272 BIRDS OF PENNSYLVANIA. 



When migrating the males come, particularly in spring, in advance of the females ; 

 the majority migrate at night, flying usually at a considerable elevation. Certain 

 members of this family are remarkable for the melody of their song, many species 

 which migrate north, penetrating, as some do, even the Arctic solitudes to rear their 

 young, are said to possess most exquisite vocal powers. 



Although several species are ground nesters, and live chiefly on the ground, and 

 some others construct their abodes near mother earth, on which they often are seen, 

 the majority of this family inhabit trees, bushes and shrubbery. Some, especially 

 most species of Dendroica, are found usually in trees or bushes, and seldom do they 

 visit terra firma ; and certain warblers inhabit almost continually the leafy branches ot 

 high forest trees, where they actively engage in the pursuit of divers forms of insect 

 life. 



During migrations many of these birds are common visitors to the orchards and 

 shade trees about the habitations of man. The Oven-bird, one of our most common 

 summer birds, in hilly and dry places in the dusky recesses of woods, spends most 

 of his time on the ground, but frequently, when disturbed, and often when singing, 

 he perches on the low limbs of trees and bushes. The Water and Louisiana Thrushes, 

 often perch on low limbs and twigs, on logs, etc., but they are mainly terrestrial, and 

 may be looked for about swamps, pools and streams in dark woods and thickets. The 

 Parula Warbler is generally seen in the tops of high forest trees during migrations ; 

 and the Maryland Yellow-throat, a common frequenter of shrubbery and underbrush, 

 frequently is found in company with other warblers in orchards, where all ren del- 

 efficient service. The Kentucky Warbler, which could readily be mistaken for the 

 Maryland Yellow- throat, by a careless observer, I have never seen in orchards, and 

 rarely, if ever, is it observed high in trees, although it often alights in low bushes. 

 The favorite abiding place of the Kentucky is in swampy thickets, or low moist 

 situations in woods. He especially delights to hide among the leaves of the Skunk- 

 cabbage (Symplocarpus foeditus). The loquacious but active Yellow-breasted Chat, 

 an inhabitant of briery thickets and tangled undergrowth, often repairs to high 

 branches of trees to sing his loud and varied song. The insect-like song of the Blue- 

 winged Warbler, very similar to the notes of the Grasshopper Sparrow, will fre- 

 quently enable you to detect its source in the top of a sapling or high bush, of a thicket 

 or in a tree along the edge of a forest or in open woods. The Black and White Warbler, 

 like a Nuthatch or Brown Creeper, may generally be seen circling round the trunks 

 and limbs of trees, in woods and swamps, and when migrating this little warbler not 

 unfrequently visits orchards, trees in lawns, gardens and parks. Water Thrushes, 

 the Palm, Yellow Palm Warblers and Oven-bird, by their peculiar jerking motions, 

 often remind one of some of the sandpipers or the American Pipit. As you catch a 

 glimpse of the Maryland Yellow-throat, and hear his sharp note, as he vanishes in 

 the thick undergrowth, you are reminded of certain peculiarities so characteristic of 

 wrens. The Parula and Pine Warblers, are often seen to hang downward, like the 

 titmice when feeding, and the ever active Redstart in some ways is not unlike the 

 Tyrant Flycatchers. 



While it is true that a large number of the warblers included in our fauna breed 

 regularly, in suitable localities, in some portion or other of the state, the members 

 of this family are far more numerous during migrations (usually in May and Sep. 

 tember) than at any other time ; and some seasons different species will often be 

 noticed to be much more plentiful than in corresponding seasons in other years. 

 Primaries nine ; wings long and pointed, and longer than the almost even tail, except 

 in the genera Geothlypsis and Icteria. The Maryland Yellow-throat, Chat and 

 Mourning Warbler have shortish and rounded wings. The bill is, usually, quite 

 straight and acute, and shorter than the head ; in many of these birds the bill is 

 slightly notched toward the tip but not hooked. Some have prominent rictal bristles, 

 others have none. In the genus Dendroica the conical attenuated bill, compressed 

 in the middle and distinctly notched near the end is furnished with short, but generally 

 distinct, bristles at base. All this family have four toes, three in front, one behind ; 

 claws small, sharp and curved. Referring to these birds Dr. Coues says: "With 



