Length: About 5½ inches.
Male and Female: _Crown chestnut; line over the eye and ring around the
eye yellow_; upper parts olive-green, browner on the back; _under
parts bright yellow, with streaks of brown on throat, breast, and
sides_; wings sometimes edged with brown; tail edged with
olive-green; outer tail-feathers with white spots on inner webs near
tips.
Song: Two songs, one "thinner" and more rapid than the other.
Habitat: Fields and roadsides; feeds chiefly on the ground and among low
bushes.
Range: Atlantic Slope of North America. Breeds in southeastern Canada
and Maine; winters from Louisiana to northern Florida; casually to
North Carolina and Pennsylvania. The PALM WARBLER is the western
species, an inhabitant of the Mississippi Valley and the region
eastward. It is very common in Florida, where it may be discovered
in company with yellow Palm Warblers.
This lively little warbler, with its nervous habit of tipping up its
tail incessantly like a spotted sandpiper, resembles its near relative
the yellow warbler in a few respects. The olive-green upper parts and
yellow breast streaked with brown are points of resemblances, but the
chestnut crown and yellow line over the eye are differences. Neither
yellow warblers nor yellow palm warblers are dwellers in the woods, but
prefer to live near the haunts of man. Yellow warblers are seen in trees
and bushes, while the palm warblers are found by roadsides, often on the
ground in the stubble of pastures, out in the open. While subdued in
color and therefore inconspicuous, they are readily identified by the
habit of moving their tails.