444 BULLETIN 2 3, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



hee"-u hee"-u hee'-u hee'-u. The first notes are delivered slowly; the last two 

 a little more rapidly ; they are higher pitched and accented as indicated. The 

 whole song, however, is delivered in a slow, unhurried manner. The tone is 

 rich, soft, and liquid. It has a cool, distant quality. 



The second song, which may be the courting song, is almost indistinguishable 

 from the songs of the Pine Warbler or the Eastern Chipping Sparrow. Indeed, 

 it bears a striking resemblance to the song of the Slate-colored Junco and Myrtle 

 Warbler. However, the Pine Warbler sings only from the taller, older trees; 

 the Western Palm Warbler prefers the fresh growth. The song is a trill, sweeter 

 and more musical than the song of the Eastern Chipping Sparrow and stronger 

 than the song of the Pine Warbler. It is generally given while the bird is 

 moving (sometimes vei'y rapidly) through the jack pine. The singing bird stays 

 in the same territory, though he circles a great deal. Occasionally a feeding 

 bird bursts out with this song. It is heard oftener than the song first described. 

 I have written it locet xceet wect weet, with no inflection. 



Field tnarks. — The western palm warbler looks like a washed-out 

 yellow palm warbler. The reddish-brown crown is duller, and there 

 is little yellow anywhere except the paler yellow on throat and under 

 tail coverts and the greenish-yellow rump; the brownish-gray wing 

 bars are not conspicuous. In fall and winter birds the colors are still 

 duller, but the rump and under tail coverts are still yellowish, and 

 there is a whitish line over the eye. The bobbing tail is always 

 diagnostic. 



Enemies. — This northern breeding race is apparently rarely im- 

 posed upon by the cowbird. Dr. Friedmann (1934) says that "Mr. 

 T. E. Randall found two parasitized sets in Alberta." 



Fall. — Zirrer (MS.) writes of the association of these warblers with 

 chickadees in late summer and fall : "Soon after their own breeding 

 season is over, toward the beginning or middle of July, the chickadees 

 make steady companions of various species of warblers with similar 

 feeding habits, here the myrtle and, especially, the palm warbler. I do 

 not remember a day, from the time the young palm warblers are out 

 of the nest until their departure in fall, without seeing the chickadees 

 as their steady companions. 



"Later, when the palm and myrtle begin to stray with other war- 

 blers (and also other birds) of similar feeding habits throughout the 

 neighborhood, the call of a chickadee means that a flock of warblers 

 is close at hand. All one has to do is to wait a few moments, watch 

 and listen; and there they come, palms, myrtles, magnolias, several 

 vireos, a tree creeper, an occasional nuthatch, and, of course, a flock 

 of chickadees. This goes on until the middle of October, when the 

 last of the warblers, the myrtle, has gone south. This may be observed 

 not only in our bogs and their immediate neighborhood, but throughout 

 all of our woodlands." 



