  Note: In some quoted passages, the author uses three spaced asterisks to show a deleted section. These are displayed as * * *. DOVER BOOKS ON BIRDS Audubon’s Birds of America Coloring Book, John James Audubon. (23049-X) $2.25 Bird Study, Andrew J. Berger. (22699-9) $7.95 Bird Song and Bird Behavior, Donald J. Borror. (22779-0) Record and manual $4.95 Common Bird Songs, Donald J. Borror. (21829-5) Record and manual $4.95 Songs of Eastern Birds, Donald J. Borror. (22378-7) Record and album $4.95 Songs of Western Birds, Donald J. Borror. (22765-0) Record and album $4.95 Birds of the New York Area, John Bull. (23222-0) $7.50 What Bird Is This?, Henry H. Collins, Jr. (21490-7) $2.95 Hawks, Owls and Wildlife, John J. Craighead and Frank C. Craighead, Jr. (22123-7) $7.00 Cruickshank’s Photographs of Birds of America, Allan D. Cruickshank. (23497-5) $7.95 1001 Questions Answered about Birds, Allan Cruickshank and Helen Cruickshank. (23315-4) $4.50 Extinct and Vanishing Birds of the World, James C. Greenway, Jr. (21869-4) $7.95 Bird Migration, Donald R. Griffin. (20529-0) $4.50 A Guide to Bird Watching, Joseph J. Hickey. (21596-2) $4.95 Life Histories of by Arthur Cleveland Bent in two parts Part 1 Dover Publications, Inc. Published in the United Kingdom by Constable and Company, Limited, 10 Orange Street, London W. C. 2. This Dover edition, first published in 1963, is an unabridged and unaltered republication of the work first published in 1953 by the United States Government Printing Office, as Smithsonian Institution United States National Museum Bulletin 203. Standard Book Number: 486-21153-3 Manufactured in the United States of America Dover Publications, Inc. ADVERTISEMENT The scientific publications of the National Museum include two series, known, respectively, as Proceedings and Bulletins. The Proceedings series, begun in 1878, is intended primarily as a medium for the publication of original papers, based on the collections of the National Museum, that set forth newly acquired facts in biology, anthropology, and geology, with descriptions of new forms and revisions of limited groups. Copies of each paper, in pamphlet form, are distributed as published to libraries and scientific organizations and to specialists and others interested in the different subjects. The dates at which these separate papers are published are recorded in the table of contents of each of the volumes. The series of Bulletins, the first of which was issued in 1875, contains separate publications comprising monographs of large zoological groups and other general systematic treatises (occasionally in several volumes), faunal works, reports of expeditions, catalogs of type specimens, special collections, and other material of similar nature. The majority of the volumes are octavo in size, but a quarto size has been adopted in a few instances in which the larger page was regarded as indispensable. In the Bulletin series appear volumes under the heading Contributions from the United States National Herbarium, in octavo form, published by the National Museum since 1902, which contain papers relating to the botanical collections of the Museum. The present work forms No. 203 of the Bulletin series. Remington Kellogg, CONTENTS
This is the nineteenth in a series of bulletins of the United States National Museum on the life histories of North American birds. Previous numbers have been issued as follows: 107. Life Histories of North American Diving Birds, August 1, 1919. 113. Life Histories of North American Gulls and Terns, August 27, 1921. 121. Life Histories of North American Petrels and Pelicans and Their Allies, October 19, 1922. 126. Life Histories of North American Wild Fowl (part), May 25, 1923. 130. Life Histories of North American Wild Fowl (part), June 27, 1925. 135. Life Histories of North American Marsh Birds, March 11, 1927. 142. Life Histories of North American Shore Birds (pt. 1), December 31, 1927. 146. Life Histories of North American Shore Birds (pt. 2), March 24, 1929. 162. Life Histories of North American Gallinaceous Birds, May 25, 1932. 167. Life Histories of North American Birds of Prey (pt. 1), May 3, 1937. 170. Life Histories of North American Birds of Prey (pt. 2), August 8, 1938. 174. Life Histories of North American Woodpeckers, May 23, 1939. 176. Life Histories of North American Cuckoos, Goatsuckers, Hummingbirds, and Their Allies, July 20, 1940. 