52 
D END 11 (EGA PALMABUM. 
commence the northern migration, passing Massachusetts during the last week in April or the 
first in May; at this season these birds frequent the swamps. They breed abundantly in 
northern New England. 
I well remember when I first saw a nest of this species, Mr. H. B. Bailey and myself were 
searching among a low growth of young firs and spruces for the eggs of the Snow Bird when 
he found a structure in a tree but a short distance from the ground which, from its small size, 
we knew must belong to some Warbler. I had not examined it when a little bird made its 
appearance and began chirping loudly while it fluttered from limb to limb near us behaving 
as if solicitous for the safely of its home ; I quickly shot it, for night was approaching and 
I had not the slightest doubt but that it was the owner of the nest. Upon picking it up I was 
delighted to find that it was a Tennessee Warbler, for I knew that the eggs of this bird 
had never been found. We were naturally jubilant over this discovery, but, upon looking into 
the nest and perceiving the large size of the eggs, our ardor was somewhat dampened. The fact 
of its being in a tree was also against its belonging to the bird which I had killed, for all 
members of this genus are apt to place their domiciles upon the ground. Subsequently, much 
to our disappointment, our doubts were confirmed by finding several similar nests which 
undoubtedly belonged to the Yellow-rumped Warbler. Although the eggs of this last named 
species are a prize yet such was the impression left upon my mind by finding the first I had 
ever seen, under the circumstances narrated, that I have ever since regarded them with a kind 
of disgust. 
These birds usually select very low trees in which to breed, but I fouud a nest, containing 
four young, on Grand Manan, that was placed in a spruce twenty feet from the ground. This 
was as late as July 22d, and as the usual time for depositing their eggs is about the first or 
second week in June they must rear two broods in a season ; in fact, a day or two before 
I discovered this nest, I shot several fully fledged young. The notes of the Yellow-rump are 
lively and interesting; they sing from May until late in July when they moult. After this the 
small companies, composed of parents and their offspring, which have hitherto kept apart, 
collect in large flocks and prepare for the southern migrations. The last stragglers have left 
Maine by the middle of October but some linger about Massachusetts as late as the 20th of 
November, when they move onward, arriving in Florida about the 15th of December. 
DENDEOBCA PALIARUM. 
Yellow Red-polled Warbler. 
Dendrceca palmarum Baird, Birds of North America, 1858, 288. 
DESCRIPTION. 
Sp. Ch. Form, rather slender. Size, not large. Bill, moderate, quite slender, and somewhat acuminate. 
Wings, moderate. Tail, rather long, slightly rounded and emarginate. Feet, quite small. Sternum, narrower than 
those of the three preceding species aud slightly built. Tongue, narrow, rather thin, bifid, and fringed on the end 
with quite long cilia which extend along the side for one-third of its terminal length. 
Color. Adult male. Above, yellowish-olive becoming brighter on the rump. Top of head, chestnut-red. 
Wings and tail, brown, with the feathers edged with the same color as those of the back. The six outer tail feathers 
have terminal spots of white on their inner webs. Beneath, including under wing coverts and under tail coverts, 
bright yellow, streaked or spotted across the breast, on the sides of the throat and sides with chestnut-red. There 
is a superciliary stripe of yellow. The lores and ear coverts are dusky, the latter mixed with chestnut-red. 
Adult female , similar to the male but without as much chestnut on the crown. In autumn there is a brownish 
suffusion above which extends over the crown. The yellow beneath is also obscured by a whitish suffusion. 
Young male , deep olive-brown above, with scarcely a trace of chestnut on the crown. Beneath, dirty white with 
a faint indication of yellow on the breast and sides, but which becomes brighter on the under tail coverts. In place 
of the chestnut stripes of the breast, sides, etc., the feathers have dusky centres. 
Young female, similar but with no trace of chestnut on the crown and but little yellow below excepting the 
under tail coverts. In all stages the irides, feet, and bill are brown; the latter lighter at the base of the lower 
mandible. 
