T H E Y E L L O W - T H R O A T E D W A R B L E R.
SYLVIA PENSILIS, LATH.
P L A T E L X X X V . MALE.
THIS beautiful bird absents itself from the State of Louisiana only
for two months in the year, December and January. When they return
in the beginning of February, they throw themselves by thousands into
all the cypress woods and cane-brakes, where they are heard singing
from the first of March until late in autumn, sometimes in November.
Their habits are very different from those of the Warblers, and are
more in general accordance with those of the Certhia?. They move up
and down, side wise and spirally, along the trunks, branches, and even
twigs of the tallest and largest Cypresses, or such other trees as are found
intermingled with them. They are extremely active, in fact, fully as
much so as the little Brown Creeper itself. Like it, they suddenly leave
the uppermost branches or higher parts of the trunks, and diving downwards
alight on the roots, and renew their search after small insects and
larva?. I never saw any of them pursue insects on wing.
The nest of this species is prettily constructed. Its outer parts are
composed of grey lichens and soft mosses, the interior of silky substances
and a few fibres of the Spanish moss. The female lays four pure white
eggs, having two or three purple dots near the larger end. I think they
raise two broods during their stay in Louisiana, but cannot speak of this
as certain. The nest is placed on a horizontal branch of a Cypress,
twenty, thirty, or even fifty feet above the ground, and is with difficulty
discovered from below, as it resembles a knot or a tuft of moss.
The song of the Yellow-throated Warbler would please you, kind
reader. Of this I have not a doubt, as it is soft and loud, and is
continued for two or three minutes at a time, not unlike that of the
Painted Finch, or Indigo Bird. As it is heard in all parts of our most
dismal Cypress Swamps, it contributes to soothe the mind of a person
whose occupation may lead him to such places. I never saw this species
on the ground. The male and the female are nearly alike in plumage,
but the young birds, which hunt for insects in company, in the manner
of Creepers or Titmice, do not acquire the yellow on the throat, nor the
full brilliancy of their plumage, until the first spring.
These birds confine themselves to the Southern States, seldom moving
farther towards the Middle Districts than North Carolina. They do not
even ascend the Mississippi farther than the Walnut Hills. They are
abundant in the neighbourhood of the Red River, and probably do not
go farther south than Mexico, during their short absence from the United
States.
Happening to shoot several of these birds on a large Chinquapin tree,
growing on the edge of a hill close to a swamp, I have put a male on
one of its twigs, which is furnished with a few fruits quite ripe and
ready to leave their husks. In the Southern States this tree is rare. It
generally prefers elevated places, and rocky declivities, with an arid
soil. The wood resembles that of the Chestnut, but the trees being generally
small, little use is made of it as timber. The fruit is eaten by
children. This tree is abundant along the greater part of the range of
the Alleghanies and its branches.
SYLVIA PENSILIS, Lath. Ind. Ornith. vol. ii. p. 520—Ch. Bonaparte, Synops. of Birds
of the United States, p. 79.
PENSILE WARBLER, Lath. Synops. vol. iv. p. 4 4 1 .
YELLOW-THROATED WARBLER, SYLVIA FLAVICOI.T.IS, JVik. Amer. Ornith. vol. ii.
p. 64. PL 4. fig. 6.
Adult Male. Plate LXXXV.
Bill shortish, nearly straight, subulato-conical, acute, as deep as broad
at the base, the edges acute, the gap line a little deflected at the base.
Nostrils basal, elliptical, lateral, half-closed by a membrane. Head rather
small. Neck short. Body slender. Feet of ordinary length, slender;
tarsus longer than the middle toe, covered anteriorly by a few scutella,
the uppermost long ; toes scutellate above, the inner free, the hind toe of
moderate size; claws slender, compressed, acute, arched.
Plumage soft, blended, tufty. Wings of ordinary length, acute, the
second quill longest. Tail longish, slightly emarginate.
Bill brownish-black. Iris dark-brown. Feet yellowish-brown. The
general colour of the upper parts is light greyish-blue, the head darker.
A white line from the base of the upper mandible over the eye. Forehead,
loral space, a line behind the eye, and a patch including the ear-
E e 2