Wilson states that these Warblers appear in Pennsylvania, from the North, early in October, and stay there several weeks. Some of them remain in the Southern States all winter. They feed with great avidity upon the berries of the red cedar.
In Western Massachusetts it is a very abundant spring and autumn visitant, making but a brief stay in spring, but passing northward in large numbers. In autumn it remains longer, and passes south more leisurely. Mr. B. P. Mann found its nest and eggs in Concord, but this was probably an exceptional instance. In Eastern Maine it arrives May 25, and, as Mr. Boardman thinks, remains to breed. Both Dr. Suckley and Dr. Cooper met with this species in Washington Territory, where it is very rare.
No writers have observed or noted the song of this bird, except Mr. T. M. Trippe (American Nat., II. p. 171), who states that during its spring migrations it has a very sweet song or warble, uttered at short intervals.
It reaches the high northern latitudes late in May, and leaves that region in September. The observations of Mr. McFarlane show that the nests of this bird are moderately common at Anderson River, and are generally built in low spruce-trees four or five feet from the ground. In one or two instances it was placed on the ground.
The eggs of this Warbler vary from .72 to .80 of an inch in length, and from .50 to .55 in breadth. Their ground-color is white, often tinged with a bluish shade, and blotched and spotted with reddish-brown, purple, and darker shades of brown. They are of a rounded oval shape.
Dendroica auduboni, Baird
AUDUBON’S WARBLER; WESTERN YELLOW-RUMP
Sylvia auduboni, Townsend, J. A. N. Sc. VII, II, 1837.—Ib. Narrative, 1839, 342.—Aud. Orn. Biog. V, 1839, 52, pl. cccxcv. Sylvicola auduboni, Bon. List. 1838.—Aud. Birds Am. II, 1841, 26, pl. lxxvii. Dendroica auduboni, Baird, Birds N. Am. 1858, 273; Rev. 188.—Sclater, P. Z. S. 1858, 298 (Oaxaca; October); 1860, 250 (Orizaba).—Sclater & Salvin, Ibis, 1860, 273 (San Geronimo, Guat.).—Cooper & Suckley, P. R. R. Rep. XII, II, 1859, 181.—Sclater, P. Z. S. 1864, 172 (City of Mexico).—Cooper, Orn. Cal. 1, 1870, 88.
Sp. Char. Above bluish-ash, streaked with black, most marked on the middle of the back; on the head and neck bluish-ash. Middle of crown, rump, chin, and throat, and a patch on the side of the breast, gamboge-yellow; space beneath and anterior to the eyes, forepart of breast and sides, black; this color extending behind on the sides in streaks. Middle of belly, under tail-coverts, a portion of upper and lower eyelids, and a broad band on the wings, with a spot on each of the four or five exterior tail-feathers, white; rest of tail-feathers black. Female brown above; the other markings less conspicuous and less black. Length, 5.25; wings, 3.20; tail, 2.25. Young, first plumage, whole body, including head all round and rump, conspicuously streaked with slaty-black upon an ashy ground above and white below. No yellow on crown, rump, breast, or throat. Wings and tail as in autumnal adult.
Hab. Western and Middle Provinces of the United States; Cape St. Lucas; Western Mexico and Orizaba? Oaxaca (cold regions, October, Sclater); Guatemala (Salvin).
This bird is very closely allied to D. coronata, but is distinguished by the yellow (not white) throat; the absence of a superciliary white stripe (the eyelids white, however); the restriction of the black of the face to the lores, and to a suffusion round the eye; and the presence of one broad band on the wings, instead of two narrow ones.
Habits. This beautiful Warbler, so strikingly simulating the D. coronata in the character of its markings, and now so well known as a common species on the Pacific coast, was first met with by Mr. Townsend near the Columbia River, where he found it very abundant. His account of its habits is inconsistent, and probably not reliable. Mr. Nuttall, who was with Mr. Townsend, differs, also, essentially in his account. He states that he first saw them about the middle of April, and that their song bore a very close resemblance to that of the D. æstiva, but was delivered in a much superior style. They remained his summer companions, breeding among the shady firs on the borders of prairie openings, where there was an abundant supply of insect food. By the 8th of June he found their young already out, in small and busy flocks, solicitously attended by their parents. They greatly resembled the young of the coronata. These birds frequented large trees, particularly the water-oaks, and the lower branches of gigantic firs.
