THE 



BOTANIST. 



Vol. 1. 



BINGHAMTpy, N. Y., SEPTEMBER 1, 1891. 



No. IX. 



THE PALM WARBLER. 

 {Dendroica Palmarum.) 



BY WM. L. KELLS, LISTOWEL, ONTARIO, 

 CANADA. 



This species is not a summer resident 

 of the south or central parts of Ontario; 

 only as a spring and autumn migrant 

 it is ever observed in this vicinity. 

 There is nothing particularly interesting 

 in its life history, or attractive either in 

 its plumage or in its song to distinguish 

 it from other members of the family in 

 which it is placed, except the peculiar 

 manner in which it wags its tail up and 

 down, with a somewhat swinging mo- 

 tion, like the tit-larks and water-thrush- 

 es. This action, owing to the bird's 

 small size, renders it at once an object 

 of naore than ordinary notice to the res- 

 dent ornithologist of Ontario, as it tells 

 that a species of rather rare and uncer- 

 tain advent has become a passing visi- 

 tant. 



Usually in the latter part of Septem- 

 ber or the early days of October, there 

 are pretty severe night frosts, which 

 generally forms ice on the shallow 

 water and for the season generally 

 stops all garden vegetation. At this 

 time also the wind from the northwest 

 is bitterly cold, and there are showers 

 of rain, sleet, and snow flurries. This is 

 the squaw winter, which warns all ani- 

 mated existance of the approach of the 

 icy monarch. These unpleasant days 

 are always followed by weather — some- 

 times lasting for a week — of an opposite 

 character. No w, in the mornings, though 

 a smoky mist usually hovers over the 



low grounds, and along the margins of 

 the woods, the sun appears in the east- 

 ern horizon with a ruddy glow, and after 

 a day of summer temperature descends 

 in the western sky amid the splendors 

 of a June-like evening, while the nightly 

 heavens display all the attractions of a 

 star-spangled, moon-light sky. But a 

 glance at the woods around show that 

 the face of Nature has undergone a 

 great and wondrous change. Some of 

 the foliage of the forest trees still retain 

 the emerald garb of summer, but much 

 of the leaves, especially those of the 

 maples and elms exhibit in their gor- 

 geous livery of crimson, orange, yellow, 

 brown and purple, with other varying 

 hues, the touch of nature's artless hand. 

 To the farmer in the backwoods set- 

 tlement these " Indian summer " days 

 are of special interest; Nature warns 

 him that a gloomy fall is approaching 

 and the gathering in of his roots and 

 fruits are matters of importance. The 

 summer song birds are nearly all silent, 

 or utter only short and plaintive notes; 

 numbers, among the most familiar in 

 the summer days have already dis- 

 sappeared, the sharp notes of the cricket 

 are heard abroad in the fields, while the 

 advent of strange birds, whose summer 

 homes are nearer to the Arctic circle, 

 indicates that winter has already visited 

 their native haunts and is advancing 

 toward the tropics. At this epoch the 

 rural ornithologist, passing through the 

 stubble fields or near the woodland side, 

 flushes numbers of small birds, some of 

 which he knows to be new arrivals, as 

 the tit-lark, the tree and white-crowned 



