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 
phoebe. 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 
