OF NEW ENGLAND. 121 
and associate with the ‘‘Red-polls” (D. palmarum) and ‘‘Yel- 
low-rumps.” Moreover, in winter, spring, and fall, they find 
much of their food upon the ground, as do the other warblers 
that I have just mentioned, particularly the former. They 
derive their name of ‘‘ Pine-creepers” from the fact that they 
occasionally cling to the trunks of trees, and that they can 
move along the horizontal limbs with ease and activity ; but 
I have never known them to progress in the manner of the 
creepers or woodpeckers. 
Their habits in summer do not differ very essentially from 
those of the ‘‘ Black-throated Greens.” At that season, and 
more particularly at the time of their migrations in April, they 
may be found in woods of various kinds, but they have a most 
marked preference for pine-woods and groves, from which they 
occasionally ramble to near orchards. They do not often catch 
insects in the air, but generally seek them among the higher 
branches ; and it is often difficult to discover their whereabouts 
—the more so that seemingly they are capital ventriloquists. 
They have always seemed to me quiet and rather indolent, and 
remarkably attentive to their dress. I have sometimes seen 
them pause, for at least fifteen minutes, to smooth their feath- 
ers or to rest, every minute “‘drawling out” their sweet note 
quite mechanically. At other times they are very active, and 
it is then impossible to keep sight of them for any great length 
of time. As I have observed: males, both in spring and sum- 
mer, who apparently had neither mates nor nests, I think it 
quite certain that there are bachelors among birds.°?. The 
Pine Warblers are not only extremely useful in protecting 
our evergreens, but are also very charming, partly, no doubt, 
because there is a spice of ‘‘something” in their character 
which we cannot altogether sanction from a moral point of 
view. 
(d). Their note is as deliciously drowsy as that of the 
‘“‘ Black-throated Green,” but is not so often repeated, though 
32There is other evidence that such is undoubtedly the case. An interesting 
article on the subject has been written by Mr. Abbott of New Jersey. 
