SYLVICOLID.E — THE WARBLERS. 301 



Geothlypis Philadelphia, Baird. 



MOURNING WARBLER. 



Sylvia 2jhilacklphia, WiLS. Am. Oiii. II, 1810, 101, pi. xiv; AuD. ; Nutt. Trichas Phila- 

 delphia, Jard. — Reinhardt, Vidensk. Meddel. for 1853, and Ibis, 1861, 6 (Green- 

 land). Geothlypis phila. Baird, Birds N. Am. 1858, 243, pi. Ixxix, fig. 3 ; Rev. 226. 

 — ScLATER, Catal. 1861, 27 (Orizaba). — L.a.wrence, Ann. N. Y. Lye. 1861, 322 

 (Panama). — Samuels, 207. — Dresser, Ibis, 1865, 476. 



Figures : WiLS. Am. Orn. II, pi. xiv. — AuD. Birds Am. II, pi. ci. 



Sp. Ch.\r. Wings but little longer than the tail, reaching but little beyond its base. 

 Adult male. Head and neck all round, with throat and forepart of breast, ash-gray, paler 

 beneath. The feathers of the chin, throat, and fore breast in reality black, but with nar- 

 row ashy margins more or less concealing the black, except on the breast. Lores and region 

 round the eye dusky, without any trace of a pale ring. Upper parts and sides of the 

 body clear olive-green ; the under parts bright yellow. Tail-feathers uniform olive ; first 

 primary, with the outer half of the outer web, nearly white. Female with the gray of the 

 croAvn glossed with olive ; the chin and throat paler centrally, and tinged with fulvous; a 

 dull whitish ring round the eye. Length, 5.50; wing, 2.45 ; tail, 2.25. Young not seen. 



Hab. Eastern Province of United States to British America; Greenland; Southeastern 

 Mexico, Panama R. R., and Colombia. Not recorded from West Indies or Guatemala. 

 Costa Rica (Lawr.). 



Specimens vary in the amount of black on the juguliim, and the purity 

 of the ash of the throat. The species is often confounded with Oporornis 

 agilis, to whicli the resemblance is quite close. Tliey may, however, be dis- 

 tinguished by the much longer and more pointed wings, and more even tail, 

 shorter legs, etc., of agilis. The white ring round the eye in the female 

 pMladelpliia increases the difficulty of separation. 



The adult male in autumn is scarcely different from the spring bird, there 

 being merely a faint olive-tinge to the ash on top of the head, and the black 

 jugular patch more restricted, being more concealed by the ashy borders to 

 the feathers ; the yellow beneath somewhat deeper. 



Habits. The Mourning Warbler was first discovered and described by 

 Wilson, who captured it in the early part of June, on the borders of a marsh, 

 within a few miles of Philadelphia. This was the only specimen he ever 

 met with. He found it flitting from one low bush to another in search of 

 insects. It had a spriglitly and pleasant warbling song, the novelty of whicli 

 first attracted his attention. For a long while Wilson's single bird remained 

 unique, and from its excessive rarity Bonaparte conjectured that it might 

 be an accidental variety of the Yellow-Throat. At i)resent, though still 

 of unfrequent occurrence, it is by no means a doubtful, though generally 

 a comparatively rare species. Audubon mentions having received several 

 specimens of this Warbler, procured in the neighborhood of Philadelphia, 

 Xew York, and Vermont, all of which were obtained in the spring or sum- 

 mer months. He met with a single specimen in Louisiana, and tlu'nlcs its 

 habits closely resemble those of the Maryland Yellow-Throat. 



