204 B L A C K - P O L L W A R B L E R .
ing two bands on the wing. Primary quills clove-brown, edged with
paler. Tail-feathers blackish-brown, the two outer on each side with a
white patch on the inner webs near the end. A broad band of white
crosses the cheek, and all the lower parts are of the same colour, an interrupted
line of black spots running down the sides of the neck and
breast.
Length 5£ inches, extent of wings 8 | ; bill along the ridge * *2-, along
the edge T
7
2 ; tarsus •
Adult female. Plate CXXXIV. Fig. 2.
The female has the whole of the upper parts oil-green, tinged with
grey, with central blackish-brown spots on the feathers, the rump and
tail-coverts with the dark spots inconspicuous. Wing-bands tinged with
yellow, as are the sides of the breast. The sides of the head, neck, breast,
and flanks, marked with blackish-brown spots. In other respects the
colouring is similar to that of the male.
Length 5 | inches.
THE BLACK GUM TREE.
N Y S S A A Q U A T I C A , Linn. Sp. PI- 1511. Mich. Arbr. Forest, vol. ii. p. 265 pi. 22.
N. B I F L O R A , Willd. Sp. P L vol. jiv. p. 1113. Pursh, Flor. Amer. vol. i. p. 177.
P O L Y G A M I A MONUCCIA, Linn. EL^EAGNI, JUSS.
The Black Gum is seldom found of a greater height than from fifty to
sixty feet, with a diameter of about three. The wood is of little use, even
for firing, as it takes a long time to consume, affords no blaze, and burns
dismally. A trunk of this tree falling into the water immediately sinks
and remains. Its foliage is pleasing to the eye, and in many parts of
the Middle Districts some are kept standing as shade-trees for cattle.
The berries, which hang in pairs, and sometimes three or four together,
at the extremity of their slender peduncle, are eaten in great quantities
during winter by various species of birds.
( 205 )
THE HEMLOCK WARBLER.
SYLVIA PARUS, WILS.
P L A T E C X X X I V . MALE A N D F E M A L E .
I T is to the persevering industry of WILSON that we are indebted for
the discovery of this bird. He has briefly described the male, of which
he had obtained but a single specimen. Never having met with it until
I visited the Great Pine Forest, where that ardent ornithologist found it,
I followed his track in my rambles there, and had not spent a week among
the gigantic hemlocks which ornament that interesting part of our country,
before I procured upwards of twenty specimens. I had therefore a
fair opportunity of observing its habits, which I shall now attempt to describe.
The tallest of the hemlock pines are the favourite haunts of this species.
It appears first among the highest branches early in May, breeds
there, and departs in the beginning of September. Like the Blue Yellow
back Warbler, its station is ever amidst the thickest foliage of the
trees, and with as much agility as its diminutive relative, it seeks its food
by ascending from one branch to another, examining most carefully the
under parts of each leaf as it proceeds. Every insect that escapes is followed
on wing, and quickly secured. It now and then, as if for variety
or sport, makes a downward flight, alights on a smaller tree, surveys it
for a while, and again ascends to a higher station. During the early part
of autumn it frequents, with its young, the margins of rivulets, where
insects are then more abundant.
Its notes are sweet and mellow, and although not numerous, are easily
distinguished from those of any other Warbler. Like a true Sylvia, it is
often seen hanging at the end of a branch, searching for insects. It never
alights on the trunk of a tree, and in this particular differs from every
other species of its genus. Its food is altogether of insects.
To the inimitable skill of the worthy JEDIAH IRISH in the use of the
rifle, I am indebted for the possession of a nest of this bird. On discovering
one of the birds, we together watched it for hours, and at last had the
good fortune to see itself and its mate repeatedly enter a thick cluster of
leaves, where we concluded their nest must be placed. The huntsman's