THE PERCHING BIRDS. 59 



thickly sprinkled near the great end with specks of pale brown. 

 They raise two broods in the season. This little bird, like many 

 others, will feign lameness to draw you away from its nest, stretching 

 out his neck, spreading and bending down his tail until it trails along 

 the branch, and fluttering feebly along to draw you after him ; some- 

 times looking back to see if you are following him, and returning 

 back to repeat the same manoeuvres in order to attract your atten- 

 tion. The male is most remarkable for this practice." WlLSON. 



Judged by numbers alone, the " Myrtle-bird," or 

 Yellow-rumped Warbler, is the type of the whole 

 group, as we see it represented in the Delaware 

 Valley. A few are here all winter, and however 



Myrtle-bird. 



correct may have been the statement at the time, the 

 remark that their spring sojourn is very brief will 

 now no longer apply to this vicinity. They come 

 in full force in early April, and I have seen many a 

 dozen among the willows along the river after the 

 middle of May ; and a few appear so very early again 

 in September that it would not be surprising if they 

 were found breeding in the hemlock swamps of 

 Northern Pennsylvania, but, of 'course, these early 

 autumn birds may have come from Vermont or New 

 Hampshire. 



A conspicuously colored and unwarbler-like war- 



