YELLOW-RUMPED WARBLER. 2 8l 



foreigners, who Lave no opportunity of examining the pro- 

 gress of these variations, should have concluded them to be 

 two distinct species, and designated them as in the above 

 synonyms. 



This bird is also a passenger through Pennsylvania. Early 

 in October he arrives from the north, in his olive dress, and 

 frequents the cedar trees, devouring the berries with great 

 avidity. He remains with us three or four weeks, and is very 

 numerous wherever there are trees of the red cedar covered 

 with berries. He leaves us for the south, and spends the 

 winter season among the myrtle swamps of Virginia, the 

 Carolinas, and Georgia. The berries of the Myrica cerifera, 

 both the large and dwarf kind, are his particular favourites. 

 On those of the latter I found them feeding in great numbers, 

 near the sea-shore, in the district of Maine, in October ; 

 and through the whole of the lower parts of the Carolinas, 

 wherever the myrtles grew, these birds were numerous, 

 skipping about, with hanging wings, among the bushes. 

 In those parts of the country, they are generally known by 

 the name of myrtle birds. Round Savannah, and beyond it 

 as far as the Alatamaha, I found him equally numerous, as 

 late as the middle of March, when his change of colour had 

 considerably progressed to the slate hue. Mr Abbot, who is 

 well acquainted with this change, assured me that they attain 

 this rich slate colour fully before their departure from thence, 

 which is about the last of March, and to the 10th of April. 

 About the middle or 20th of the same month, they appear in 

 Pennsylvania, in full dress, as represented in the plate ; and 

 after continuing to be seen for a week or ten days, skipping 

 among the high branches and tops of the trees after those 

 larvae that feed on the opening buds, they disappear until the 

 next October. Whether they retire to the north, or to the 

 high ranges of our mountains to breed, like many other of 

 our passengers, is yet uncertain. They are a very numerous 

 species, and always associate together in considerable numbers, 

 both in spring, winter, and fall. 