Dr. Cooper found this Warbler one of the most abundant species of Washington Territory, and believed them to be, to some extent, a resident species, as he met them about the Straits of Fuca in March. He speaks of its song as lively, and heard everywhere on the borders of the woods, even near the coast, where few of the smaller species ever visit. In the fall he noticed straggling flocks of the young wandering about the low shrubbery in large numbers. The same writer also states that this species is in winter a very abundant bird in the southern part of California, flitting about among the bushes and low trees. The males are then in the dull plumage of the females, and do not put on their richer hues until March or April. He saw none south of San Francisco after May 1, but they began to reappear in September. As he found newly fledged young near Lake Tahoe, he thinks they breed throughout the higher Sierra Nevada. At the sea level in latitude 37° they appear late in September, and remain until March 20.
Dr. Suckley regarded this bird as the most abundant species visiting the western portion of Washington Territory. Near Fort Steilacoom it was found principally among the oak-trees on the plains.
Dr. Woodhouse found it abundant in New Mexico, confining itself to the timbered and mountainous districts, and especially plentiful among the San Francisco Mountains, feeding among the tall pines. Dr. Coues found it exceedingly common in Arizona, where some spend the winter, and a few possibly remain in the summer to breed.
Dr. Heermann found them remaining in the Sacramento Valley throughout the winter, and quotes Dr. Kennerly as finding these birds on the Boca Grande and at different points in Sonora. Mr. Gambel found these Warblers on all his route from New Mexico to California in great abundance, their habits greatly resembling those of the D. coronata. They display a great deal of familiarity, entering the towns, resorting to the gardens and hedge-rows, and even the corrals of the houses, descending also to the ground in company with Blackbirds and Sparrows.
This Warbler is thus shown to have a very extended distribution. It is now known to be found, at different seasons, from Central America to British Columbia, and from New Mexico to the Pacific.
We are indebted to the late Mr. Hepburn for all the knowledge we possess in reference to its nests, eggs, and breeding-habits. He procured their nests and eggs in Vancouver’s Island. They were built in the forked branches of small shrubs. Around these the materials of which they were built were strongly bound, and to it the nests were thus securely fastened. They were quite long and large for the bird, being four inches in height, and three and a half in diameter. The cavity is small, but deep. The external periphery of the nest is made of coarse strips of bark, long dry leaves of wild grasses, and strong stalks of plants, intermingled with finer grasses, pieces of cotton cloth, and other materials. The inner nest is also a singular combination of various materials, yet carefully and elaborately put together. It is made up of fine grasses, feathers, lichens, mosses, fine roots, etc., all felted together and lined with a warm bedding of fur and feathers. Mr. Hepburn’s observations, so far as they go, seem to show that this bird does not usually build in such lofty positions as Nuttall and others conjectured.
According to Mr. Hepburn, they arrive in Vancouver’s Island in the middle of April, and generally frequent high trees, constructing their nests in the upper branches, though also frequently building in low bushes, a few feet from the ground. The number of their eggs is four. These, he states, have a pure white ground, and are spotted, usually chiefly about the larger end, with red markings.
Mr. Salvin met with both this species and the D. coronata at San Geronimo, November, 1859. They congregated together on the ground, where they principally obtained their food.
Dr. Cooper, in his paper on the fauna of Montana, mentions this Warbler as the only one of the genus seen by him between Fort Benton and Fort Vancouver. It was very common throughout the mountains, and he found it in every portion of the country west of them, even where scarcely a bush was to be seen.
