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THE BLUE-WINGED YELLOW WARBLER.
SYLVIA SOLJTARIA, WILS.
P L A T E X X . MALE AND FEMALE.
T H I S pretty little Warbler is migratory, and arrives in Louisiana
from the south, in the beginning of spring. It is found in open woods,
as well as in the vicinity of ponds overgrown with low bushes and rank
weeds. Along with a pair of Blue-winged Yellow Warblers, I have represented
a species of Hibiscus, which grows on the edges of these ponds.
Its flowers are handsome, but unfortunately have no pleasant odour.
The species which now occupies our attention is a busy, active bird,
and is seen diligently searching among the foliage and grasses for the small
insects on which it feeds, mounting now and then towards the tops of the
bushes, to utter a few weak notes, which are in no way interesting.
Its nest, which is singularly constructed, and of an elongated inversely
conical form, is attached to several stalks or blades of tall grass by its
upper edge. The materials of which it is formed are placed obliquely
from its mouth to the bottom. The latter part is composed of dried
leaves, and is finished within with fine grass and lichens. The female
lays from four to six eggs, of a pure white colour, with a few pale red
spots at the larger end. The first brood is out about the middle of May,
the second in the middle of July. The young disperse as soon as they
are able to provide for themselves, this bird being of solitary habits.
It leaves Louisiana in the beginning of October. I have never seen
the species farther eastward than the State of Jersey, where I killed several
within a few miles of Philadelphia, not however until my last visit
to that State in 1829. It is frequent in the barrens of Kentucky, and up
the Mississippi, as far at least as St Genevieve, where I shot two individuals
many years ago.
Its flight is short, undetermined, and is performed in zig-zag lines, as
in most of its tribe. It sometimes ascends twenty or thirty yards in the
air, as if with an intention of going to a great distance, but still moving
in a zig-zag manner, when it. suddenly turns about, and comes down near
the place from which it set out. It does not chase insects on wing, but
feeds in a great measure on the smaller kinds of spiders, not neglecting,
BLUE-WINGED YELLOW WARBLER. 108
however, to seize other insects when they come within reach. It remains
almost constantly among the bushes, and is seldom seen on trees of any
size.
S Y L V I A S O L I T A R I A , Ch. Bonaparte, Synops. of Birds of the United States, p. 87.
B L U E - W I N G E D Y E L L O W W A R B L E R , Wils. Amer. Ornith. vol. ii, p. 109. PI. IS. Fig.l.
Adult Male. Plate XX. Fig. 1.
Bill nearly as long as the head, straightish, subulato-conical, acute,
as deep as broad at the base, the edges acute, the gap line a little deflected
at the base. Nostrils basal, lateral, elliptical, 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, rounded when expanded, slightly
forked when closed.
Bill black, with a pale margin. Iris dark brown. Feet and claws
flesh-colour, tinged with yellow. Forehead, crown, and under parts of a
rich bright-yellow. Back of the head and neck, the back and upper tail
coverts bright grass-green. Lore black. Wings greyish-blue, slightly
margined with paler, the first two rows of coverts tipped with whitish.
Four middle tail-feathers greyish-blue, the outer webs of the rest, and an
oblique portion of the outer feather at the end, of the same colour, their
inner webs white..
Length 4 | inches, extent of wings 7 ; bill along the ridge along
the gap 1.
Adult Female. Plate XX. Fig. %
The female scarcely differs from the male in appearance, and is of nearly
the same dimensions.