52 D ENDS (EC 'A PALMAR VM. 



commence the northern migration, passing Massachusetts during the last week in April or the 

 first in May ; at this season these birds frequent the swamps. They breed abundantly in 

 northern New England. 



I well remember when I first saw a nest of this species, Mr. II. B. Bailey and myself were 

 searching among a low growth of young tirs and spruces for the eggs of the Snow Bird when 

 he found a structure in a tree but a short distance from the ground which, from its small size, 

 we knew must belong to some Warbler. I had not examined it when a little bird made its 

 appearance and began chirping loudly while it fluttered from limb to limb near us behaving 

 as if solicitous for the safely of its home ; I quickly shot it, for night was approaching and 

 I had not the slightest doubt but that it was the owner of the nest. Upon picking it up I was 

 delighted to find that it was a Tennessee Warbler, for I knew that the eggs of this bird 

 had never been found.- We were naturally jubilant over this discovery, but, upon looking into 

 the nest and perceiving the large size of the eggs, our ardor was somewhat dampened. The fact 

 of its being in a tree was also against its belonging to the bird which I had killed, for all 

 members of this genus are apt to place their domiciles upon the ground. Subsequently, much 

 to our disappointment, our doubts were confirmed by finding several similar nests which 

 undoubtedly belonged to the Yellow-rumped Warbler. Although the eggs of this last named 

 species are a prize yet such was the impression left upon my mind by finding the first I had 

 ever seen, under the circumstances narrated, that 1 have ever since regarded them with a kind 

 of disgust. 



These birds usually select very low trees in which to breed, but I found a nest, containing 

 four young, on Grand Mauan, that was placed in a spruce twenty feet from the ground. This 

 was as late as July 22d, and as the usual time for depositing their eggs is about the first or 

 second week in June they must rear two broods in a season ; in fact, a day or two before 

 I discovered this nest, I shot several fully fledged young. The notes of the Yellow-rump are 

 lively and interesting; they sing from May until late in July whew they moult. After this the 

 small companies, composed of parents and their offspring, which have hitherto kept apart, 

 collect in large flocks and prepare for the' southern migrations. The last stragglers have left 

 Maine by the middle of October but some linger about Massachusetts as late as the 20th of 

 November, when they move onward, arriving in Florida about the 15th of December. 



DENDRCECA P A L M A R U M . 

 Yellow Red-polled Warbler. 



Dendrosca palmarum BAIKD, Birds of North America, 1858, 288. 



DESCRIPTION. 



SP. CH. Form, rather slender. Size, not large. Bill, moderate, quite slender, and somewhat acuminate. 

 Wings, moderate. Tail, rather long, slightly rounded and emarginate. Feet, quite small. Sternum, narrower than 

 those of the three preceding species and slightly built. Tongue, narrow, rather thin, bifld, and fringed on the end 

 with quite long cilia which extend along the side for one-third of Its terminal length. 



COLOR. Adult male. Above, yellowish-olive becoming brighter on the rump. Top of head, chestnut-red. 

 Wings and tail, brown, with the feathers edged with the same color as those of the back. The six outer tail feathers 

 have terminal spots of white on their inner webs. Beneath, including under wing coverts and under tail coverts, 

 bright yellow, streaked or spotted across the breast, on the sides of the throat and sides with chestnut-red. There 

 is a superciliary stripe of yellow. The lores and ear coverts are dusky, the latter mixed with chestnut-red. 



Adult female, similar to the male but without as much chestnut on the crown. In autumn there is a brownish 

 suffusion above which extends over the crown. The yellow beneath is also obscured by a whitish suffusion. 



Young male, deep olive-brown above, with scarcely a trace of chestnut on the crown. Beneath, dirty white with 

 a faint indication of yellow on the breast and sides, but which becomes brighter on the under tail coverts. lu place 

 of the chestnut stripes of the breast, sides, etc., the feathers have dusky centres. 



Young female, similar but with no trace of chestnut on the crown and but little yellow below excepting the 

 under tail coverts. In all stages the irides, feet, and bill are brown; the latter lighter at the base of the lower 

 mandible. 