According to the careful observations of Mr. Robert Ridgway, this Warbler, during the summer months, in the Great Basin, chiefly inhabits the pines of the high mountain ranges, as well as the cedar and piñon woods of the desert mountains. In winter it descends to the lower portions, being then found among the willows, or, in small roving companies, hopping among the tree-tops in the river valleys. In manners it is said by him to resemble the coronata, but in their notes they differ very widely. A nest, containing three young, was found by Mr. Ridgway near the extremity of a horizontal branch of a pine-tree, about ten feet from the ground.
The eggs of the Audubon Warbler do not resemble those of any Dendroica with which I am acquainted, but are most like those of the Hooded Warbler. They measure .70 by .50 of an inch, have a reddish or pinkish white ground, and are sparingly marked with fine brown markings, tinted with a crimson shading.
Dendroica maculosa, Baird
BLACK AND YELLOW WARBLER
Motacilla maculosa, Gm. Syst. Nat. I, 1788, 984. Sylvia m. Lath.; Vieill.; Bon.; Nutt.; Aud. Orn. Biog. I, II, V, pl. 1. 123. Sylvicola m. Swains.; Bon.; Aud. Birds Am. II, pl. xcvi. Rhimanphus m. Cab. Jour. III, 1855, 474 (Cuba). Dendroica m. Baird, Birds N. Am. 1858, 284; Review, 206.—Sclater, P. Z. S. 1859, 363, 373 (Xalapa).—Bryant, Pr. Bost. Soc. VII, 1859 (Bahamas).—Sclater & Salvin, Ibis, 1859, 11 (Guatemala).—Lawrence, Ann. N. Y. Lyc. 1861, 322 (Panama; winter).—Gundlach, Cab. Jour. 1861, 326 (Cuba; very rare).—Samuels, 238. Sylvia magnolia, Wils. III, pl. xxiii, fig. 3.
Sp. Char. Male, in spring. Bill dark bluish-black, rather lighter beneath. Tail dusky. Top of head light grayish-blue. Front, lore, cheek, and a stripe under the eye, black, running into a large triangular patch on the back between the wings, which is also black. Eyelids and a stripe from the eye along the head white. Upper tail-coverts black, some of the feathers tipped with grayish. Abdomen and lower tail-coverts white. Rump and under parts, except as described, yellow. Lower throat, breast, and sides streaked with black; the streaks closer on the lower throat and fore breast. Lesser wing-coverts, and edges of the wing and tail, bluish-gray, the former spotted with black. Quills and tail almost black; the latter with a square patch of white on the inner webs of all the tail-feathers (but the two inner) beyond the middle of the tail. Two white bands across the wings (sometimes coalesced into one) formed by the middle and secondary coverts. Part of the edge of the inner webs of the quills white. Feathers margining the black patch on the back behind and on the sides tinged with greenish. Length, 5 inches; wing, 2.50; tail, 2.25. Autumnal males differ in absence of black of back, front, sides of head, and to a considerable degree beneath, and in much less white on the wings and head.
Female in spring. Similar, but all the colors duller. Black of the back restricted to a central triangular patch.
Hab. Eastern Province of North America to Fort Simpson; Eastern Mexico to Guatemala and Panama; Bahamas; Cuba (very rare).
Habits. The Black and Yellow Warbler, one of the most beautiful of this attractive family, was supposed by our earlier writers to be exceedingly rare. Wilson never met with more than two specimens,—one in Ohio, the other on the Mississippi,—and spoke of it as a very scarce species. In regard to its song he was quite at fault, denying to it any notes deserving the name of song. Nuttall, who had only seen it occasionally in Massachusetts, in the middle of May, regarded it as rare, and was unacquainted with its notes. Its history is now much better known, and neither its great rarity nor its deficiency as to melody can any longer be admitted.
At certain seasons and in particular places it is a very common species. It may be found during the breeding-season throughout North America east of the Great Plains, between latitude 44° and Fort Simpson in the fur country. During its migrations it may be met with in most of the Eastern States, in Eastern Mexico, and the northern portions of South America. It has been found in the Bahamas, and also in Cuba, where it is not common. Specimens have been received from Mexico, Guatemala, and Panama, and from Fort Resolution, Rupert House, and Fort Simpson, in Arctic America, and as far to the west as the mouth of Vermilion River. Dr. Bryant met with it in the Bahamas as early as the 15th of March, where it was quite common. M. Boucard found it at Playa Vicente, in the hot portion of the State of Oaxaca, Mexico.