179. Life Histories of North American Flycatchers, Larks, Swallows, and Their Allies, May 8, 1942. 191. Life Histories of North American Jays, Crows, and Titmice, January 27, 1947. 195. Life Histories of North American Nuthatches, Wrens, Thrashers, and Their Allies, July 7, 1948. 196. Life Histories of North American Thrushes, Kinglets, and Their Allies, June 28, 1949. 197. Life Histories of North American Wagtails, Shrikes, Vireos, and Their Allies, June 21, 1950. The paragraphs on distribution for the Colima and Kirtland’s warblers were supplied by Dr. Josselyn Van Tyne with his contributions on these species. All other data on distribution and migration were contributed by the Fish and Wildlife Service under the supervision of Frederick C. Lincoln. The same general plan has been followed as explained in previous bulletins, and the same sources of information have been used. It does not seem necessary to explain the plan again here. The nomenclature of the Check-List of North American Birds (1931), with its supplements, of the American Ornithologists’ Union, has been followed. Forms not recognized in this list have not been included. Many who have contributed material for previous Bulletins have continued to cooperate. Receipts of material from several hundred contributors has been acknowledged in previous Bulletins. In addition to these, our thanks are due to the following new contributors: G. A. Ammann, O. L. Austin, Jr., F. S. Barkalow, Jr., Ralph Beebe, H. E. Bennett, A. J. Berger, Virgilio Biaggi, Jr., C. H. Blake, Don Bleitz, B. J. Blincoe, L. C. Brecher, Jeanne Broley, Maurice Broun, J. H. Buckalew, I. W. Burr, N. K. Carpenter, May T. Cooke, H. L. Crockett, Grace Crowe, Ruby Curry, J. V. Dennis, E. von S. Dingle, M. S. Dunlap, J. J. Elliott, A. H. Fast, Edith K. Frey, J. E. Galley, J. H. Gerard, Lydia Getell, H. B. Goldstein, Alan Gordon, L. I. Grinnell, Horace Groskin, F. G. Gross, G. W. Gullion, E. M. Hall, R. H. Hansman, Katharine C. Harding, H. H. Harrison, J. W. Hopkins, N. L. Huff, Verna R. Johnston, Malcolm Jollie, R. S. Judd, M. B. Land, Louise de K. Lawrence, R. E. Lawrence, G. H. Lowery, J. M. Markle, C. R. Mason, D. L. McKinley, R. J. Middleton, Lyle Miller, A. H. Morgan, R. H. Myers, W. H. Nicholson, F. H. Orcutt, H. L. Orians, R. A. O’Reilly, A. A. Outram, G. H. Parks, K. C. Parkes, M. M. Peet, J. L. Peters, F. A. Pitelka, Mariana Roach, James Rooney, Jr., O. M. Root, G. B. Saunders, James Sawders, Mary C. Shaub, Dorothy E. Snyder, Doris Heustis Speirs, E. A. Stoner, P. B. Street, H. R. Sweet, E. W. Teale, A. B. Williams, G. G. Williams, R. B. Williams, Mrs. T. E. Winford, and A. M. Woodbury. As the demand for these Bulletins is much greater than the supply, the names of those who have not contributed to the work during recent years will be dropped from the author’s mailing list. Dr. Winsor M. Tyler has again read and indexed for this volume a large part of the current literature on North American birds and has contributed four complete life histories. Dr. Alfred O. Gross has written stories on the yellow-throats (Geothlypis trichas) and has contributed three other complete life histories. Edward von S. Dingle, Alexander Sprunt, Jr., and Dr. Josselyn Van Tyne have contributed two complete life histories each. William George F. Harris has increased his valuable contribution to the work by producing the entire paragraphs on eggs, including descriptions of the eggs in their exact colors, assembling and averaging the measurements, and collecting and arranging the egg dates, as they appear under Distribution; the preparation of this last item alone required the handling of over 5,600 records. Clarence F. Smith has furnished references to food habits of all the species of wood warblers. Aretas A. Saunders has contributed full and accurate descriptions of the songs and call notes of all the species with which he is familiar, based on his extensive musical records. Dr. Alexander F. Skutch has sent us full accounts of all the North American wood warblers that migrate through or spend the winter in Central America, with dates of arrival and departure. James Lee Peters has furnished descriptions of molts and plumages of several species and has copied several original descriptions of subspecies from publications that were not available to the author. Eggs