174 THE WARBLERS. 















warblers in large companies, haunts the groves and woos, 
being now more familiar than in the spring, and far more 
abundant. The young are totally different in their color 
from the adults, and so closely resemble the young of the 
black-polled warbler, that it is often very difficult to disti 
guish them apart. I have never heard their spring love 
notes ; in fall, they have a faint chirp. 3 
The Connecticut Warbler ( Oporornis agilis) is one of 
scarcest of the family. There are some peculiarities abott 
the habits of this bird that deserve attention. Although et- 
cessively rare in spring, perhaps more so than any La 
species, it is, in autumn, quite often seen, at least in w 
locality. It has never been my fortune to meet with g 
spring, though I have seen many in the fall; judging #0 
analogy, it must pass through the Middle States along a 
the mourning warbler toward the latter part of May, © 
beginning of June. It returns late in September, and Te 
mains but a short time. Of its habits and notes Í knot | 
nothing, except that in autumn it frequents low, 
swamps, such as the Maryland yellow-throat chooses for 
home, and utters, at times, a feeble chirp. Why it $ , 
be so exceedingly rare in spring, while in the fall 
comparatively common, I can scarcely even conjectit® l 
perhaps it may choose a different route for its nort 
migration from what it pursues on its southern. The 
circumstance may be noticed in the migrations of many 
species, though in a much less marked degree. 
The Blue-winged Yellow Warbler ( Helminthoph 
nus) is one of that subdivision of the warbler family 
the “W orm-eaters,” or, in scientific language, Verm 
The members of this division are distinguished fron 
typical warblers by sharper and more pointed l 
plainer colors, and, as a rule, by comparatively harsh | 
unmusical voices. Their habits partake more of | Vs 
character than the others; in fact, they bear nearly the’ 
September, it returns, and, associated with the black-polled 
ia 