In Western Massachusetts, Mr. Allen found it a common spring and autumn visitor, occurring in its northern flights from the middle of May to the first of June, and in the autumn as late as September 20. Professor Verrill found it in Western Maine, but not common, both in spring and fall, but had no reason to believe that it bred there. Mr. Boardman does not include it in his list of Calais birds, and I did not find it among the islands in the Bay of Fundy. In the vicinity of Halifax, during the months of June and July, it is one of the most common of the Warblers, occurring in every direction.
Mr. Audubon observed these Warblers in Louisiana, in their migrations, as early as the middle of March; but its appearance there, as well as in Kentucky and Ohio, appeared to be occasional and accidental. In autumn he has met with them in large numbers among the mountains of Northern Pennsylvania, They were passing southward with their young. While on his way to Labrador he noticed them in Maine, near Eastport, in May, very abundant along the roads, the fields, and the low woods, as well as in the orchards and gardens. The season was then not advanced, the weather cold; and these birds sheltered themselves by night among the evergreens, and were often so chilled as to be readily taken by the hand. He also met them wherever he landed in the neighboring islands in the Bay of Fundy and at Labrador.
The song of this Warbler is clear and sweetly modulated, and surpasses that of most of this family. It seems to prefer the interior of low woods, where its notes may chiefly be heard during the early summer, as it sings while it is searching for its food among the branches, in the manner of the Vireos.
Like nearly all the members of this family, in its search for food it blends the habits of the Creepers with those of the Flycatchers, feeding upon insects in their every form, running up and down the trunks for the ova, larvæ, and pupæ, expertly catching the insect on the wing, and equally skilful in hovering over the expanded bud and searching the opening leaves.
Mr. Audubon found its nest placed deep among the branches of low fir-trees, supported by horizontal twigs, constructed of moss and lichens, and lined with fibrous roots and feathers. One found in Labrador, in the beginning of July, contained five eggs, small and rather more elongated than is common in this genus. They were white, and sprinkled with reddish dots at the larger end. The female fluttered among the branches, spreading her wings and tail in great distress, and returning to her nest as soon as the intruders were a few yards off. In August he saw a number of their young already following their parents and moving southward. In his expedition to Texas, Mr. Audubon again met this bird, in considerable numbers, early in April. Their eggs, he states, measure three fourths of an inch in length by nine sixteenths in breadth. In some the ground-color, instead of pure white, is of a yellowish tinge.
The writer found this Warbler abundant near Halifax in the early summer of 1850, frequenting the thick hemlock woods, confiding in its habits, unsuspicious, and easily approached. The distress, as described by Audubon, manifested in behalf of its own young, it is as ready to exhibit when the nest of a feathered neighbor is disturbed. A pair of Hudson’s Bay Titmice, protesting against the invasion of their home, by their outcries brought a pair of these Warblers to their sympathetic assistance; and the latter manifested, in a more gentle way, quite as much distress and anxiety as the real parents. With expanded tail and half-extended wings they fluttered overhead among the branches, approaching us almost within reach, uttering the most piteous outcries.
Sir John Richardson found this Warbler as common and as familiar as the D. æstiva on the Saskatchewan, and greatly resembling it in habits, though gifted with a much more varied and agreeable song.
Mr. Kennicott met this Warbler on Great Slave Lake, June 12, 1860, where he obtained a female, nest, and five eggs. The nest, loosely built, was placed in a small spruce about two feet from the ground, and in thick woods. The bird was rather bold, coming to her nest while he stood by it. This nest was only one and a half inches deep, with a diameter of three and a half inches; the cavity only one inch deep, with a diameter of two and a half inches. It was made almost entirely of fine stems of plants and slender grasses, and a few mosses. The cavity was lined with finer stems, and fine black roots of herbaceous plants.