were measured for this volume by American Museum of Natural History (C. K. Nichols), California Academy of Sciences (R. T. Orr), Colorado Museum of Natural History (F. G. Brandenburg), C. E. Doe, W. E. Griffee, W. C. Hanna, E. N. Harrison, H. L. Heaton, A. D. Henderson, Museum of Comparative Zoology (W. G. F. Harris), and Museum of Vertebrate Zoology (M. Jollie). The manuscript for this Bulletin was written in 1945; only important information could be added. If the reader fails to find in these pages anything that he knows about the birds, he can only blame himself for failing to send the information to— The Author. LIFE HISTORIES OF Order PASSERIFORMES: Family Parulidae By Arthur Cleveland Bent GENERAL REMARKS ON THE FAMILY PARULIDAE Contributed by Winsor Marrett Tyler The family of wood warblers, Parulidae, is the second largest family of North American birds, surpassed only in number of species by the family Fringillidae. The wood warblers occur only in the Western Hemisphere; they are distinct from the Old World warblers, Sylviidae, although the two families play a similar rÔle in nature’s economy. The wood warblers are largely nocturnal migrants, whose long journeys in the dark of night over sea and lake and along the coast expose them to many perils, one being the lighthouses they strike with frequently fatal results. Their notes are seldom heard from the night sky during their spring migration, but on many a calm, quiet night in August and September, as they fly overhead, their sharp, sibilant, staccato notes punctuate the rhythmic beat of the tree-crickets singing in the shrubbery and stand out clearly among the soft, whistled calls of the migrating thrushes. The length of migration varies greatly; the pine warbler withdraws in winter only a short distance from the southern limit of its breeding range, whereas the most northerly breeding black-polls migrate from Alaska to the Tropics. In spring many species migrate at nearly the same time, apparently advancing northward in intermittent waves of great numbers during favorable nights. Flocks made up of sometimes a dozen species together flash about in their bright plumage during the week or two at the height of the migration and furnish days of great excitement to ornithologists. Their return in late summer and autumn is more leisurely and regular; in loose flocks they drift slowly by for several weeks, their southward passage evident even in daytime. The flocking begins early, soon after nesting is over, and to the north is apparent early in July, if closely watched for, even before the leaves begin to wither. The mixed fall flocks, with adults in winter plumage and young birds in duller colors, present many fascinating problems in identification as the birds move quietly along. [Author’s Notes: When I asked Dr. Tyler to contribute these remarks we discussed Professor Cooke’s (1904) theory of trans-Gulf migration, which has been generally accepted until recently, when it was challenged by George C. Williams (1945). This paper started a discussion in which George H. Lowery, Jr. (1945), has taken a prominent part, and of which we have not yet heard the last. Routes of migration from South America to the United States are evidently well established through the West Indies and the Bahamas to the southeastern States; across the Caribbean to Jamaica, Cuba, and Florida; through Central America and directly across the Gulf from YucutÁn to the Gulf States; through eastern Mexico and Texas; and through western Mexico to the southwestern States. Professor Cooke was probably correct in assuming that the majority of wood warblers breeding in eastern North America migrate directly across the Caribbean or the Gulf. Some species may confine themselves to only one of the routes named, but we need more data to say just which species uses what route.] The literature contains descriptions of several warblers not recognized as established species by the A. O. U. Check-List (1931). Some, described and illustrated by older writers such as Wilson and Audubon, cannot be identified; others are presumably hybrids; and one, Sylvia autumnalis Wilson, the autumn warbler, is clearly the black-poll in fall plumage. The first category includes Dendroica carbonata (Audubon), the carbonated warbler, of which the Check-List says “the published plates may have been based to some