AMERICAN WAKBI.EKS. 



They are not especially shy, but even if they do not allow a 

 near approach, they may be recognized by the habit they have 

 of constantly raising and lowering their tails. Some other 

 warblers have a similar habit, the Yellow-rumps, for example 

 but the tail is moved much oftener by the Red-polls. 



In the south, where these warblers spend the winter in 

 large numbers, they prefer the open fields, or even marshes 

 where the grass is short, as feeding grounds. Here they often 

 associate with the Titlarks, which also have the habit of jerk- 

 ing the tail, and both species run nimbly about on the ground 

 together, when the Red-polls look like miniature representa- 

 tives of their larger friends. 



In Autumn, when the Red-polls are not as often seen 

 with us as in spring, they are often found in tree tops with 

 other warblers, and when migrating in the spring they may be 

 occasionally found in the woodlands. 



Bkeeuing Habits. I have never met with this warbler 

 on its breeding grounds, thus know nothing from personal ex- 

 perience of its habits during the nesting season. 



So>'G. The ordinary alarm note of the Yellow Redpoll 

 is a sharp chirp, and this is all I have heard them utter in the 

 south, but in spring in Massachusetts, they have a song which 

 is given at rather prolonged, irregular intervals. It is a low, 

 rather feeble warble or trill, consisting of several detached 

 notes, rising from the beginning to the middle, then falling to 

 the termination. 



Migration and Breeding Range, These warblers 

 occasionally breed in eastern Maine, quite commonly in Nova 

 Scotia and New Brunswick and northward. On the south- 

 ward migration they pass Massachusetts from the middle of 

 September, sometimes a little earlier, until the middle of Octo- 

 ber. They are found in winter from North Carolina ( I found 

 them at New River on November i6, 1901 ) to Key West, 