The eggs of this Warbler are, in shape, a rounded oval, one end being but slightly more pointed than the other. They measure .62 of an inch in length and .49 in breadth. Their ground-color is a light ashen hue, or a dull white, and this is more or less sprinkled with fine dots and blotches of a light brown. For the most part these are grouped in a ring about the larger end.
Mr. R. Deane, of Cambridge, found this bird breeding near Lake Umbagog. Its nest was in the fork of a low spruce about three feet from the ground. The nest contained four eggs, and was made of dry grasses, spruce twigs, and rootlets. It was lined with fine black roots, being a rather coarse structure for a Warbler. The eggs were nearly spherical, averaging .62 by .51 of an inch. Their ground-color was a creamy-white, sparsely marked with a few large blotches of lilac and umber.
Dendroica cærulea, Baird
CÆRULEAN WARBLER; WHITE-THROATED BLUE WARBLER
Sylvia cærulea, Wils. Am. Orn. II, 1810, 141, pl. xvii, fig. 5. Sylvicola c. Swains.; Jard.; Rich.; Bon.; Aud. Orn. Biog. I, pl. xlix; Nutt. Dendroica c. Baird, Birds N. Am. 1858, 280; Rev. 191.—Gundl. Cab. Jour. 1861, 326 (Cuba; very rare).—Samuels, 579. Sylvia rara, Wilson, II, pl. xxvii, fig. 2.—Bon.; Aud. Orn. Biog. I, pl. xlix. Sylvia azurea, Steph. Shaw, Zoöl. X, 1817.—Bon. Am. Orn. II, 1828, pl. xxvii (♀).—Aud. Orn. Biog. I, pl. xlviii, xlix; Nutt. Sylvia bifasciata, Say, Long’s Exped. I, 1823, 170. Sylvia populorum, Vieill. Encyc. Méth. II, 1823, 449 (from Wilson).
Other localities: Bogota, Sclater, P. Z. S. 1857, 18. Panama R. R., Lawrence, Ann. N. Y. Lyc. 1861, 322. Yucatan, Lawr. Veragua, Salv.
Sp. Char. Male. Above bright blue, darkest on the crown, tinged with ash on the rump; middle of back, scapulars, upper tail-coverts, and sides of the crown, streaked with black. Beneath white; a collar across the breast, and streaks on the sides, dusky-blue. Lores, and a line through and behind the eye (where it is bordered above by whitish), dusky-blue; paler on the cheeks. Two white bands on the wings. All the tail-feathers except the innermost with a white patch on the inner web near the end. Female, greenish-blue above, brightest on the crown; beneath white, tinged with greenish-yellow, and obsoletely streaked on the sides; eyelids and a superciliary line greenish-white. Length, 4.25; wing, 2.65; tail, 1.90.
Hab. Eastern United States, north to Niagara Falls; Cuba (very rare); Guatemala; Veragua, Panama, and Bogota. Not recorded from Mexico (except Yucatan), or West Indies (except Cuba).
The autumnal adult plumage of both sexes is, in every respect, exactly like the spring dress. Young males in late summer are very similar to adult females, but are purer white below, and less uniform greenish-blue above, the dark stripes on sides of the crown and black centres to scapulars being quite conspicuous; the young female, at the same season, is similar in pattern to the adult, but is dull green above, without any tinge of blue, and light buffy-yellow below.
There is considerable variation in adult males, especially in the width of the pectoral collar; one (No. 60,877, Mt. Carmel, Wabash Co., Ill., Aug. 9) has this entirely interrupted. In this individual there is no trace of a whitish supra-auricular streak; while others from the same locality, and obtained at the same date, have the band across the jugulum continuous, and a quite distinct white streak over the ear-coverts.
