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T H E Y E L L O W - P O L L WARBLER.
SYLVIA ^ESTIVA, GMEL.
P L A T E X C V . MALE.
As soon as the welcome note of the Purple Martin is heard in spring,
on its return to the United States, which, in Louisiana, sometimes takes
place early in March, the little Warbler here presented to your inspection
follows, and is seen gaily moving from tree to tree, feeding on the smaller
insects, and tuning its pipe, which, however, is not the most melodious.
It approaches the gardens and orange-groves, and again flies off to the
willows, along the margins of the pools and lagoons. Its sojourn is of
short duration in Louisiana, for it moves gradually eastward as the season
advances, leaving nothing but the recollection of its passage through
the land. Its migration, in as far as I have been able to ascertain, is
principally performed during the night. I have observed many in the
course of one day in a place, which, next day, if the weather had become
warm, scarcely contained a single individual. It never breeds in the
district mentioned above, nor even in the State of Mississippi. A few
breed in Kentucky, more in Ohio, and their nests in this manner increase
the farther you proceed eastward. I have seen many of these birds, as
well as their nests, on the Genessee River; but in the States of New
York, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia, they may be
found in every orchard and garden, and even in the streets, among the
foliage of our trees.
The males chase each other with great courage, and fight for a few
moments, to establish their claim to any particular spot or tree, after
which they are seen climbing up and down among the twigs and smaller
branches, looking keenly "among the leaves and blossoms for insects.
Careless of the presence of man, the Blue-eyed Warbler is easily approached.
The same carelessness makes it build its little nest almost
always within reach of the latter. The parents are very assiduous
in the discharge of their duties. They construct a nest about the
middle of May, in the forked branches of a small tree, often within a
few paces of a house. The nest is strongly fastened to the twigs, is for-
YELLOW-POLL WARBLER. 477
med externally of hemp, flax, or woolly substances, and is well lined with
different kinds of hair, intermixed with softer materials. It breeds twice
during the summer, and returns southward in the beginning of autumn,
in small parties, shifting chiefly by night. During the breeding-season,
this little bird, when approached, shews great anxiety for the preservation
of its eggs or young, and tries, with all the artifices employed by
many other species, to entice the aggressor away from its nest. They
are seen, on their return to the south, passing through Louisiana in October.
I made my drawing of this species near Natchez, and having killed
the specimen while it was searching for insects among the flowers of a
large climbing plant, I have figured part of the latter also. This plant
I have never seen, excepting in low, damp or marshy places. It there
runs over decayed trees, spreading in the form of a bower, and hanging
in graceful festoons. The long pendulous clusters of pale purple flowers
are destitute of odour.
SYLVIA JESTIVA, Gmel. Syst. Nat. vol. i. p. 996.—Lath. Ind. Ornith. vol. ii. p. 551.—
Ch. Bonaparte, Synops. of Birds of the United States, p. 83.
YELLOW-POLL WARBLER, Lath. Syn. vol. iv. p. 515.
BLUE-EYED WARBLER, SYLVIA CITRINELLA, Wils. Amer. Ornith. vol. ii. p. 111.
PL 15. fig. 6.
Bill about as long as the head, slender, straight, subulate, as deep as
broad at the base. Nostrils basal, lateral, elliptical, half closed by a
membrane. Head rather small. Neck short. Body ovate, rather slender.
Feet of ordinary length, slender; tarsus longer than the middle
toe, covered anteriorly with 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, a few bristles at the base of the bill.
Wings of ordinary length, acute. Tail longish, slightly forked.
Bill dark blue, the lower mandible edged with yellow. Iris brown.
Feet and claws pale brown. Hind head and upper parts generally pale
yellowish-green, the tail-coverts more yellow. The fore part of the head,
the cheeks, the throat, and the sides of the neck, pure golden-yellow ; the
rest of the lower parts yellow, the breast and sides streaked with brownish
red. Quills and alula deep brown, their outer webs yellowish, as arc