THE MOURNING WARBLER. 207 
In the woods, this species is more often found in low 
thickets in or near wet, swampy localities, and is very sel- 
dom seen in high, dry, heavily wooded countries. It seems 
to prefer the neighborhood of human habitations for its 
home, and its genial disposition and beneficial habits have 
established it as a great favorite with the farmers. 
As soon as the last brood of young leaves the nest, the 
old birds become silent ; and, by the middle of September, 
the whole family leave for the South. 
GEOTHLYPIS PHILADELPHIA. — Baird. 
The Mourning Warbler. 
Sylvia Philadelphia, Wilson. Am. Orn., II. (1810) 101. Aud. Orn. Biog., V. 
(1839) 78. Nutt. Man., I. (1832) 404. 
DESCRIPTION. 
Wings but little longer than the tail, reaching but little beyond its base; head 
and neck all round, with throat and fore part of breast, ash-gray, paler beneath; the 
feathers of the chin, throat, and fore breast in reality black, but with narrow 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 crown glossed with olive; the chin and throat paler centrally, and tinged 
with fulyous; a dull whitish ring round the eye. 
Length, five and fifty one-hundredths inches; wing, two and forty-five one-hun- 
dredths inches; tail, two and twenty-five one-hundredths inches. 
This bird is very rarely found in New England. It has 
been taken in all these States, but in such small numbers 
that it can hardly be called one of our birds. Mr. Allen 
shot two; I have taken but one; and Mr. Verrill gives one 
or two instances of its being taken in Maine. The specimen 
that I captured had all the motions and habits of the Mary- 
land Yellow-throat; and I neglected to shoot it for some 
time, supposing it to be the female of that bird. Its note 
was a simple chirp, with a warbling termination like the 
syllables chirpchreee, chirpchreee, uttered in a soft, pensive 
tone. Of its breeding habits, nest, and eggs, I am ignorant. 