Habits. Of this somewhat rare Warbler very little is as yet well known. Its habits and distribution during the breeding-season need more light than we now possess to enable us to give its story with any degree of exactness. Its appearance in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Illinois, and Missouri early in May, when Warblers that go north to breed are on their way, at first suggested its belonging to that class. It is not known to proceed any farther north, except in accidental instances; though the writer has been assured, and has no reason to doubt the fact, that it abounds and breeds in the neighborhood of Niagara Falls. I can find no good evidence that it ever occurs in Massachusetts. Individuals have been obtained in northern South America, Panama, and Cuba. Dr. Woodhouse describes it as quite common in Texas and in the Indian Territory, where it breeds, as he obtained both the old and the young birds. It was also abundant among the timbered lands of the Arkansas and its tributaries. It was not obtained in any other of the government expeditions, nor was it found in Arizona by Dr. Coues. Mr. T. M. Trippe noticed a single individual near Orange, N. Y. Wilson supposed them to breed in Pennsylvania, though he was never able to find their nests. He usually met with these birds in marshes or on the borders of streams among the branches of poplars. Their habits were those of the Flycatchers. He saw none later than the 20th of August. Describing this species as the Blue-green Warbler, as met with by him on the banks of the Cumberland early in April, he mentions its gleaning for food among the upper branches of the tallest trees, rendering it difficult to be procured. Its resemblance, in habits, to Flycatchers, he again remarks. Its only note was a feeble cheep.
According to Audubon, this Warbler appears in Louisiana, where it also breeds early in spring, and leaves the first of October. Like all its family, it is quite lively, has a similar flight, moves sideways up and down the branches, and hangs from the ends of the twigs in its search for insects.
Mr. Audubon also states that the liveliness of the notes of this Warbler renders it conspicuous in the forests, the skirts of which it frequents. Its song, though neither loud nor of long continuance, he speaks of as extremely sweet and mellow. He found it as numerous in the State of Louisiana as any other Warbler, so that he could sometimes obtain five or six in a single walk.
The nest he describes as placed in the forks of a low tree or bush, partly pensile, projecting a little above the twigs to which it is attached, and extending below them nearly two inches. The outer part is composed of the fibres of vines and the stalks of herbaceous plants, with slender roots arranged in a circular manner. The nest is lined with fine dry fibres of the Spanish moss. The eggs are five in number, of a pure white with a few reddish spots about the larger end. When disturbed during incubation, the female is said to trail along the branches with drooping wings and plaintive notes, in the manner of D. æstiva. After the young have left the nest, they move and hunt together, in company with their parents, evincing great activity in the pursuit of insects. They are also said to have a great partiality for trees the tops of which are thickly covered with grapevines, and to occasionally alight on tall weeds, feeding upon their seeds.
In his visit to Texas, Mr. Audubon met a large number of these birds apparently coming from Mexico. On one occasion he encountered a large flock on a small island.
Mr. Nuttall mentions finding these birds very abundant in Tennessee and also in West Florida.
In only a single instance has the writer met with this Warbler. This was about the middle of June, at the Fairmount Water Works in the city of Philadelphia, where, among the tops of the trees, a single individual was busily engaged in hunting insects, undisturbed by the large numbers and vicinity of visitors to the grounds. It kept in the tops of the trees, moving about with great agility.
Mr. Ridgway gives the Cærulean Warbler as the most abundant species of its genus in the Lower Wabash Valley, not only during the spring and fall migrations, but also in the summer, when it breeds more plentifully even than the D. æstiva. It inhabits, however, only the deep woods of the bottom lands, where it is seldom seen, and only to be distinguished by the naturalist. Inhabiting, mostly, the tree-tops, it is an inconspicuous bird, and thus one that easily escapes notice. In its habits it is perhaps less interesting than others of its genus, being so retired, and possessing only the most feeble notes.
