The Condor/Volume 1/Number 2/The Myrtle Warbler in California and Description of a New Race
The Myrtle Warbler in California and Description of a New Race.
BY RICHARD C. MCGREGOR.
THE Myrtle Warbler has been recorded as an occasional visitant along the whole Pacific Coast of the United States from San Francisco north, while its breeding haunts have been located in British Columbia,[1] and by Mr. C. H. Townsend[2] it was found breeding on the Kowak River in Alaska. Baird says "Stragglers were seen on Puget Sound and one was taken by Dr. Suckley at Fort Steilacoom, W. T. May 1, 1856."[3] The check-list gives it as "straggling more or less commonly westward to the Pacific."[4]
By Mr. Belding this species is recorded from the following localities: Willamette Valley, Nicasio, Alameda and Contra Costa counties, Haywards, Murphys, Stockton, Marysville and Summit. He also says "in fall and winter it (Myrtle Warbler) is not easily distinguished from Audubon's Warbler and being much less numerous than the latter, is likely to be overlooked in California."[5] In the middle west I find this warbler recorded from Boerne, South-western Texas, in spring;[6] Colorado, 9000 feet in spring; [7] South-eastern Dakota in spring and summer migration,[8] abundant migrant in western Manitoba.[9]
I have taken the Myrtle Warbler near Denver, Colorado during spring migration. During the past year Mr. T. J. Hoover has taken near Palo Alto about thirty warblers of which thirteen are easily recognizable as Dendroica coronata, the others being D. auduboni. Besides those collected by him, Mr. Hoover has three Myrtle Warblers as follows: Berryessa, Beck; Sonoma, Feb. 2, 1897, Carriger; Battle Creek, Oct. 8, 1898, ♀ McGregor. From these records it seems that D. coronata is distributed throughout the territory west of the Mississippi. There is little doubt that a more careful examination in this region will place the Myrtle among our common migrant species.
The following MS. notes on the Myrtle Warbler as observed near Palo Alto, kindly furnished by Mr. Hoover are of interest in this connection: "Last spring I several times noticed a small black and white warbler which was at first referred to Dendroica nigrescens, but when secured, three examples proved to be D. coronata in which the spring moult was nearly completed. Two of these, male and female, were shot on April 10 in small bushes along San Francisquito Creek and one male April 16 near the same spot. Two others were seen April 9. Further observation may show that this warbler is a regular spring migrant, instead of accidental as heretofore recorded."
Mr. H. Ward Carriger of Sonoma, California has permitted me to incorporate his notes also in my present paper. Mr. Carriger says:
"Previous to the year 1896 I had never secured any specimens of this bird but found them quite common during that year. They were first noticed along a creek in the valley and it was their note which first attracted attention. I secured two specimens on Jan. 21, which appeared to be young of the year. After this date they were common and twenty or more could be seen whenever I visited the hills, where they seemed to stay more than the Audubon's. They were common in 1897, and at the present time (Dec. 1898) are as abundant as Audubon's. There is some difference in the call notes of the two warblers, but both arrive and leave together."
Having compared a fairly good series of eastern and western skins, I have found no difference in colors or markings between the two lots, but there is such a discrepancy in wing and tail lengths, both for males and females, that I believe the western bird may be recognized as having subspecific rank. I will therefore suggest that the new race be known as:
Dendroica coronata hooveri subsp. nov. Hoover's Warbler.
Subsp. char. In colors and markings Iike Dendroica coronata, but with wing and tail much longer.
Type, No. 1988, ♂ ad. Coll. T. J. Hoover, Palo Alto, California, April 16, 1898. In summer plumage. Above bluish-slate, streaked with black: top of head more finely streaked: crown, rump and sides with patches of lemon yellow; superciliary stripe, eyelids, throat, belly, spots behind nostrils, two bars on wings and spot on inner web of three outer tail feathers, white; cheeks and lores, black; feathers of breast black centered. Wing, 3.00; tail 2.31; exposed culmen, .38.
Geog. Dist. Western United States, breeding probably in British Columbia and Alaska.
The presence or absence of yellow on the throat is quite sufficient to distinguish spring examples of D. auduboni and D. hooveri, but with fall or winter specimens this mark is not so evident, when the following diagnoses may be of help.
Throat, yellow: white patch on wing; white of tail or inner webs of four or five outer feathers: a white spot on each eyelid; no white spot in front of eye; lores, bluish ash. auduboni.
Throat, white; two white bands on wings; white spots of tail on three outer feathers; eyelids and a superciliary stripe, white; the latter often interrupted in front of eye; lores, black. hooveri.
