98 NEW- YORK FAUNA — EIRDS. 



THE BLACK-THROATED BLUE WARBLER. 



Sylvicola canadensis. 



PLATE LVIII. FIG. 131 (Male). PLATE XLVIII. FIG. 109 (Young). 



(STATE COLLECTION.) 



Motacilla canadensis. Linn^ds, Syst. Nat. p. 336. 



Black-throat Warbler. Pennant, Arot. Zool. Vol. 2, p. 399. 



Sylvia canadensis. Wilson, Am. Orn. Vol. 2, p. 115, pi. 15, fig. 7 (male). S. pusilla, Id. Vol. 5, p, 100, pi. 43, 



fig. 4 (young). 

 S. canadensis. Bonaparte, Ann. Lye. N. Y. Vol. 2, p. 84 (male) ; splmgnosa, Id. lb. p. 85 (adult). 

 ■S. sphagnosa. Audubon, fol. pi. 155 (adult) ; pi. 148 (young) ; Orn. Biog. Vol. 2, p. 279, and Vol. 5, p. 458 ; 



canadensis, Id. lb. Vol. 2, p. 309. 

 S. id. et canadensis. Nutt. Man. Orn. Vol. 1, p. 406 (young) ; Vol. 1, p. 398 (adult male). 

 S. canadensis. Audubon, B. of A. Vol. 2, p. 63, pi. 95 (male and young). 

 The Black-throated Blue Wood-warbler. Giraud, Birds of Long Island, p. 56. 



Characteristics. Slate blue : beneath white. Throat, cheeks and sides black. Tail- 

 feathers, except the central pair, spotted with white. Female, greenish 

 olive ; light yellow beneath. Length, 5 inches. 



Description. Bill with rigid bristles at the base, extending beyond the nostrils. Third 

 and fourth quills longest, subequal. Tail slightly emarginate, rounded when expanded, and 

 reaching an inch beyond the tips of the closed wings. 



Color. Male : Above slate blue, becoming duller towards the rump. Cheek, throat and 

 sides of the breast jet black. Wings and tail blackish brown : base of the primaries white. 

 Three outer tail-feathers, and sometimes all except the central pair, spotted on their inner 

 webs near the tips. Breast, belly and vent pure white. Female (from a specimen in the 

 Cabinet of the Lyceum, labelled sphagnosa) : Above greenish olive. Wings and tail wood- 

 brown ; central feathers of the latter, bluish brown : third primary longest. A faint whitish line, 

 and another crescent-shaped line beneath it, on the sides of the neck ; the included space be- 

 tween these lines somewhat darker than the general color above. Chin greyish white ; throat 

 and all beneath lemon-yellow. Obsolete light marks on the lateral tail-feathers. 



Length, 4'5-5-0. Alar extent, 7" 0-7-5. 



The differences between the sexes is so great, that it is not at all remarkable that two species 

 have been made from them. My first knowledge of this fact was derived from the eminent 

 artist H. Inman, who had repeatedly found them together ; and this was afterwards verified by 

 numerous examinations of the same birds killed in this neighborhood. It is more common in 

 the western and northern districts of this State. It winters in Mexico, enters South Caro- 

 lina the latter part of March, this State about the 10th to the 20th of April, and ascends as 

 high as 54° north. It breeds in Nova-Scotia, laying 4-5 flesh-colored eggs sprinkled sparsely 

 with red at the larger end. On its return south, it is observed here in November, and as late 

 as the 15th of December. Feeds on insects. 



