THE PALM WARBLER. 167 



No. 74. 



PALM WARBLER. 



A. O. U. No. 672. Dendroica palmarum (Gmel.). 



Synonyms. RED- POLL WARBLER; YELLOW RED-POLL WARBLER (name 

 now restricted to subspecies D. p. hypochrysea) ; WAGTAIL WARBLEK. 



Description. Adults : Crown chestnut ; superciliary line yellow ; extreme 

 forehead dusky, divided by short yellow line ; lores dusky ; cheeks grayish, tinged 

 or streaked with chestnut ; upper tail-coverts yellow ; remaining upper parts gray- 

 ish brown, slightly tinged with olive ; wings and tail dusky, with obscure grayish 

 or greenish yellow edgings, the former without bars ; subterminal white spots, 

 usual to the genus, on two outer pairs of rectrices ; chin, throat and crissum clear 

 yellow ; remaining under parts yellowish or dingy, more or less streaked, especially 

 on sides, with dusky or pale rufous ; a loose necklace of small dusky spots. Adult 

 in winter and immature : Crown-patch much obscured by brownish ; supercil- 

 iary line whitish or buffy; below, dingy white or buffy with faint yellowish tinge; 

 breast and sides obscurely streaked with dusky, and sides washed with bro\vnish ; 

 crissum clear yellow ; upper tail-coverts yellowish olive-brown. Length 4.50-5.50 

 (114.3-139.7) ; av. of four Columbus specimens : wing 2.60 (66.) ; tail 1.98 (50.3) ; 

 bill .40 (10.2). 



Recognition Marks. Medium size; chestnut crown distinctive in high 

 plumage ; yellow crissum in any plumage. Keeps to fence-rows, hedges and way- 

 side bushes ; "bobs" nervously and wags tail. 



Nesting. Does not breed in Ohio. Nest, on the ground in tuft of grass, 

 compactly built of grasses, bark and moss. Eggs, 4, creamy white, spotted and 

 blotched with purple, lilac and reddish brown. Av. size, .70 x .52 (17.8 x 13.2) 

 (Davie). 



General Range. Northern interior to Great Slave Lake ; in winter South 

 Atlantic and Gulf States, the West Indies and Mexico. Of rare but regular 

 occurence in the Atlantic States in migrations. 



Range in Ohio. Regular and common spring and fall migrant. Has been 

 taken in winter near Cincinnati. 



IN the careful husbandry of nature this bird alone of the Wood- 

 Warbler kind has been assigned to a station unmistakably humble. The 

 Prairie Warbler, indeed, regularly frequents low bushes, but only the "Red- 

 poll" takes freely to the ground as well. It was there that he learned from 

 the Water Thrushes that quaint habit of tilting the body and shaking or 

 "jetting" the tail, as tho protective harmony of coloration must be atoned 

 for by some conspicuous and incessant motion, lest the bird be stepped on 

 unawares. Altho it feeds much, upon the ground, especially in its winter 

 home in the southern states, where its hops about after the fashion of a 

 Titlark or even patters along the dusty roadside, its favorite resorts during 

 migrations are wayside coppices, neglected fence-rows, and the undergrowth 

 of damp woods. In such places it is to be found in April, flitting from bush 



