THE NASHVILLE WARBLER. 215 



species in autumn, and all the specimens that I have met 

 with were males. It rears its young in the more northern 

 regions probably ; and winters beyond the southern limits 

 of the Union, in the West Indies, Central America, and 

 even as far south as Bogota, S.A. This Warbler is not 

 given in any of the lists of the birds of Maine or Vermont 

 that I have seen ; but, as it occurs in such small numbers, it 

 may have been overlooked, or perhaps is now becoming a 

 regular visitor, during the spring migrations, in New Eng- 

 land." Letter from Henry A. Purdie. 



HELMINTHOPHAGA RUFICAPILLA. Baird. 

 The Nashville Warbler. 



Sylvia rujicfipilla, Wilson. Am. Orn., III. (1811) 120. Aud. Orn. Biog., I. 

 (1832) 450. 



Sylvia rubricapilla, Wilson. Am. Orn., VI. (1812) 15. 

 Sylvia (Dacnis) rubricapilla, Nuttall. Man., I. (1832) 412. 



DESCRIPTION. 



Head and neck above and on sides ash-gray, the crown with a patch of con- 

 cealed dark brownish-orange hidden by ashy tips to the feathers; upper parts 

 olive-green, brightest on the rump ; under parts generally, with the edge of the 

 wing deep yellow ; the anal region paler; the sides tinged with olive ; a broad yel- 

 lowish-white ring round the eye; the lores yellowish; no superciliary stripe; the 

 inner edges of the tail feathers margined with dull-white. Female similar, but 

 duller; the under parts paler; but little trace of the red of the crown. 



The bill is very acute; the wings long and pointed; the tail emarginate, not 

 rounded. 



In autumn, the entire upper parts are olive-green, tinged with yellowish on the 

 rump, sometimes with brownish on the head ; the patch on the crown more or less 

 concealed ; the female has the white on the middle of the belly more extended. 



Length, four and sixty-five one-hundredths inches; wing, two and forty-two 

 one-hundredths inches; tail, two and five one-hundredths inches. 



This species is quite common in the spring migrations, 

 arriving about the first week in May ; but few breed in the 

 southern districts of New England. Like some other spe- 

 cies, it has grown much more abundant than it was a few 

 years since, and is now quite common in localities where it 

 was once a stranger. Its habits are like those of the other 

 Warblers, eminently active and industrious: it seems always 