Dendroica blackburniæ, Baird
BLACKBURNIAN WARBLER; ORANGE-THROATED WARBLER
Motacilla blackburniæ, Gmelin, Syst. Nat. I, 1788, 977. Sylvia bl. Lath.; Wilson, III, pl. xxiii.—Nutt.; Aud. Orn. Biog. II, V, pl. cxxxv, cccxcix. Sylvicola bl. Jard.; Rich.; Aud. Birds Am. II, pl. lxxxvii. Rhimanphus bl. Cab. Mus. Hein. 1850, 19. Dendroica bl. Baird, Birds N. Am. 1858, 274; Rev. 189.—Sclater & Salvin, Ibis, 1859, 11 (Guatemala).—Sclater, P. Z. S. 1859, 363 (Xalapa); Ib. 1860, 64 (Ecuador).—Ib. Catal. 1861, 30, No. 187. (Pallatanga and Nanegal, Ecuador).—Samuels, 227.—Sundevall, Ofv. 1869, 611.—Dresser, Ibis, 1865, 478. ? Motacilla chrysocephala, Gmelin, I, 1788, 971 (Figuier orangé et F. étranger, Buff. V, 313, pl. lviii, fig. 3, Guiana). Sylvia parus, Wils. V, pl. xliv, fig. 3.—Aud. Orn. Biog. II, pl. cxxxiv. Sylvicola parus, Aud. Birds Am. II, pl. lxxxiii. Sylvia lateralis, Steph. ? Motacilla incana, Gmel. I, 1788, 976. Sylvia incana, Lath.; Vieill. ? Sylvia melanorhoa, Vieill. Nouv. Dict. XI, 1817, 180 (Martinique).—Ib. Encycl. Méth. II, 444.
Localities quoted: Bogota, Sclater, P. Z. S. 1855, 143. Panama, Lawr. Ann. N. Y. Lyc. VII, 62. Costa Rica, Cab. Jour. 1860, 328. Bahamas, Bryant, Bost. Pr. VII, 1859. Veragua, Salvin. Orizaba (winter; rare), Sumichrast.
Sp. Char. Upper parts nearly uniform black, with a whitish scapular stripe and a large white patch in the middle of the wing-coverts. An oblong patch in the middle of the crown, and the entire side of the head and neck (including a superciliary stripe from the nostrils), the chin, throat, and forepart of the breast, bright orange-red. A black stripe from the commissure passing around the lower half of the eye, and including the ear-coverts; with, however, an orange crescent in it, just below the eye, the extreme lid being black. Rest of under parts white, strongly tinged with yellowish-orange on the breast and belly, and streaked with black on the sides. Outer three tail-feathers white, the shafts and tips dark brown; the fourth and fifth spotted much with white; the other tail-feathers and quills almost black. Female similar; the colors duller; the feathers of the upper parts with olivaceous edges. Length, 5.50; wing, 2.83; tail, 2.25.
Hab. Eastern Province of United States; Eastern Mexico, and south to Bogota and Ecuador; Bahamas alone of West Indies with certainty.
Autumnal males resemble the females. They have two white bands instead of one; the black stripes on the sides are larger; under parts yellowish; the throat yellowish, passing into purer yellow behind.
Autumnal young birds have the same pattern of coloration, but the dark portions are dull grayish-umber, with the streaks very obsolete, and the light parts dull buffy-white, tinged with yellow on the jugulum; there is neither clear black, bright yellow, nor pure white on the plumage, except the latter on the wing-bands and tail-patches.
Habits. This somewhat rare and very beautiful Warbler requires additional investigation into its habits before its history can be regarded as satisfactorily known. Save in reference to its wider distribution during its southern migrations, little more is known as to its habits than where Audubon left its history nearly thirty years since. The Smithsonian collection has specimens from Pennsylvania, Ohio, Wisconsin, Missouri, Illinois, and from Central America. Mr. Sclater has received specimens from Mexico, and from Ecuador in South America. Other writers mention having specimens from Guiana, Martinique, and Panama, and Dr. Bryant found it in the Bahamas. It is thus known to have a wide distribution from the Atlantic to the Mississippi River, as far to the north probably as Labrador. Its area of reproduction is not known with exactness, but the southern limit is supposed to be the high wooded districts of Pennsylvania, New York, and New England. A young bird was taken by Holböll, October 16, 1845, at Frederikshaab, Greenland. In 1837 an egg was sent me from Coventry, Vt., which purported to belong to this bird; and in the following summer its nest and eggs were procured in a wild, secluded part of Roxbury, Mass. In neither case was the identification entirely free from doubt.