I am indebted to Mr. L. M. Loomis for the use of birds in the collection of the California Academy of Sciences. This new form is named for my friend, Mr. Theodore J. Hoover, who collected the types' and kindly placed his material in my hands for examination.
| Locality. | Wing. | Tail. | Exposed Culmen. |
Date. | Collector. | Number. | Collection of | |
| California Males. | ||||||||
| Oakland | 3 06 | 2 28 | .34 | Apr. 2, 1885 | C. A. S. | |||
| Nicasio | 3 07 | 2 34 | .38 | Apr. 12, 1879 | " | |||
| Cloverdale | 3 05 | 2 30 | .34 | Apr. 3, 1885 | " | |||
| Sonoma | 3 00 | 2 38 | .34 | Feb. 2, 1897 | Carriger | 1889 | Hoover | |
| Palo Alto | 2 98 | 2 22 | .39 | Apr. 10, 1898 | Hoover | 1990 | " | |
| " | 3 00 | 2 31 | .38 | Apr. 16, 1898 | " | 1988 | " type | |
| " | 2 98 | 2 24 | .34 | Nov. 20, 1898 | " | 1998 | " | |
| Average | 3 02 | 2 30 | .36 | |||||
| Eastern Males. | ||||||||
| Marlboro, Mass. | 2 90 | 2 20 | .37 | May 6, 1884 | W. E. Bryant | C. A. S. | ||
| "" | 2 93 | 2 26 | .32 | " | " | " | ||
| "" | 2 86 | 2 08 | .37 | " | ||||
| Washington, D.C. | 2 85 | 2 24 | .34 | May 10, 1886 | " | " | ||
| "" | 2 87 | 2 13 | .34 | Nov. 30, 1888 | C W Richmond | " | ||
| "" | 2 80 | 2 10 | .32 | May 13, 1888 | " | " | ||
| "" | 2 82 | 2 09 | .37 | May 2, 1890 | J. W. Figgins | " | ||
| Waterloo, Ind. | 2 95 | 2 20 | .34 | Oct. 15, 1894 | J. O. Snyder | 3151 | Stan'd Univ. | |
| Average | 2 87 | 2 16 | .35 | |||||
| California females. | ||||||||
| Nicasio | 2 88 | 2 26 | .34 | Apr. 11, 1879 | C. A. S. | |||
| Oakland | 2 84 | 2 22 | .33 | Apr. 3, 1885 | W. E. Bryant | " | ||
| West Berkeley | 2 92 | 2 16 | .34 | Nov. 26, 1885 | T. S. Palmer | " | ||
| Palo Alto | 2 96 | 2 27 | .39 | Apr. 10, 1898 | Hoover | 1995 | Hoover | |
| " | 2 77 | 2 16 | .36 | Mar. 20, 1898 | " | 1992 | " | |
| " | 2 90 | 2 24 | .36 | Feb. 26, 1898 | " | 1993 | " | |
| " | 2 84 | 2 28 | .38 | Apr. 4, 1898 | " | " | ||
| " | 2 92 | 2 24 | .38 | Apr. 10, 1898 | " | 1999 | " | |
| " | 2 90 | 2 20 | .34 | Jan. 17, 1899 | " | 2000 | " | |
| Battle Creek | 2 82 | 2 13 | .36 | Oct. 8, 1898 | 1991 | " | ||
| Average | 2 87 | 2 22 | .36 | |||||
| Eastern Females. | ||||||||
| Marlboro, Mass. | 2 83 | 2 08 | .35 | May 6, 1884 | W. E. Bryant | C. A. S. | ||
| "" | 2 72 | 2 02 | .36 | | " | " | ||
| Natick, Mass. | 2 72 | 2 02 | .31 | May 1885 | E. J. Smith | 7795 | " | |
| Washington, D.C. | 3 02 | 2 18 | .34 | Oct. 8, 1888 | " | |||
| Chester Co. Pa. | 2 85 | 2 05 | .36 | May 11, 1894 | H. Garrett | 1980 | Hoover | |
| "" | 2 79 | 2 07 | .37 | May 13, 1892 | " | 1981 | " | |
| "" | 2 94 | 2 22 | .35 | Oct. 13, 1891 | " | 1996 | " | |
| "" | 2 66 | 2 16 | .38 | May 11, 1894 | " | 1994 | " | |
| "" | 2 68 | 2 09 | .35 | May 16, 1892 | " | 1982 | " | |
| Raleigh, N. C. | 2 78 | 2 09 | .33 | Apr. 24, 1893 | H H & C S Brimley | 1983 | " | |
| Average | 2 70 | 2 10 | .35 | |||||
Dendroica auduboni. |
||||||||
| Males taken at Palo Alto by T. J. Hoover. | 3 00 | 2 18 | .38 | Apr. 10, 1898 | 1986 | |||
| 3 05 | 2 28 | .40 | " | 1987 | ||||
| 3 06 | 2 30 | .35 | " | 1985 | ||||
| 2 98 | 2 22 | .39 | Apr. 13, 1898 | 1997 | ||||
| 3 09 | 2 25 | .37 | Jan. 4, 1899 | 1984 | ||||
| Average | 3 03 | 2 24 | .37 | |||||