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On Birds observed in Amelia County, Virginia. 71 



pine wood, and secured one ; but with this exception I have 

 never met v/ith it after winter has thoroughly set in. 



Dendrceca BLACKBURNiiE (Baird.) Blaclchurnian Warbler. 

 — I have never met this bird in the district but once. On Sep- 

 tember the 4th I took a young male of the year among some tall 

 forest trees near my house. 



Dendrceca striata (Baird.) Black-polled Warbler. It is not 

 a common bird, and during several years I have not seen it at 

 all. I have only noticed it in spring, when I have found it 

 among deciduous timber. The earliest note I have of its arrival 

 is the 18th of May. 



Dendrceca c^erulescens (Baird.) Black-throated Blue Warbler. 

 — This handsome warbler is not very common, but may be 

 obtained any day in the latter part of May at a place they have 

 been observed to frequent, and every year one may be found now 

 and then in the forest during spring and early summer; indeed I 

 have never seen them except in deciduous timber. They are 

 always in pairs, or a single male by himself. They arrive about 

 the middle of May ; the earliest I have noticed was on the lOtli 

 of that month. 



Dendrceca pinus (Baird.) Pine Warbler. — This little bird out- 

 numbers all the other Virginia warblers manyfold. The earliest 

 date I have noted of its arrival is the 2nd of March, and it generally 

 appears before the middle of the month. In about a week after 

 its first arrival it is quite numerous, keeping itself exclusively to 

 the pine woods, and by the middle of May those who intend to 

 go further north have left, though a large number remain during 

 the summer and build in the pine woods ; indeed during spring 

 and summer T have never seen one away from the pines. Early 

 in October the return flight begins, and they come for some time 

 in great numbers. Strange to say they then avoid the pine 

 woods, and are found chiefly near the edges of the deciduous forests, 

 and along the snake fences in the open land. One fence near my 

 house has always been a favourite locality with the autumn flocks, 

 which are composed largely of young birds, and every autumn I 

 have seen them there in great numbers, though in spring I have 

 never seen one on it. They ' are pugnacious little birds, and I 

 have often seen them in autumn attack the tufted tits and chip- 

 sparrows. The former always fled ignominiously, but the plucky 



