254 NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



and a height of about two and a half inclies. The cavity was three inches 

 wide and an inch and a quarter deep. The eggs varied in lengtli from .71 

 to .65 of an inch, and in breadth from .53 to .50. Their ground-color 

 was a bluish-green, thickly spotted with brown, and generally with a ring 

 of confluent blotches of brown and lilac around the larger end. Occasion- 

 ally the spots proved to be more or less of an umber-brown, and in some 

 specimens the spots were less numerous than in others. 



These birds were found in all the wooded sections of that region, where 

 they frequented the tops of tall trees. Their song, he states, in its opening, is 

 like that of the Black-Poll, with a terminal warble similar to that of the 

 Eedstart, but given with less energy. 



Dendroica caerulescens, Baird. 



BLACK-THROATED BLUE WARBLER. 



Motacilla canadensis, Lixn. Syst. Nat. I, 1766, 336 (not p. 334, which is D. coronata). 

 Sylvia canadensis, Lath. ; Wilson. — Auu. Orn. Biog. II, pi. cxiviii, civ. — Sall^, 

 P. Z. S. 1857, 231 (St. Domingo). Sylvicola canadensis. Swains. ; Jard. ; Bon. ; 

 AuD. Birds Am. II, pi. xcv. Rhimanphus can. Cab. Dendroica canadensis, Baird, 

 Birds N. Am. 18.58, 271. — Ib. P. Z. S. 1861, 70 (Jamaica). — Gundl. Cab. Jour. 1861, 

 326 (Cuba; very common). — Samup:ls, 224. Motacilla cmrulescens, Gm. S. Nat. I, 

 1788, 960. Sylvia cwr. Lath. ; Vieill. II, pi. Ixxx. — D'Orb. Sagra's Cuba, Ois. 

 1840, 63, pi. ix, figs. 1, 2. Dendroica cair. Baird, Rev. Am. B. 1864, 186. Sylvia 

 'pusilla, WiLS. V, pi. xliii, fig. 3 (Juv.). Sylvia leuco^dera, Wii.s. Sylvia palustris, 

 Steph. Sylvia macropus, Vieillot. Sylvia sjihagriosa, Bon. ; Nuttall ; Aud. Syl- 

 vicola pannosa, GossE, Birds Jam. 1847, 162 (^female). — Ib. Illust. no. 37. 



Sp. Char. Above uniform continuous grayish-blue, including the outer edges of the 

 quill and tail-feathers. A narrow frontal line, the entire sides of head and neck, chin and 

 throat, lustrous black ; this color extending in a broad lateral stripe to the tail. Rest of 

 under parts, including the axillary region, white. Wings and tail black above, the former 

 with a conspicuous white patch formed by the bases of all the primaries (except the first) ; 

 the inner webs of the secondaries and tertials with similar patches towards the base and 

 along the inner margin. All the tail-feathers, except the innermost, with a white patch on 

 the inner web near the end. Length, 5.50 ; wing, 2.60 ; tail, 2.25. 



Female, olive-green above and dull yellow beneath. Sides of head dusky olive, the eye- 

 lids and a superciliary stripe whitish. Traces of the white patches at the base of the pri- 

 maries and of the tail. 



IIab. Eastern Province of United States; Jamaica, Cuba, and St. Domingo in winter-, 

 very abundant; Bahamas (Bryant). Not recorded from Mexico or Central America. 



The white patch at the base of the primary, together with the total ab- 

 sence of outer markings on the wings, is peculiar to this species, and is found 

 in both sexes. The female is more different from the male tlian that of any 

 other species. 



The plumage of the male in autumn is similar to the spring dress, but 

 the back and wings are washed with greenish, and the black of the 

 throat variegated with white edges to the feathers. A younger male (788, 



i 



