BLACK-CHEEKED YELLOW-THROAT. 140 



winter visitants in Jamaica, the greater number re- 

 tiring to the Northern continent to breed and spend 

 the summer. To Wilson's and Audubon's descrip- 

 tions, I refer the reader, as I have scarcely any- 

 thing to add to their accounts of these birds. 



The Yellow-throat, one of the most beautiful 

 of them, was first seen by me on the 8th of October, 

 on which day I obtained two males, in distinct 

 localities. I do not think the species had arrived 

 long, though some of the Sylmcolce had been with 

 us nearly two months, for I and my servants were 

 in the woods every day seeking for birds, and this 

 species is too striking to be easily overlooked. 

 In the latter autumn months it was quite common, 

 particularly in marshy places : I have seen it in 

 some numbers hopping busily about the bulrushes 

 in a pond, even descending down the stems to the 

 very surface of the water, and picking minute 

 flies from thence. The stomachs of such as I 

 have examined, contained fragments of beetles and 

 other insects. 



In the spring, it seems to linger longer than its 

 fellows ; for the last warbler that I saw was of this 

 species, on the 1st of May. Yet Wilson mentions 

 that it habitually appears in Pennsylvania about the 

 middle, or last week, of April ; and that it begins to 

 build its nest about the middle of May. The mi- 

 gration of the short-winged birds is probably per- 

 formed in straggling parties, and extends over a con- 

 siderable period of time ; individuals remaining some 

 time after the greater number have departed. 



