SYLVIA CELATA. 



ORANGE-CROWNED WARBLER. 



[Plate V. Fig. 2.] 

 Sylvia cclata. Say, in Long's Expedition to the Rocky Mountains, i., p. 169. 



This little bird, discovered early in May, at Engineer Cantonment, 

 on the Missouri river, was first described and named by Say ; the 

 species was not uncommon at that season, and appeared to be on its 

 passage further north. It is more particularly interesting, inasmuch 

 as it enriches the Fauna of the United States with another species of 

 the small sub-genus Dacnis, which may be ascertained by inspecting the 

 bill, represented in the annexed plate. 



The Orange-crowned Warbler is full five inches long, and seven in 

 extent. The bill is dark horn color, slender, straight, entire, and taper- 

 ing to an acute point ; the base of the inferior mandible is whitish 

 beneath ; the legs are dusky ; the irides dark brown. The general 

 plumage above is dull greenish-olive, the rump and tail coverts being 

 bright yellowish-olive. The head is very slightly and inconspicuously 

 crested ; the feathers of the crest are orange at base, constituting a spot 

 on the crown, visible only when they are elevated, being tipped with 

 the common color. The Avhole bird beneath is dull olive-yellow ; the 

 inferior tail coverts are pure yellow. The wings are destitute of spots 

 or bands ; the primaries are dark brown, olive-green on the exterior 

 margin, which is much paler on the outer ones ; the interior margin is 

 whitish ; the four outer primaries are sub-equal ; the fifth is but very 

 little shorter. The tail is even, the feathers being dark brown, edged 

 with olive-green on the outer, and with white on the inner web. 



The Orange-crowned Warbler resembles several species of indigenous 

 and foreign Warblers ; and the females of others, such as that of the 

 Sylvia trichas, may also be mistaken for it ; but it may be distinguished 

 from each of them respectively by particular characters, which it is not 

 necessary to detail, as the concealed orange spot of the crown is a pecu- 

 liarity not possessed by either of the allied species. The Nashville 

 Warbler [Sylvia rubricapilla) of Wilson, seems to be more closely related 

 to the Orange-crowned Warbler than any other. That bird, also, is 

 evidently a Dacnis, and scarcely differs from our species, except in the 

 white belly, the light ash color of the head and neck, and the deep 

 chestnut color disposed in small touches on the crown, instead of an 

 uniform orange color. 



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