252 SINGING BIRDS. 



ing marshy ground, and flitting through low bushes in quest of 

 insects, appears very similar to the Maryland Yellow-throat. 

 The discoverer, however, also distinguished it more importantly 

 by the novelty of its sprightly and pleasant warble ; we may 

 therefore perhaps consider it as a solitary straggler from the 

 main body in the western regions of this vast continent. It 

 was shot in the early part of June near Philadelphia. 



On the 20th of May, 1831, I saw, as I believe, the male of 

 this species in the dark shrubbery of the Botanic Garden 

 (Cambridge). It possessed all the manners of the common 

 species, was equally busy in search of insects in the low bushes, 

 and at little intervals warbled out some very pleasant notes, 

 which though they resembled the lively chant of the Marj'land 

 Yellow-throat, even to the wctitshee, yet they were more agree- 

 ably varied, so as to approach in some degree the song of the 

 Summer Yellow Bird {Sylvia cestiva). This remarkable note, 

 indeed, set me in quest of the bird, which I followed for some 

 time j but at last, perceiving himself watched, he left the gar- 

 den. As far as I was able to observe this individual, he was 

 above of a dark olive-green, very cinereous on the fore part of 

 the head, with a band of black through the eyes, which de- 

 scended from the side of the neck, where at length it joined 

 with a crescent of dusky or black spots upon the breast ; the 

 throat was yellow and the under parts paler. 



Mr. Townsend saw a specimen on the shady borders of the 

 Schuylkill in the month of May last, and a second individual 

 has been obtained by Mr. De Rham in the vicinity of New York. 

 Two or three other specimens have also been obtained in the 

 vicinity of Philadelphia and in New Jersey. It is, however, 

 still a very rare species, and its proper habitation is yet to be 

 discovered. 



This is still a rare bird in many localities, and it is among the 

 desiderata of most collectors ; yet within the limits of Us favorite 

 breeding areas, — at the higher altitudes of the Alleghanies ; on the 

 Berkshire Hills; along the northern borders of Vermont and New 

 Hampshire; in portions of New York; and elsewhere between the 

 Atlantic coast and the Plains where suitable conditions of environ- 