extent on memory”; D. montana (Wilson), the blue mountain warbler, which is “known only from the plates of Audubon and Wilson”; and Wilsonia (?) microcephala (Ridgway), the small-headed flycatcher, of which it says: “Known only from the works of Wilson and Audubon whose specimens came from New Jersey and Kentucky respectively. There is some question whether they represent the same species.” In the second category is Vermivora cincinnatiensis (Langdon), the Cincinnati warbler, described in 1880. “The unique type is regarded as a hybrid between Vermivora pinus (Linnaeus) and Oporornis formosa (Wilson).” Recently, in a letter dated August 3, 1948, Dr. George M. Sutton reports to Mr. Bent the discovery of a second Cincinnati warbler, taken in Michigan on May 28, 1948. He says: “Its bill and feet are large for Vermivora and its under tail coverts proportionately too long for that genus. It has only a faint suggestion of wing-barring and the merest shadow of a pattern on the outer rectrices. One of its most interesting and beautiful characters is the gray tipping of the feathers at the rear of the crown, as in O. formosus. The effect is very unusual, for the gray-tipped feathers are yellow. It is, in short, obviously a cross between Vermivora and Oporornis.” The status of Vermivora leucobronchialis and V. lawrencii and the relationship between them puzzled ornithologists for upward of two generations. William Brewster (1876) described the former as a new species, and since that time, as Walter Faxon (1911) writes, “almost every conceivable hypothesis has been advanced by one writer or another to fix its true status in our bird-fauna.” In addition to being considered a valid species, it has been regarded as a hybrid (Brewster, 1881), as a dichromatic phase, that is, a leucochroic phase of V. pinus (Ridgway, 1887), as a mutant (Scott, 1905), and finally as a phase, “ancestral in character” (atavistic) of the goldenwing (C. W. Townsend, 1908). Lawrence’s warbler is a very rare bird. The first specimen was described in 1874 (Herold Herrick, 1874), and since that time the bird was taken or seen infrequently, chiefly in regions where the breeding ranges of V. chrysoptera and V. pinus overlap. Consensus of opinion in the main regarded it as a hybrid between V. chrysoptera and V. pinus, as it combined characters of both the supposed parents. John Treadwell Nichols (1908) some years ago brought new light to the problem. He says: In any discussion of the status of Lawrence’s and Brewster’s Warblers it is well to bear in mind the facts, including the much greater abundance of Brewster’s, are in accord with Mendel’s Law of Heredity, supposing both forms to be hybrids between Helminthophila pinus and H. chrysoptera. * * * All the first generation hybrids will be Brewster’s Warbler in plumage. In the next generation there will be pure Golden-winged Warblers, pure Blue-winged Warblers, pure Brewster’s Warblers, and pure Lawrence’s Warblers; also mixed birds of the first three forms, but none of the last form, which, being recessive, comes to light only when pure. The original hybrids then (which will be all Brewster’s in plumage) must be fertile with one another or with the parent species for any Lawrence’s to occur; and if they are perfectly fertile Lawrence’s must still remain a small minority. After the first generation the proportion of plumages of birds with mixed parentage should be: 9 Brewster’s, 3 chrysoptera, 3 pinus, 1 Lawrence’s. This explanation removed the stumbling block, long believed to be insurmountable, that a black-throated bird, mating with a yellow-throated bird, could produce progeny having a white throat. Under Mendel’s Law the dominant color (white) of chrysoptera would appear by the suppression of the recessive black throat. Fortunately, Walter Faxon (1913) not long afterward found a female blue-winged warbler mated with a goldenwing and was successful in following the resulting brood of young birds until they had acquired their first winter plumage when, fulfilling Mendel’s Law, they were all in “the garb of Helminthophila leucobronchialis,” thus establishing beyond a doubt the hybrid nature of the bird. At the end of his paper, Walter Faxon (1913) relates a bit of interesting ancient history regarding these three species of Vermivora. He says: |
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