^°i8o8^1 Chapman, KirthuuVs Warbler. 2QI 



wagging motion of the tail, so characteristic of that species, that 

 it appears to be terrestrial, and in the carriage of its body and 

 manner of evading discovery by skilfully alighting behind a 

 protecting object, it resembles Geothlypis agilis. Messrs. Smith 

 and Palmer also mention the bird's habit of tail-wagging. Mr. 

 W. O. Wallace states that the specimen secured at Wabash, Ind., 

 May 4, was an active flycatcher, while the song of a second 

 specimen consisted of " a loud, ringing note, repeated three times 

 in quick succession. .... It is loud and rather musical." 



In addition to these records of collectors of the species we 

 have several others by ornithologists who have observed but 

 not secured it. Mr. Walter Iloxie states ^ that on St. Helena 

 Island, South Carolina, May 3, when without his gun, he saw 

 three Kirtland's Warblers, and gives his observations on their 

 song and actions, as follows : "They were quite familiar, allowing 

 me to approach cautiously within less than a rod. . . . The notes 

 are of two distinct characters. The first, a song, was uttered 

 with the head held forward and body quite erect. It bore a 

 striking resemblance to the song of the Yellow-throated Warbler. 

 The second was a loud chipping, uttered while moving about 

 among the bushes, and was kept up for a space of one or two 

 minutes at a time. Resting a few seconds the bird would begin 

 again, creeping about the branches and ' swapping ends ' with a 

 quick jerking movement all the time. Arriving near the top of 

 the bush or the end of the branch he would settle himself and 

 sing two or three times before fluttering to the next bush. All 

 these specimens were in^ low bushes and seemed to prefer them 

 to trees .... neither did I see any of them alight on the ground." 



Mr. L. S. Keyser, who observed a specimen of Kirtland's 

 Warbler "one day in early spring" (locality not stated, but pre- 

 sumably in Ohio) , describes its song as " a blithe, liquid melody," 

 the tones being " full, clear and bubbling." (Bird-Dom, p. 63). 



These brief notes constitute our sole knowledge of the habits 

 of this species, whose nest and eggs, owing to its rarity and the 

 remoteness of its probable breeding range, will doubtless long 

 remain unknown. 



'Auk, III, 1S86, 412. 



