SPRING SONGSTERS 83 



thrush comes, and these birds, alike in certain 

 superficialities, but so actually unrelated, for a 

 time seek their food in the same grove. 



The hardier of the warblers pass us in April, 

 stopping a few days before continuing to the 

 northward. We should make haste to identify 

 them and to learn all we can of their notes and 

 habits, not only because of the short stay which 

 most of them make, but on account of the vast 

 assemblage of warbler species already on the 

 move in the Southern States, which soon, in pan- 

 oply of rainbow hues, will crowd our groves and 

 wear thin the warbler pages of our bird books. 



These April days we are sure to see flocks of 

 myrtle, or yellow-rumped warblers, and yellow 

 palm warblers in their olive-green coats and chest- 

 nut caps. The black-and-white creeper will always 

 show himself true to his name a creeping bundle 

 of black and white streaks. When we hear of the 

 parula warbler or of the Cape May warbler we 

 get no idea of the appearance of the bird, but when 

 we know that the black-throated green warblers 

 begin to appear in April, the first good view of 

 one of this species will proclaim him as such. 



We have marked the fox sparrow as being a 

 great scratcher among dead leaves. His habit is 

 continued in the spring by the towhee, or che- 

 wink, who uses the same methods, throwing both 

 feet backward simultaneously. The ordinary call 

 note of this bird is a good example of how diffi- 



