Kli;ri,.VM)'S WARBLEU. 505 



wliich tlie}' frequent during tlie day. TIiosl' taken were, with one or two exceptions, found 

 in an exceedingly limited areii, within a mile or two of the city, and alwavs in old liclds 

 grownup to low shrubherv. I have never heard KirtlandV Warbler sing, the onlv note 

 that tliey uttered was a harsh chirp, with whic-h they greeted me when alarmed ;it mv 

 a])pr()ach. When one was not secured at first sight, it generally retreated into the bushes 

 and silently disappeared. The thick and tangled character of the scrub rendered anv 

 (|iuet or swift pursuit inipossilde. thus a retreating bird was nevei- seen Mgain that (hiv, 

 and a number seen escaped in this way. 



As with many shy birds, however, these warl)leis presented strange exceptions to tlie 

 u-;ual rule : twice at least as I was making ni}' wa\- through the tliicketsin .search of the 

 (rreater Yellow-throat, I was confronted by a Kirtland Warbler. In both instances the 

 l)irds appeared from out of the thicket within a yard of my path, remained a few seconds 

 then d.irted ofli'mto the scrub. One of these I lost, the second one I shot it as it was dis- 

 appearing in tile tohage. It tlew on and it not been for t!ie assistance of m\ intelligent 

 and I'emarkably sagacious dog Spot, I should never have seen itagMin, Initshe found it for 

 me at least twenty yards from where I had shot it lying among th-^ dense shrnJiberv. 



Kirtland's Warlder is evidently a winter visitor on the Bahamas, for although I saw 

 one on Southern Bright, Andros, April liSth, I did not lind a single specimen on New 

 Prosidence upon my return later in May, and I searched for it with great care throughout 

 its haunts until June 10th. I searched for it in vain in November and December, 1887, 

 both about Nassau and on Andros, but I secured two, a male and a female, March 2od 

 1893, in the old locality near Nissan, but did not find them elsewhere either thiit month 

 or in April, 



These Wnrblers moult late in Feliru irv, and the new plumage is assumed by March 

 Kith at which time there ap[)ears to l)e a migi'ation, that was at its height the last week 

 in the month. Specimens taken as late as April 4th did not exhibit any indication of 

 1)i'eeding, nor even at tliis late date was tliere the slightest attempt at a .song. Where 

 this .sp>'cies habitually spends the summer is still a mystery. It certainly leaves the Ba- 

 hamas, and that in advance of the great migration of warblers which sweeps over the 

 islands quite late in April, aliout which time, warljlers like the Yellow Redpoll, Redstart, 

 Black-throated Blue that pass the winter on the keys, leave. I know that most of 

 tile specimens which have been taken in the United States, occurred there in May. 

 The yovuig female which I have figured on plate XVII was killed by Mr. A. V. Covert 

 nt Ann Arbor Mich, in May had the eggs in ovaries so far advanced that it was evident 

 that she would have laid them in about two weeks, but in spite of this fact I cannot help 

 regarding the few specimens of Kirtlands Warblers Avhicli have appeared in the United 

 States as mere stragglers, possibly swept away in the great avain waves during their mi- 

 grations, far from their regular breeding ground, but where their breeding grounds are, it 

 is at present difficult to .<ay. In passing I will sa\- that this fine warliler is not the 

 only bird which winters on the Bahamas, the breeding groimd of which is unknown. The 

 Bahama King Bird, Pitangus bahaniensis. i-cmains through the winter there l)ut di.sappears 



