FEMALE CAPE-MAY WARBLER.
SYLVIA M A R IT IM E .
Plate III. Fig. 3.
See Wimon’s American Ornithology, Ylj p.1 89, H. 54, fig. 8, for the Male.
My Collection.
I was so fortunate as 'to obtain this undescribed little Warbler in
a small wood near Bordentown, New-Jersey, on the fourteenth of
May, a t which season ornithologists would do well to b ^ h J th ^ alfeM
to detect the passenger Warblers, whose stay in this yicibityds frequently
limited to a very few days.' <■
• Judging by the analogical rules of our science, this bird is ho
other than the female of Wilson’S’s'Cafie-May Warbler; .Its appearance
is so different from the male he described, that the-specific
identity is not recognised at first sight; but, by carefully comparing
the two specimens, a correspondence in the least variable chata'cters
may readily be perceived, especially in the remarkable slenderness
of the bill, which distinguishes the Cape-May, from all other resembling
species of North American Warblers.
Wilson has given no information relative t<5‘. the history and
habits of this, species, having never procured more than a male specimen;
and we have equally to regret, that, having obtained but a
single female, we are unable to supply the deficiency, even in regard
to its song.
The female Cape-May Warbler is four inches and three quarters
long, and more than eight in extent. The bill is slender, delicate,
and slightly curved, being black, as well as the feet. The irides
are dark brown; the upper part of the head olive-cinereous, each
33
feather having a small* blackish?spot on the middles A yellow line
extends from the the* eye; %nd' is1 /prolonged in an obsolete
trace ; afiOunchlhdl.auditory r&gifen; .thence .fefturiiing , to •the comer
Ofiltfihe .mouth.yiiA blackish linecpassfes; through the eye which is
oircumscribed«l)yoahwhitish ei-rcle; - the cheeks afei dull cinereous;
with very.smali'pale spots.;i the upper parts of the neck, and of the
body are olive-cinereous, tinged with, more cmereowv&ha tire neck,
and eU-'o^-olive on the ruhtp-., ^heVOjiin is" whitish; the throat,
breast, and flanks are whitish, slightly tinged with yellowish, each
feather hsiting a blackish spot on the middle; the belly is immaculate
; the vent and inferior tail '^oyertsi are shaded in the middle of
each feather with dusky., jh e ,, s^mal^er wing coverts are dull olive-
green^J^acl^skin me centre; the middling wjp&doyerts are black,
margined exteriorly, and tipped wit^ pure whiwi the greater wing
coverts, are blackish, piargined with olive-white; the, primaries are
dusky, finely edged with ■ bright bK^green on the exterior web,
, Obsolete), on that of, the firgt primary, which is, of the same length
as the fourth; the second and third are, longest, and but little longer
than the; fourth. .The tail ist slightly emarginated, the feathers
being dusky, edged with bright olive-green on the exterior side,
and with white on the interior \ the? two or three exterior feathers
on each, sidfeV a, pure white spot on their inner webs near
the tip.
The female Cape-May Warbler may be very easily mistaken for
an imperfect Sylvia, coron'afa, of which four or five nominal species
have already been made. striking resemblance it bears to the
young, and to the autumnal condition of the plumage in that species,
requires; a few comparatiye„ observat;ions'. to prevent their being confounded
together.
The present bird is smaller than the comnata, yf\th a more slender, •
and rather more elongated bill; it is altogether destitute of the yellow
spot on the head, as well -as of the yellow on the rump, which is a
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