YELLOW-RUMP WARBLER. 1,55 



YELLOW-RUMP WARBLER.* 

 Sylvicola coronata. 



Motacilla coronata, LINN. Aud. pi. 153. 

 Sylvicola coronata, Sw. 



I HAVE little to say of this changeable species. It 

 occurs but sparsely with us, coming rather late in 

 the autumn, when the plumage is undergoing its 

 transformation, so well detailed by Wilson. On 

 only one occasion have I observed them numerous ; 

 towards the latter part of March, on the estate 

 called Dawkins' Saltpond, near Spanish town, many 

 were hopping about the Cashaw trees (Prosopis juli- 

 floroi) that abound there. All of these that I 

 examined, had the yellow of the crown obscured, 

 and, some almost obliterated. One which I shot 

 in October did not display it at all, while one in 

 January had the hue very brilliant, but only at the 

 bases of the coronal feathers ; exposed or concealed 

 as in some of the Tyrants. As far as I have ob- 

 served, the manners of this bird are those of a Fly- 

 catcher, capturing minute insects on the wing, and 

 returning to a twig to eat them. The stomach is 

 usually filled with a black mass of minute flies. 



* Length 5| inches, expanse 9^-, flexure 2^, tail 2^, rictus -^, 

 (nearly), tarsus ^, middle toe . 



