April 
when speaking of a favorite species he boldly 
ignores grammatical rules. He is thus con- 
stantly ‘“‘in a strait betwixt two,’’ reminding 
me of a good Catholic friend with whom I 
once boarded, who compromised the claims of 
conscience imposed by his religious belief and 
the requirements of hospitality by providing 
meat dinners on a/ternate Fridays ! 
In company, as usual, with the pine-creeper, 
came another and more interesting warbler, the 
‘¢ red-poll,’’ so called from a very pretty chest- 
nut-red spot on the top of'the head. It is also 
entirely yellow beneath. But the readiest mark 
? 
of distinction from almost all other birds is its 
habit of constantly flirting the tail, like the 
pheebe. This is an infallible test of a red-poll. ~ 
Like the flycatcher, too, they often dart into 
the air for insects. What the red-poll may be 
as a songster when it gets to Canada, I do not 
know ; for the present it has only a single note 
of luscious quality, which is several times re- 
peated. Altogether it is a very attractive little 
creature, with its bright colors and vivacious 
ways, and I am only sorry that New York is 
not cool enough to induce it to remain and 
settle down for the summer. 
Close upon the heels of these warblers—or 
IIt 
