FEMALE CAPE MAY WARBLER. 171 



recognised at first sight ; but, by carefully comparing the two specimens, 

 a correspondence in the least variable characters may readily be per- 

 ceived, especially in the remarkable slenderness of the bill, which dis- 

 tinguishes the Cape May, from all other resembling species of North 

 American Warblers. 



Wilson has given no information relative to 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 feather having a small 

 blackish spot on the middle. A yellow line extends from the bill over 

 the eye, and is prolonged in an obsolete trace around the auditory 

 region, thence returning to the corner of the mouth. A blackish line 

 passes through the eye which is circumscribed by a whitish circle ; the 

 cheeks are dull cinereous, with very small pale spots ; the upper parts 

 of the neck and of the body are olive-cinereous, tinged with more 

 cinereous on the neck, and with yellow-olive on the rump. The chin 

 is whitish ; the throat, breast, and flanks are whitish, slightly tinged 

 with yellowish, each feather having a blackish spot on the middle ; the 

 belly is immaculate ; the vent and inferior tail coverts are shaded in the 

 middle of each feather Avith dusky. The smaller wing coverts are dull 

 olive-green, blackish in the centre ; the middling wing coverts are black, 

 margined exteriorly, and tipped with pure white ; the greater wing 

 coverts are blackish, margined with olive-white ; the primaries are 

 dusky, finely edged with bright olive-green on the exterior web, obsolete 

 on that of the first 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 is 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 side have 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 coronata, of which four or five nominal species have 

 already been made. The striking resemblance it bears to the young, 

 and to the autumnal condition of the plumage in that species, requires 

 a few comparative observations to prevent their being confounded 

 together. 



The present bird is smaller than the coronata, with 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 



