390 BULLETIN 203, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



it has nevertheless been able to maintain a large and growing popu- 

 lation. Anyone who has experienced seeing the great migration waves 

 that arrive late in the season will agree that it is one of our most 

 abundant warblers. One reason for this is the extensive breeding 

 range in the seclusion of the northern coniferous forests stretching 

 across the entire continent from Alaska to the Labrador coast. To be 

 sure, the unusual numbers in eastern United States during the migra- 

 tion are due in part to the fact that the black-polled warblers, breed- 

 ing in the extensive region to the north, pass in an ever narrowing 

 migi-ation route to their exit at the Florida Peninsula. In spring a 

 reverse condition exists in which the birds spread out as they go north 

 to occupy the great fan-shaped area. 



Spring. — This warbler arrives late in the season, at a time when the 

 majority of the trees are in blossom or well leaved out, and since 

 it often frequents the taller tree tops it is sometimes difficult to see, 

 but the frequent songs give evidence of its presence. The blackpoll 

 is deliberate in its movements and usually unsuspicious and approach- 

 able. Often during the height of the migration I have seen them 

 along fences and stone walls and even in open fields and pastures 

 searching for food and going about their business apparently unaware 

 of my presence. At times they appear in my garden and backyard, 

 in fact they seem to be in evidence everywhere I go. Then at night, 

 if I am stationed in a quiet place, I hear their characteristic high- 

 pitched calls as, high in the air, they journey on their way. 



Migration. — The blackpolls migrate chiefly at night, and since they 

 are readily attracted by bright lights during their flight, we often 

 find concentrations of them in the parks of our larger cities, where 

 they are reported as being seen under the electric lights at night. 

 When daylight comes they naturallj?^ seek out places such as parks 

 and public gardens where trees and shrubs provide temporary resting 

 and feeding places. In Central Park, New York City, for example, 

 G. E. Hix (1905) states that the black-polled warbler outnumbers all 

 others put together. 



The black-polled warbler winters in northern South America. 

 Birds in migrating to North America may follow a route along the 

 coast of Central America and Mexico, as does the cliff swallow, or 

 they may fly directly over the Caribbean via Cuba and the intervening 

 islands to Florida, the route invariably chosen by the blackpoll. It 

 reaches the Florida coast about April 20, and as it is one of the latest 

 to migrate it seldom reaches the Gulf States before the last week of 

 April. It proceeds leisurely and may be seen long after the majority 

 of other warblers have passed on their way to their nesting grounds. 

 On this part of its migration it travels at a rate not exceeding 30 to 

 35 miles a day and does not reach southern New England and the 



