272 NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



(][uestion not altogether settled to the minds of some. It was described hy 

 Wilson from a single specimen obtained near the Blue Eidge of Virginia. 

 Audubon found another in the collection of the Zoological Society. From 

 this he made his drawing. A third has also been met with and described by 

 Vieillot. We know nothing in regard to its habits, except that its song is said 

 to be a single scrcep, three or four times repeated. Its breeding-habits, its 

 manner of migration, and the place of its more abundant occurrence, vet 

 reniain entirely unknown. 



Dendroica kirtlandi, Baird. 



KIRTLAND'S WARBLER. 



SijMcola kirtlandi, Baird, Ann. N. Y. Lye. V, June, 1852, 217, pi. vi (Cleveland, Ohio'). 

 — Cassin, lUust. I, 1855, 278, pi. xlvii. Dendroica kirtlandi, Baird, Birds N. Am. 

 1858, 286 ; Rev. 206. 



Sp. Char. Above slate-blue, the feathers of the crown with a narrow, those of the 

 middle of the back with a broader, streak of black ; a narrow frontlet involving the lores, 

 the anterior end of the eye, and the space beneath it (possibly the whole auriculars), black ; 

 the rest of the eyelids white. The under parts are clear yellow (almost white on the 

 under tail-coverts) ; the breast with small spots and sides of the body with short streaks 

 of black. The greater and middle wing-coverts, quills, and tail-feathers are edged with 

 dull whitish. The two outer tail-feathers have a dull white spot near the end of the inner, 

 web, largest on the first. Length, 5..50; wing, 2.80; tail, 2.70. (4,.3r).3.) 



Hab. Northern Ohio, and Bahamas. 



In addition to the type which is in the collection of the Smitlisonian In- 

 stitution, a second specimen was obtained by Dr. Samuel Cabot, of Boston, 

 taken at sea between the islands of Abaco and Cuba. It must, however, l)e 

 considered as one of the rarest of American birds. 



Habits. Kirtland's Warbler is so far known by only a few rare speci- 

 mens as a bird of North America, and its biography is utterly unknown. 

 The first specimen of this species, so far as is known, was obtained by Dr. 

 Jared P. Kirtland, of Cleveland, 0., in May, 1851. It was shot by that nat- 

 uralist in woods near that city, and was by him given to Professor Baird, who 

 described it in the Annals of the New York Lyceum. It appears to be 

 closely allied to both the D. coronata and D. auduhoni, and yet to be a spe- 

 cifically distinct bird. A second specimen, in the cabinet of Dr. Samuel 

 Cabot, Jr., of Boston, was obtained at sea, between tlie islands of Cuba and 

 Abaco. A third specimen was obtained June 9, 1860, near Cleveland, and 

 is in the collection of Mr. E. K. Winslow, of that city. Another specimen 

 is also reported as having been obtained in the same neighborhood, but not 

 preserved ; and Dr. Hoy, of Eacine, Wis., is confident that he has seen it in 

 the neighborhood of that place. At present all that we can give in regard 

 to its history, habits, or distribution must be inferred from these few and 

 meagre facts. 



