V °1906 ] Wood, Autumn Warbler Hunting. 23 



The last specimen was secured by chance or rather by a combini- 

 tion of peculiar circumstances. Early in the day I had just reached 

 a stump in the dense second growth when out popped a female 

 Barred Owl (Syrnium varium) and started away, pounding the 

 dead twigs into a spray. For hours I carefully investigated every 

 flock of chickadees and kinglets and all likely places where solitary 

 warblers might occur but without success. I had given up and 

 was working out of the woods when a large flock of kinglets was 

 heard. It required but a moment to get their direction and going 

 ahead of them I hung the owl in a conspicuous place. It was 

 soon surrounded by a dozen chickadees and more than a hundred 

 Golden-crowned Kinglets (Regulus satrapa). Then came that 

 chorus of ringing music, subdued and of rare sweetness, that 

 kinglets make when surrounding an owl, and on one occasion 

 when a Red-tailed Hawk (Buieo borealis) snuggled against the 

 trunk of a thick beech in the heart of the woods during a pouring 

 rain. While watching them the warbler appeared. 



Myrtle Warbler. {Dendroica coronata). — iVbundant September 

 28, and two or three hundred could be counted any day from Octo- 

 ber 1 to 15. Just how late the last of these warblers stay is not 

 known but probably until the first heavy snow fall. The last day 

 afield in 1904 was November 25, and twenty-five were counted 

 — all in one flock. 



Black-poll Warbler {Dendroica striata). — Next to the Myrtle, 

 this was the most common species, but not in the woods. From 

 about September 7 to October 9 this bird was seen every morning 

 in the shade trees in the city on my way down town. As it is a 

 great night traveler the electric lights were the probable attraction. 

 Neither this species nor the Black-throated Green were present 

 in such large numbers on any one day as in 1904, when about 

 125 of the former were noted on September 28, and 75 of the latter 

 on October 2. 



Palm Warbler (Dendroica palmarum). — This bird was alone 

 and feeding in a hickory tree on high ground bordering a marsh. 

 This is the only autumn record for the county, though it is com- 

 mon in spring. 



Northern Yellow-throat (Geothlypis trichas brachidactyla) . — 

 This species may occur much later than noted by me, as I was not 



