October 5. Wisconsin--Milwaukee, October 9. Missouri--St. Louis, October 5. Ontario--Point Pelee, October 5. Michigan--Grand Rapids, October 19. Ohio--Toledo, October 19. Indiana--Richmond, October 14. Tennessee--Nashville, October 3. Arkansas--Monticello, October 2. Louisiana--Covington, October 26. Mississippi--Gulfport, November 2. Quebec--Hatley, September 30. New Brunswick--Scotch Lake, September 28. Maine--Portland, October 24. New Hampshire--Hanover, October 11. Massachusetts--Rockport, October 25. New York--Rhinebeck, October 21. Pennsylvania--Berwyn, October 26. District of Columbia, Washington, October 17. West Virginia--French Creek, October 1. Virginia--Lynchburg, October 17. North Carolina--Rocky Mount, October 23. South Carolina--Charleston, October 22. Georgia--Athens, November 4. Florida--Gainesville, November 19.

Early dates of fall arrival are: Bahamas--Watling Island, September 28. Cuba--Habana, August 10. Dominican Republic--San Juan, October 21. Puerto Rico--Parguera, September 19. Nicaragua--Río Escondido, October 20. Costa Rica--Villa Quesada, October 24.

Banding.--Only a single migration record is available from banded birds. A parula warbler banded as an adult at Flushing, Long Island, New York, on September 16, 1946, was found dead about October 1, 1947, at La Grange, Maine.

Casual records.--The parula warbler has been recorded three times in Colorado (in El Paso County, at Kit Carson, and at Denver); and three times in Wyoming (once at Cheyenne and twice at Torrington).

Egg dates.--Massachusetts: 52 records, May 20 to July 7; 29 records, May 29 to June 10, indicating the height of the season.

Connecticut: 39 records, May 25 to June 25; 25 records, June 1 to 10.

South Carolina: 20 records, April 10 to June 24; 10 records, April 30 to May 11.

PARULA AMERICANA AMERICANA (Linnaeus)

SOUTHERN PARULA WARBLER

PLATE 22

HABITS

This southern race of our well-known blue yellow-backed warbler is said to breed from the District of Columbia southward to Florida and Alabama. William Brewster (1896), in describing and naming the northern race, restricted the Linnaean name americana to the southern bird because it was evidently based on Catesby's excellent plate, drawn from a bird taken in South Carolina. In his comparative diagnoses of the two forms, he describes the southern bird as "averaging slightly smaller but with longer bill. Adult male with more yellow on the under parts and less black or blackish on the lores and malar region; the dark collar across the jugulum narrow, obscure, often nearly wanting; the chest pale, diffuse russet, without obvious markings." He admits that no one of these characters is quite constant, the best one being the depth and definition of the reddish brown on the chest. And he suggests that the distribution of the two forms in the breeding season may be roughly correlated with the distribution of Usnea in the north and of Tillandsia in the south, in which the two forms, respectively, seem to prefer to build their nests. This, however, is not strictly accurate or universal (for example, see some remarks by M. G. Vaiden, under the preceding form, on the breeding of this species in two different localities in Mississippi).

Arthur T. Wayne (1910) says of the haunts of the southern bird in South Carolina: "As soon as the sweet gum trees begin to bud, the song of this beautiful bird is heard. It heralds the approach of spring and is one of the first warblers to arrive which does not winter. The range of this species in the breeding season is entirely governed by the presence or absence of the Spanish moss, and where the moss is growing in profusion the birds are common, but where the moss is absent the birds are absolutely not to be found."

A. H. Howell (1932) calls this southern subspecies "an abundant spring and fall migrant [in Florida]; a common summer resident south at least to Osceola County; and a rare winter resident, chiefly in the central and southern part. Owing to the presence of a few wintering individuals, it is difficult to determine when spring migration begins. * * * Positive evidence of migration is furnished by the appearance of large numbers striking the light on Sombrero Key, March 3, 1889, when 250 birds were observed and 30 were killed. This species is one of the most numerous and regular visitants at the lighthouses on the east coast and on the Keys." Many of these were, of course, the northern race. Of the haunts of the southern race, he says: "The dainty little Parula Warbler is found most frequently in cypress swamps or heavily timbered bottom-lands, and to a lesser extent in the upland hammocks. The abundant Spanish moss on the trees furnishes ideal nesting sites for the birds."

Nesting.--Except for the fact that the so-called Spanish moss (Tillandsia) replaces the beard moss (Usnea), the nesting habits of the two races are very much alike. A. T. Wayne (1910) says that in South Carolina "the nest is always built in the festoons of the Spanish moss, from eight to more than one hundred feet from the ground, and is constructed of the flower of the moss and a few pieces of fine, dry grass." The nesting habits in Florida are very similar.

In southeastern Virginia, according to Harold H. Bailey (1913) this southern race is:--

a most common breeding bird in its favorite haunts, the cypress or juniper swamps of the southeastern section; Cape Henry southward. These trees seem to furnish particularly fine feeding grounds, and wherever you find one festooned with the long, hanging Spanish moss, here also you are likely to find one or more nests. In this section I should call them a colony bird, for in days past I have seen on the trees in and surrounding one small lake, as many as two hundred pair breeding in company. The Dismal Swamp and its surrounding low territory has been an ideal spot for a feeding and breeding home in years past, but of late, the cutting of the juniper for commercial purposes, and the disappearance of the moss to a great extent, has driven the majority of the birds elsewhere.

Eggs.--These are indistinguishable from those of the northern parula warbler. The measurements of 50 eggs average 16.2 by 12.0 millimeters; the eggs showing the four extremes measure =19.5= by =12.7= and =14.0= by =11.0= millimeters (Harris).

Food.--Howell (1932) reports: "Examination of the stomachs of four birds taken in Florida in February showed the contents to consist almost wholly of insects and spiders, with a few bud scales. Hymenoptera (ants, bees and wasps) composed the largest item, amounting in two instances to approximately half the total contents. Other insects taken in smaller quantities were lepidopterous larvae, fly larvae, beetles, weevils, scale insects, bugs, and grouse locusts. Spiders were found in three stomachs, and amounted to about 20 per cent of the total food."

PACULA PITIAYUMI NIGRILORA (Coues)