THE ÜNr/ERSITY OF OKLAHCMA GRADUATE COLLEGE A BIOEGOLOGIGAL STUDY OF THE BLACK-GAPPED VIREO (VIREO ATRIGAPILLUS) I A DISSERTATION I SUBMITTED TO THE GRADUATE FACULTY I in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the I degree of ! DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY BY JEAN WEBER GRABER Norman, Oklahoma 1957 k BIOEGOLOGIGAL STUDY OP THE BLAGK-GAPPED VIREO (VIREO ATRIGAPILLUS) APPROVED BY j d s A J é DISSERTATION COMMITTEE ACKNOWLEDGEMENT I wish to acknowledge the aid given me by many per­ sons and institutions. The following libraries were used; Southwest Texas State Teachers College, San Marcos, Texas; University of Texas and Texas History Center, Austin; andUniversity of | ! i Illinois, Champaign-Urbana. I I I Plant specimens were identified by George J. Goodman | bf the University of Oklahoma, B. L. Turner and W. I. McCart | I I of the University of Texas, and Rogers McVaugh of the Univer-I sity of Michigan. ! I I i Stomach contents were identified by Milton W. Sander-1 I son of the Illinois Natural History Survey. I Advice on statistical data was given by P. J. Clark i of the University of Oklahoma. I Specimens were borrowed from the following: United I States National Museum,■ American Museum of Natural History, i ■ ■ Chicago Museum of Natural History, University of Michigan Mu­ seum of Zoology, University of Texas, Agricultural and Meehan^ j ical College of Texas, University of Kansas Museum of Natural History, Museum of Vertebrate Zoology (University of 111 CàllTornTa)7 ‘lïmië¥ota Müsëù1m~ôr~]ï^^^ pf Minnesota), Strecker Museum (Baylor University), and Muse-- urn of Northern Arizona. The following institutions furnished me information; i Museum of Science, Boston, Mass.; British Museum of Natural I History; University of Oregon; Chicago Academy of Sciences; Nevada State Museum; Los Angeles County Museum; Alabama Muse­ um of Natural History; St. Joseph Museum, St. Joseph, Mo.; Peabody Museum, Salem, Mass.; Berkshire Museum, Pittsfield, i Mass.; Kansas Historical Society, Topeka; Academy of Science,; jSt. Louis, Mo.; Stanford University, Stanford, Calif.; New ; ■fork State Museum; Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia; &anta Barbara Museum, Santa Barbara, Calif,*; Princeton Muse- I I " urn of Zoology; Hastings Museum, Hastings, Neb.; Louisiana State University; Southern Methodist University; Sul Ross State Teachers College, Alpine, Texas; Dallas Museum of I ■■ ■ " Natural History; Carnegie Museum; Yale Peabody Museum; CornaL. Jniversity; Texas Game and Pish Commission; and the U. S. ish and Wildlife Service. I I ! The following persons have given me information con- i icerning the species: Geth Osborne, Edward G. Fritz, Mrs. T. E. Winford, and Mrs. Kennedy England, all of Dallas, i Texas; Pred S. Webster, Edgar Kincaid, and Roy Bedicheck, all I ■ I Pf Austin, Texas; Edna Miner and Carl Aiken, Houston, Texas; | Fl*ed W. Jopin, Vernon, Texas; Lena McBee, El Paso, Texas; I . ■ Kent Rylander, Denton, Texas; Gaddis Taylor, Tyler, Texas; iv Bessie Reid, Silsbee, Texas; C. Terry Gill andIrby Davis, Harlingen, Texas; Mrs. Mike O'Neil, Commerce, Texas; Mrs. Ro­ bert N. Molloy, Corsicana, Texas; Mrs. Conger Hagar, Rock- port, Texas; Warren M. Pulich, Irving, Texas; Joe Bailey, Canyon, Texas; Wm. McMillan, Lubbock, Texas; Nell Amthor, Bastrop, Texas; L. R. Wolfe, Kerrville, Texas; Carl W. Gugler, University of Nebraska, Lincoln; Jerry Stillwell, Fayette­ ville, Ark,; T. D. Burleigh, Moscow, Idaho; Edith Force Kassing and Orrin W. Letson, Tulsa, Okla.; F. M. Baumgartner, Stillwater, Okla.; Alden H. Miller, Berkeley, Cal.; Alexander Wetmore, Herbert Friedmann, and H. G. Deignan, all of the U. S. National Museum, Washington, D.C.; Dwain Warner, Uni­ versity of Minnesota, Minneapolis; H. C. Oberholser, Cleve­ land, Ohio; Robert T. Moore, Los Angeles, and George H. Loweiÿ, Jr., Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge. The following have given me financial aid: the Na­ tional Science Foundation (fellowship 19BB-B6), Women’s Gar­ den Clubs of America (Rosebud chapter, acting as my sponsor), and the Scholarship Committee of the University of Oklahoma, The following persons permitted me to do field work on their properties: W. H. Church, Shrum Lee, and Mr. Salyeij all of Cogar, Oklahoma; Haney Thornton and D. R. Capps, Jr., Wimberley, Texas; W. B. Ranklin, Menada Ranch, Uvalde, Texas;; and N. D. Blackstone, Sheffield, Texas. I am also grateful for permission to do field work on É1 Rancho Cima, Wimberley, Texas, which is owned by the V Hous t on G oünci I of the Boy SëôütT^ôT'Amêrlcëü— TSeTParkTServ^ ice of the Big Bend National Park was very helpful when I was doing field work there. To the following persons I wish to express my grati­ tude especially; Mrs. M. M. Nice, Chicago; Mrs. Lovie Whitaker, Elroy Rice, David F. Parmelee, John C. Johnson, Jr., Don Baepler, and Hugh Land, all of Norman, Oklahoma; and Allan R. Phillips. To George M. Sutton, who directed this study, and to my husband, Richard R. Graber, who helped me in a multitude of ways, I owe much. VI TABLE OF CONTENTS Page LIST OF T A B L E S ...................................... ix LIST OF M A P S ........................................ xi LIST OF G R A P H S ...................................... xii LIST OF PHOTOGRAPHS ...................................xlii Chapter I. INTRODUCTION ................................. 1 II. TECHNIQUES AND MATERIALS US E D ................. 3 III. LIFE H I S T O R Y ............................ 5 IV. H A B I T S ...................................... 65 V. FOOD AND F E E D I N G ............................ 70 VI, ECTOPARASITES AND DISEASE..................... ?6 VII. T A X O N O M Y .................................... 77 VIII, D I S T R I B U T I O N ................................ 86 IX. OTHER VERTEBRATES IN AREA OCCUPIED BY BLACK-CAPPED VIREO AND ITS RELATION TO T H E M ....................................... 131 X. H A B I T A T ......................................... 137 XI. DISCUSSION ..................................... 163 XII. SUMMARY . ..................................... 166 BIBLIOGRAPHY........................................... 172 vii Page APPENDICES.............................................. 181 PHOTOGRAPHS ............................................193 viii LIST OP TABLES Table Page 1. Observations of Nest (N2) on Fourth Day of Incubation ............................... 31 2. Observation of Nest (N2) on Fourteenth Day of Incubation ........................... 32 3» Observations of Nest (Nifl): Second Brood, Incubation on Third Day before Hatching . 33 i|.. Daily Weights of Nestlings in G r a m s ........... 38 5» Analysis of Nesting Success for Three Years. 57 6 . Analysis of Egg L o s s ........................... 58 7 . Analysis of Loss of Incubated Eggs and N e s t l i n g s ................................... 58 8 . Analysis of Stomach Contents ................... 71 9 . Food of Black-capped V i r e o ..................... 73 10. Geographic Variation in Measurements of Adult M a l e s ................................. 78 11. Variation in Measurements of Different Age G r o u p s ................................... .. 79 12. Distributional Records of Vireo atricapillus............................. 96 1 3 . Frequency (in Percent) of Woody Plants in Oklahoma Q u a d r a t s .............. ll|6 lij.. Frequency (in Percent) of Woody Plants in Texas Quadrats..................................l)|7 IX Table Page 15. Number and Size of Living Trees in Fifty-four Oklahoma Quadrats................ l.J[R 16 . Number and Size of Living Trees in Thirty-five Texas Quadrats in Hays and Comal C o u n t i e s .................... llj.9 LIST OF MAPS Map Page 1. Territories in Oklah.oma Study A r e a ............... 10 2. Distribution of Vireo atricapillus Records in.-Nebraska..................................... 126 3. Distribution of Vireo atricapillus Records in K a n s a s ....................................... 127 4 . Distribution of Vireo atricapillus Records in Oklahoma..................................... 128 Distribution of Vireo atricapillus Records in T e x a s ....................................... 129 6. Distribution of Vireo atricapillus Records in M e x i c o ....................................... I3 O XI LIST OF GRAPHS Graph Page 1. Comparative Data Showing Egg Laying Activity During Different Weeks of the Laying Season in Oklahoma and Texas . 2i|. 2. Growth Curves of Ng Brood .......... 37 3 . Daily Weights of Mixed Brood in Black-capped Vireo N e s t ......... 1|.0 1^. Daily Weights of Mixed Brood in Bell's Vireo N e s t ........................... i|.l Feeding Rates in a Nest with Pour Black-capped Vireo Chicks ................... $0 6. Temperature and Precipitation in Breeding Habitat ....................... l5^ 7 . Temperature and Precipitation in Western Texas,, and. Western Oklahoma ...... 157 8 . Temperature and Precipitation in Localities North and East of the Breeding Area and Those at Kerrville, T e x a s ..........................................l58 9 . Temperature and Precipitation of Wintering and Breeding Habitats ............ 1 6 O xii LIST OF PHOTOGRAPHS Figure Page 1, Newly hatched vireo chick and cowbird c h i c k s .......................................... I9I1 2 , Nest s i t u ......................................195 3* Adult male at n e s t ................................ I96 i|_. Adult female at n e s t .............................I96 5 . Sight males showing correlation between darkness of head and a g e ....................... 197 6 . Habitat in Dewey County, Oklahoma ............. 198 7 . Habitat