139.7) ; av. of four Columbus specimens: wing 2.60 (66.) ; tail 1.98 (50.3) ; bill 

 .40 (10.2). 



Recognition jMarks. — Medium size ; chestnut crown distinctive in high 

 plumage ; yellow crissum in any plumage. Keep to fence-rows, hedges and way- 

 side bushes ; "bobs" nervously and wags tail. 



Nesting, — Does not breed in Ohio. A'cst. on the ground in tuft of grass, 

 compactly built of grasses, bark and moss. Eggs, 4, creamy white, spotted and 

 blotched with purple, lilac and reddish brown. Av. size. .70 x .52 (17.8 x 13.2) 

 (Davie). 



Range. — Northern interior to Great Slave Lake : in winter South Atlantic 

 and Gulf States, the West Indies and Mexico. Oi rare but regular occurrence 

 in the Atlantic States in migrations. 



In the careful husbandry of nature this bird alone of the Wood-\'\'arbler 

 kind has been assigned to a station unmistakably humble. The Prairie Warbler, 

 indeed, regularly frequents low bushes, but only the "Red-poll" takes freely to 

 the ground as well. It was there that he learned from the Water Thrushes that 

 quaint habit of tilting the body and shaking or "jetting" the tail, as though pro- 

 tective harmony of coloration must be atoned for by some conspicuous and in- 

 cessant motion, lest the bird be stepped on unawares, Although it feeds much 

 upon the ground, especially in its winter home in the southern states, where it 

 hops about after the fashion of a Titlark or even patters along the dusty roadside, 

 its favorite resorts during migrations are wayside coppices, neglected fence-rows, 

 and the undergrowth of damp woods. In such places it is to be found in April, 

 flitting from bush to bush or searching quietly among the weeds. It usually 

 lingers well into May and appears again, but less frequently, rather late in the 

 fall. The bird is somewhat variable in appearance and often quite puzzling at 

 some distance. Now a casual glance notes it for a sparrow, and again it challenges 

 attention as some mysterious unknown. If only one catches the nervous flirt of 

 the tail the case is out of chancery. 



Several writers on birds pour contempt on the Palm Warbler's song and 

 many profess ignorance of it altogether. It is not a very elaborate affair, but I 

 have heard it delivered with a sprightliness and energy which called me half 

 w-ay across a pasture. One bird in particular lured me to the edge of a wood 

 lot with a spirited rollicking chatter which made me suspect Junco in an ecstacy. 

 Its ordinary song consists of a succession of twinned notes in a swell. On this 

 Xjoint Lynds Jones says, "Each syllable should be given a half double utterance 

 except at the middle of the swell, where the greater effort seems to coalesce the 

 half double quality into one distinct syllable." At other times I have noticed a 

 mere sustained sibilation, zvlssa, ivissa, zifissa. zi-issa zi'issa. without inflectional 

 change. Besides this he has the inevitable Dendroican chip, but it is scarcely 

 distinctive enough to be recognizable when a dozen other species are flying. 



515 



