96 NORTH AMERICAN WARBLERS. 



Bay. The northern limit of its range is not yet clearly determined, 

 but is probably in Quebec, southern Labrador, and Newfoundland. 



Winter range. — From this restricted breeding ground hypochrysea 

 comes southwest, following a narrow belt along the Atlantic coast, 

 and winters on the north coast of the Gulf of Mexico. The winter 

 range extends from Louisiana to northern Florida, and occasionally as 

 far north as eastern North Carolina. Accidental visitants have been 

 taken in Cuba and Jamaica. In central Alabama ^(2 Z7;?«ri/??z appears as 

 a fall migrant and passes on to the southeast, its place being taken by 

 hypoch'ysea as a common winter resident. Early in the spring hypo- 

 chrysea leaves for the northeast, and loiter palmar u?n passes through 

 toward the Mississippi Valley. Chapman found a few specimens of 

 hypochrysea as far south as Gainesville, Fla. , and noted the departure 

 of the last northward migrant March 15, 1887, six weeks hef ore pal- 

 "inaruin finally disappeared. 



Spring migration. — Migrants appear on the average at Washington 

 April 6; Philadelphia, April li; central Connecticut, April 15; Boston, 

 April 18; St. John, New Brunswick, April 20; Halifax, Nova Scotia, 

 April 27, and Pictou, Nova Scotia, Ma}^ 1, showing that hypochrysea 

 is one of the earliest of migrating warblers and that it endures severe 

 weather with impunit3\ At Raleigh, N. C- , the bird is a rare winter 

 visitant. The last to leave for the North was noted April 20, 1885, 

 April 16, 1889, April 14, 1890, and May 1, 1893. .The latest spring 

 migrant noted at Washington passed through on April 29. Hence it 

 may be assumed that palm warblers that were reported as departing 

 from Asheville, N. C, on May 12, 1890, and May 15, 1894, were of 

 the form palmarum, which has been taken at Washington as late as 

 May 18. 



Fall migration. — Yellow palm warblers are expected to reappear in 

 southern Maine soon after the middle of September, and to pass on to 

 New Jersey and Washington about the 1st of October. An unusu- 

 ally early fall migrant was seen at Beaver, Pa., September 7, 1889. 

 In 1887 the species was not noted at North River, Prince Edward 

 Island, after September 15, but at St. John, New Brunswick, the aver- 

 age date of the last recorded is about October 13. New England and 

 the districts north of the winter home are occupied until about October 

 20, and the bird is sometimes seen in Massachusetts as late as early 

 November. A specimen was taken near New York City November 

 15, 1898. 



673. Dendroica discolor (Vieill.). Prairie Warbler. 



Breeding range. — The prairie warbler is quite local in its distribu- 

 tion. Along the Atlantic coast it breeds from the northern Bahamas 

 and Florida to Massachusetts, but north of Philadelphia is found, as 

 a rule, only near the coast. Farther south it is common locally from 



