272 NORTH AMERICAX BIRD^^. 



question not altogetlier settled to the minds of some. It wns described by 

 "Wilson from a single specimen olitained near the Blue Kidge of Virginia, 

 Audubon found another in the collection of the Zoological Society. From 

 this he made his drawing. A third has also been met with and described by 

 Yieillot. We know nothing in regard to. its habits, except that its song is said 

 to be a single screcp, tiiree or four times repeated. Its breeding-habits, its 

 manner of migration, and the place of its more abundant occurrence, yet 

 remain entirely unkuo\\'n. 



Dendroica kirtlandi, Baird. 



KIKTLAND'S WAKBLEK. 



Sylvicola kirthindi, BAniD, Ann. N. Y. Lye. V, June, 1852, 217, pi. vi (Cleveland, Ohio). 

 — Ca.ssin, Illusl. i, 1855, 278, pi. xlvii. Dendroica kirtlandi, Baikd, Birds N. Am. 

 1858, 28« ; Hev. 200. 



Sp. Char. Above slate-blue, the feather.^ of the crown with a nairow, tho.se of the 

 middle of the back with a broader, streak of black ; a narrow frontlet involving the lores, 

 the anterior end of the eye, and the space beneath it (possibly the whole auriculars), black ; 

 the rest of the eyelids Avhite. Tlie under parts are clear yellow (almost white on the 

 under tail-coverts) ; the breast with small spots and sides of the body with short streaks 

 of black. The greater and middle wing-coverts, quills, and tail-feathers are edged with 

 dull whitish. The two outer tail-feathers have a dull white spot near the end of the inner 

 web, largest on the first. Length, ,5.50; wing, 2.80; tail, 2.70. (4,.363.) 



Hab. Northern Ohio, and ]3ahamas. 



In addition to the type which is in the collection of the Stnithsonian In- 

 stitution, a second specimen was obtained by Dr. Samuel (,'abot, of Boston, 

 taken at sea between the i.slands of Abaeo and Cuba. It must, however, be 

 considered as one of the rarest of American birds. 



H.\BiT.s. Kirtland's Warbler is so far known l)y only a few rare speci- 

 mens as a bird of North America, and its biography is utterly unknown. 

 The first specimen of tliis species, so far a.s is known, was obtained by Dr. 

 Jared P. Kirtland, of Cleveland, O., in May, 1851. It was shot by that nat- 

 uralist in woods near that city, and was by him given to Professor Baird, who 

 described it in the Annals of the New York Lyceum. It appears to be 

 closely allied to both the D. eonmata and D. auduhuni, and yet to be a spe- 

 cifically distinct bird. A second specimen, in the caliinet of Dr. Sanniel 

 Cabot, Jr., of P>oston, was obtained at sea, between the islands df Culia and 

 Abaeo. A third specimen was olitained -June 9, 1860, near Cleveland, and 

 is in the collection of Mr. \\. K. Winslow, of that city. Another specimen 

 is also reported as having been obtained in the same neighborhood, but not 

 preserved ; and Dr. Hoy, of Racine, Wis., is confident that he has seen it in 

 the neighborhood of that place. At present all that we can give in regard 

 to its history, habits, or distribution must be inferred from these few and 

 meagre facts. 



