SYLVM STRMTJi. 

 BLACK-POLL WARBLER. 



[Plate LIV. Fig. 4, Female.] 



THIS bird was shot in the same excursion with the Cape 

 May Warbler (Sylvia maritima), and its history as far as it 

 is known, will be detailed in the history of that species. See 

 page 394. Of its nest and eggs I am ignorant. It doubtless breeds 

 both here and in New Jersey, having myself found it in both 

 places during the summer. From its habit of keeping on the 

 highest branches of trees it probably builds in such situations, 

 and its nest may long remain unknown to us. 



Pennant, who describes this species, says that it inhabits 

 during summer Newfoundland and New York, and is called in 

 the last Sailor. This name, for which however no reason is 

 given, must be very local, as the bird itself is one of those silent, 

 shy and solitary individuals that seek the deep retreats of the 

 forest, and are known to few or none but the naturalist. 



Length of the female Black-cap five inches and a quarter, 

 extent eight and a quarter; bill brownish black; crown yellow 

 olive streaked with black; back the same, mixed with some pale 

 slate; wings dusky brown, edged with olive; first and second 

 wing coverts tipt with white; tertials edged with yellowish 

 white; tail coverts pale gray; tail dusky, forked, the two exte- 

 rior feathers marked on their inner vanes with a spot of white; 

 round the eye is a whitish ring; cheeks and sides of the breast 

 tinged with yellow, and slightly spotted with black; chin white, 

 as are also the belly and vent; legs and feet dirty orange. 



The young bird of the first season, and the female, as is usu- 

 ally the case, are very much alike in plumage. On their arrival 



