272 
BIRDS OF PENNSYLVANIA. 
When migrating the males come, particularly in spring, in advance of the females; 
the majority migrate at night, flying usually at a considerable elevation. Certain 
members of this family are remarkable for the melody of their song, many species 
which migrate north, penetrating, as some do, even the Arctic solitudes to rear their 
young, are said to possess most exquisite vocal powers. 
Although several species are ground nesters, and live chiefly on the ground, and 
some others construct their abodes near mother earth, on which they often are seen, 
the majority of this family inhabit trees, bushes and shrubbery. Some, especially 
most species of Dendroica , are found usually in trees or bushes, and seldom do they 
visit terra firma; and certain warblers inhabit almost continually the leafy branches of 
high forest trees, where they actively engage in the pursuit of divers forms of insect 
life. 
During migrations many of these birds are common visitors to the orchards and 
shade trees about the habitations of man. The Oven-bird, one of our most common 
summer birds, in hilly and dry places in the dusky recesses of woods, spends most 
of his time on the ground, but frequently, when disturbed, and often when singing, 
he perches on the low limbs of trees and bushes. The Water and Louisiana Thrushes, 
often perch on low limbs and twigs, on logs, etc., but they are mainly terrestrial, and 
may be looked for about swamps, pools and streams in dark woods and thickets. The 
Parula Warbler is generally seen in the tops of high forest trees during migrations ; 
and the Maryland Yellow-throat, a common frequenter of shrubbery and underbrush, 
frequently is found in company with other warblers in orchards, where all render 
efficient service. The Kentucky Warbler, which could readily be mistaken for the 
Maryland Yellow-throat, by a careless observer, I have never seen in orchards, and 
rarely, if ever, is it observed high in trees, although it often alights in low bushes. 
The favorite abiding place of the Kentucky is in swampy thickets, or low moist 
situations in woods. He especially delights to hide among the leaves of the Skunk- 
cabbage (Symplocarpus f(fiditus). The loquacious but active Yellow-breasted Chat, 
an inhabitant of briery thickets and tangled undergrowth, often repairs to high 
branches of trees to sing his loud and varied song. The insect-like song of the Blue¬ 
winged Warbler, very similar to the notes of the Grasshopper Sparrow, will fre¬ 
quently enable you to detect its source in the top of a sapling or high bush, of a thicket 
or in a tree along the edge of a forest or in open woods. The Black and White Warbler, 
like a Nuthatch or Brown Creeper, may generally be seen circling round the trunks 
and limbs of trees, in woods and swamps, and when migrating this little warbler not 
unfrequently visits orchards, trees in lawns, gardens and parks. Water Thrushes, 
the Palm, Yellow Palm Warblers and Oven-bird, by their peculiar jerking motions, 
often remind one of some of the sandpipers or the American Pipit. As you catch a 
glimpse of the Maryland Yellow-throat, and hear his sharp note, as he vanishes in 
the thick undergrowth, you are reminded of certain peculiarities so characteristic of 
wrens. The Parula and Pine Warblers, are often seen to hang downward, like the 
titmice when feeding, and the ever active Redstart in some ways is not unlike the 
Tyrant Flycatchers. 
While it is true that a large number of the warblers included in our fauna breed 
regularly, in suitable localities, in some portion or other of the state, the members 
of this family are far more numerous during migrations (usually in May and Sep. 
tember) than at any other time; and some seasons different species will often be 
noticed to be much more plentiful than in corresponding seasons in other years. 
Primaries nine; wings long and pointed, and longer than the almost even tail, except 
in the genera Geothlypsis and Tcteria. The Maryland Yellow-throat, Chat and 
Mourning Warbler have shortish and rounded wings. The bill is, usually, quite 
straight and acute, and shorter than the head; in many of these birds the bill is 
slightly notched toward the tip but not hooked. Some have prominent rictal bristles, 
others have none. In the genus Dendroica the conical attenuated bill, compressed 
in the middle and distinctly notched near the end is furnished with short, but generally 
distinct, bristles at base. All this family have four toes, three in front, one behind ; 
claws small, sharp and curved. Referring to these birds Dr. Coues says: “With 
