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SYLVIA PALMABUM. 
coronata, and in almost all the warblers that change 
periodically from a dull to a bright plumage ; and, in 
fact, in most birds in which this change takes place. 
According to Buffbn and Vieillot, this bird is a per- 
manent resident in the West Indies, where, as they 
state, the name is sometimes applied to it of Fausse 
Linotte . We, however, can perceive scarcely any 
resemblance, except in its dull state of plumage, to a 
similar state of the red-poll finch. The name of Bim- 
bele , by which it is known among the negroes of those 
countries, is derived from the recollection of an African 
bird, to which, probably, the resemblance is not more 
evident. Unfortunately, this propensity of limited 
minds to refer new objects, however distinct, to those 
with which they are acquainted, seems to have pre- 
vailed throughout the world, and is found exemplified 
no where more absurdly than in the Anglo-American 
names of plants and animals. 
The food of this little warbler consists chiefly of 
fruits and small seeds. Its song is limited to five or 
six notes ; but though neither brilliant nor varied, it 
is highly agreeable, the tones being full, soft, and 
mellow. While other birds of its kind build in thickets 
and humble situations, this proud little creature is said 
always to select the very lofty tree from which it takes 
its name, the palmist, (a species of palm,) and to place 
its nest in the top, in the sort of hive formed at the 
base or insertion of the peduncle which sustains the 
clusters of fruit. 
Such are the facts we have gathered from authors; 
but as the singular description of the nest coincides 
exactly with the manner of building of the Tanagra 
dominica , and as, moreover, the palm warbler appears 
not to be known in its gayer vesture in the West 
Indies, we cannot easily believe that it breeds elsewhere 
than where we have stated ; that is, in the temperate, 
and even colder regions of America, and that what has 
been mistaken for its nest, in reality belongs to the 
above named, or some other bird. 
The first accounts of this species were given, as we 
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