]^90 NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



Helmitherus swainsoni, Aud. 



SWAINSON'S SWAMP WARBLER. 



Sylvia swainsoni, Aud. Orn. Biog. II, 1834, 563, pi. cxcviii. Sylvicola sio. Rich. Vermi- 

 vora sw. Bon. Helinaia sw. Aud. Birds Am. II, 1841, pi. civ (type of genus). Hel- 

 mitherus sw. Bon. ; Cab. ; Baird, Birds N. Am. 1858, 252 ; Rev. 180. 



Sp. Char. Bill as long as the head. Upper parts dull olive-greeu, tinged with reddish- 

 brown on the wings, and still more on the crown and nape ; a superciliary stripe and the 

 under parts of the body are white, tinged with yellow, but palest on the tail-coverts ; the 

 sides pale olive-brown. There is an obscure indication of a median yellowish stripe on 

 the forehead. The lores are dusky. No spots nor bands ori wings or tail. Length, 5.60 ; 

 wing, 2.85 ; tail, 2.20. 



Hab. Coast of South Carolina and Georgia ; Cuba (very rare). 



A young bird (No. 32,241 Liberty Co., Georgia) is very similar to the adult 

 described, but differs in the following respects : the lower parts have a de- 

 cided soiled, sulphur-yellow tinge, while the brown of the upper parts is 

 much more reddish, there being no difference in tint between the crown 

 and back ; also the superciliary stripe is more sharply defined. 



Habits. This species is comparatively rare, and, so far as is known, has a 

 very restricted distriljution. It was first discovered by Rev. Dr. Bachman, 

 in the vicinity of Charleston, S. C, near the banks of the Edisto Eiver. 

 This was in the spring of 1832. He was first attracted by the novelty of its 

 notes, wliicli were four or five in number and repeated at intervals of a few 

 minutes. These notes were loud and clear, and more like a whistle than a 

 song. They resembled the sounds of some extraordinary ventriloquist, — so 

 much so that he at first supposed the bird to be much farther off than it 

 really was. He was so fortunate as to secure it. The shape of the bill he 

 at once noticed as being different from that of any other American bird then 

 known to him. In the coin^se of that season he obtained two other specimens. 

 Toward the close of the same season he saw an old female, accompanied by 

 its four young. One of the latter, which he procured, did not differ materi- 

 ally from the old birds. 



He met with them only in swampy and muddy places, and when opened, 

 he always found their stomachs filled with fragments of coleopterous insects, 

 as well as small green worms, such as are common on water-plants. The 

 habits of this species most resemble those of the Prothonotary Warbler, 

 as the latter skips among the low bushes growing about ponds or in marshy 

 places. It is seldom seen on high trees. Nothing is known as to their 

 nestino- or eQ'S's. 



