112 • 
SYLVIA PALMARUM. 
coronata, and in almost all the warblers that cba»? 
periodically from a dull to a bright plumage ; and, 
fact, in most birds in which this change takes place. 
According to BufFon and Vieillot, this bird is a l’ 1 
,ef 
manent resident in the West Indies, where, as t# J 
state, the name is sometimes applied to it of Fa uS , l 
Linotte. We, however, can perceive scarcely 31 ' 
resemblance, except in its dull state of plumag 
to' 
The name of P*. 
similar state of the red-poll finch. 
bele, by which it is known among the negroes of tb 3 ' 
countries, is derived from the recollection of an 
bird, to which, probably, the resemblance is not 
evident. Unfortunately, this propensity of linid 
minds to refer new objects, however distinct, to th 3 " 
with which they are acquainted, seems to have 
vailed throughout the world, and is found exempli® . 
no where more absurdly than in the Anglo-Amer " 5 
names of plants and animals. 
The food of this little warbler consists chiefly 
fruits and small seeds. Its song is limited to fi' 3 j| 
six notes j but though neither brilliant nor varies j 
is highly agreeable, the tones being full, soft, % 
mellow. While other birds of its kind build in thick 1 .j 
and humble situations, this proud little creature is 
always to select the very lofty tree from which it t 3 ',,. 
its name, the palmist, (a species of palm,) and to pW 
tl> ( 
its nest in the top, in the sort of hive formed at , 
base or insertion of the peduncle which sustains 
clusters of fruit. 
Such are the facts we have gathered from autla’ s 
but as the singular description of the nest coiuC 11 . 
exactly with the manner of building of the 
dominica , and as, moreover, the palm warbler apP 3 ' t J 
not to be known in its gayer vesture in the 
Indies, we caunot easily believe that it breeds else" ' 
than where we have stated ; that is, in the temp® 1 ^ 
7 7 * . |pr 
and even colder regions of America, and that what ^ 
been mistaken for its nest, in reality belongs to 
above named, or some other bird. , 
The first accounts of this species were given, 35 
3 
