1 68 THE YELLOW PALM WARBLER. 



to bush or searching quietly among the weeds. It usually lingers well into 

 May and appears again, but less frequently, rather late in the fall. The 

 bird is somewhat variable in appearance and often quite puzzling at some dis- 

 tance. Now a casual glance notes it for a sparrow, and again it cjiallenges at- 

 tention as some mysterious unknown. If only one catches the nervous flirt 

 of the tail the case is out of Chancery. 



Several writers on birds pour contempt on the Palm Warbler's song and 

 many profess ignorance of it altogether. It is not a very elaborate affair but 

 I have heard it delivered with a sprightliness and energy which called me 

 half way across a pasture. One bird in particular lured me to the edge of 

 a wood lot with a spirited rollicking chatter which made me suspect Junco in 

 an ecstacy. Its ordinary song consists of a succession of twinned notes in 

 a swell. On this point Lynds Jones says, "Each syllable should be given 

 a half double utterance except at the middle of the swell, where the greater 

 effort seems to coalesce the half double quality into one distinct syllable." 

 At other times I have noticed a mere sustained sibilation, wissa, wissa, zvissa, 

 wissa, wissa, without inflectional change. Besides this he has the inevitable 

 Dendroican chip, but it is scarcely distinctive enough to be recognizable when 

 a dozen other species are flying. 



No. 75. 



YELLOW PALM WARBLER. 



A. O. U. No. 672a. Dendroica palmarum hypochrysea Ridgw. 



Synonyms. — Yehow-bellied Red-poll Warbler; Yellow Red-poll 

 Warbi,er. 



Description. — Similar to preceding species, but "larger and much more 

 brightly colored, with entire lower parts bright yellow in all stages (excepting 

 nestling plumage) ; upper parts richer, or less grayish olive than in true 

 palmarum" (Ridgway). 



Recognition Marks. — Like D. palmarum; brighter yellow below. 



Nest and eggs not peculiar. Not known to breed in Ohio. 



General Range. — Atlantic States north to Hudson Bay. Breeds from eastern 

 Maine, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia northward ; winters in the South Atlantic 

 and Gulf States. 



Range in Ohio. — Casual during migrations. 



THE Atlantic coastal wave of migrating Yellow Red-polls occasionally 

 spills over into our state. Not every yellow Palm Warbler is to be suspected, 

 for there is great individual variation among the species, and we are near the 



