198 PRAIRIE WARBLER. 



tenants of the grove ; who experience all the ardency of those passions 

 no less than their lord and sovereign man. 



The Kentucky Warbler is five inches and a half long, and eight 

 inches in extent ; the upper parts are an olive green ; line over the 

 eye and partly under it, and whole lower parts, rich brilliant yellow ; 

 head slightly crested, the crown deep black, towards the hind part 

 spotted with light ash ; lores, and spot curving down the neck, also 

 black ; tail nearly even at the end, and of a rich olive green ; interioi 

 vanes of that and the wings dusky ; legs an almost transparent pale 

 flesh color. 



The female wants the black under the eye, and the greater part of 

 that on the crown, having those parts yellowish. This bird is very 

 abundant in the moist woods along the Tennessee and Cumberland 

 rivers. 



Species XXVI. SYLVIA MINUTA. 



PRAIRIE WARBLER. 



[Plate XXV. Fig. 4.] 



This pretty little species I first discovered in that singular tract of 

 country in Kentucky, commonly called the Barrens. I shot several 

 afterwards in the open woods of the Choctaw nation, where they were 

 more numerous. They seem to prefer these open plains, and thinly 

 wooded tracts ; and have this singularity in their manners, that they 

 are not casil}^ alarmed ; and search among the leaves the most leisurely 

 of any of the tribe I have yet met with ; seeming to examine every 

 blade of grass, and every leaf ; uttering at short intervals a feeble chirr. 

 I have observed one of these birds to sit on the lower branch of a tree 

 for half an hour at a time, and allow me to come up nearly to the 

 foot of the tree, without seeming to be in the least disturbed, or to dis- 

 continue the regularity of its occasional note. In activity it is the 

 reverse of the preceding species ; and is rather a scarce bird in the 

 countries where I found it. Its food consists principally of small cater- 

 pillars and winged insects. 



The Prairie Warbler is four inches and a half long, and six inches 

 and a half in extent ; the upper parts are olive, spotted on the back 

 with reddish chestnut ; from the nostril over and under the eye, yel- 

 low ; lores black ; a broad streak of black also passes beneath the 

 yellow under the eye ; small pointed spots of black reach from a little 

 below that along the side of the neck and under the wings ; throat, 

 breapt and belly rich yellow; vent cream colored, tinged with yellow; 



