1861. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



377 



For the New England Farmer. 



THE BT.KD3 OP NEW ENGLAND — No. 14. 



FLYCATCniNG WARBLERS. 



American Redstart— Canada Flycatchinx Warbler — Hooded 

 Warbler— Green Black-capped Warbler— Blue-Gray Fly- 

 catching Warbler. 



In the Philomelince, the next and third sub- 

 family that we meet with in the extensive family 

 Sylviadis, are ranged a small group of foreign 

 species, arboreal in their habits, and remarkable 

 for their melodious and powerful songs. The 

 celebrated Nightingale {Philomela luscinia) of 

 Europe is considered as the typical species of the 

 group, which also includes the European Red- 

 starts {Phcsnicurce,) the Aquatic Warblers {Sali- 

 caria,) &c. ; but we having no species that prop- 

 erly ranks in this section, we immediately pass to 



The true or typical Warbler, constituting the 

 sub-family Sylviance. These are birds of minute 

 size, extremely active, and chiefly arboreal and 

 insectivorous in their habits, and forming an ex- 

 tensive group, many species exist in nearly all 

 parts of the world ; of course exhibiting a diver- 

 sity of habits, and consequently of forms ; thirty 

 or more species are found to exist in New Eng- 

 land. Those introduced in this number are quite 

 aberrant from the typical form, and from their 

 peculiar habits may well be termed the Flycatch- 

 ing Warblers. In the form of the bill, several of 

 the species greatly resemble the Flycatchers, and 

 by respectable ornithologists the first here de- 

 scribed is still placed in Muscicapa, with the oth- 

 er American Flycatchers. In their habits, and 

 in the markings of their plumage, they are close- 

 ly allied to the Warblers, with which they are 

 likewise classed. 



The American Redstart, (Setophaga ruticil- 

 la, Swain. ; Muscicapa ruticilla, Linn., Wilson, 

 and many others,) is a minute, but truly beauti- 

 ful species, generally diffused over the United 

 States, and extends its migrations as far north- 

 ward as the sixty-second parallel ; but it does not 

 appear to be very numerous. It winters in trop- 

 ical America, and enters New England from the 

 south early in May, when the throngs of summer 

 birds begin to arrive, that 



"in busy tribes 

 Pour their forgotten multitudes, and catch 

 New life, new rapture, from the smile of spring ;" 



at which time they may be observed flitting con- 

 tinually among our thickets and woodlands, their 

 brilliant tails expanded, and the males frequently 

 uttering their short but sprightly and pleasing 

 Bongs, as they pursue their insect prey. A few 

 remain with us throughout the summer, placing 

 their neatly formed nests, delicately lined with 

 downy substances, in the forks of bushes or low 

 trees, in which they lay four or five pure white 

 eggs, sprinkled with dusky spots. In the wild, 

 romantic, wooded glens of central Vermont, I 

 have met with them much more frequently in 

 summer than in this section ; but as they are ev- 

 erywhere shy and retired, as well as scarce, fre- 

 quenting the deepest thickets, and shunning the 

 haunts of man, they are as yet but little known. 

 The length of the Redstart is five inches ; ex- 

 tent six and a quarter. The adult males, in per- 

 fect plumage, have the head, neck, breast, and 

 whole upper parts deep black, with glossy blue 

 reflections ; sides of the breast under surface of 



the wings, tail, except the two middle feathers 

 and a terminal band of black, deep orange red ; 

 a band of orange at the base of the primaries and 

 secondaries of the wings ; belly, white. The fe- 

 male is pale greenish olive, where the male is 

 black, and pale yellow where he is orange, except 

 the aurora band on the wings, which she does not 

 possess. The males are several years in acquir- 

 ing their mature plumage, during the first and 

 second years resembling the female, and gradu- 

 ally afterwards acquire the glowing colors of the 

 perfect adult male. 



The Canada Flycatchinq Warbler, (Seto- 

 phaga Canadensis, Swain.,) sometimes described 

 as the Canada Flycatcher and Spotted Canada 

 Warbler, like the preceding, is not a common spe- 

 cies, and is occasionally found to be quite rare. 

 It passes through this region on its northward 

 journey about the 20th of May, (the present year 

 between the 20th and 26th of May,) and proceeds 

 far to the northward to breed. South of New 

 England it seems to be a rare species, and is sel- 

 dom observed below New York ; Wilson remarks 

 that he shot two in the interior of Pennsylvania, 

 the only individuals he ever met with ; and Au- 

 dubon states that he never saw them below Phil- 

 adelphia. During the last week of May, the 

 present year, I met with more than a dozen indi- 

 viduals in Springfield. 



In their habits they much resemble the Red- 

 starts, and like them are continually in the pur- 

 suit of small winged insects. I observed one 

 that had taken his stand over a pond of water, 

 in which dry bushes were standing, dart from his 

 perch at the passing insects, returning each time 

 to the same bush, and often to the same twig, 

 like the Pewee Flycatchers, uttering at intervals 

 a short but lively and very pleasing song. The 

 history of this species is still quite imperfect. 



The Canada Flycatcher measures four and a 

 half inches in length and eight in extent. Male, 

 above, bluish gray, with a tinge of greenish olive 

 on the back ; crown, streaked with black ; lores 

 and around the eye, yellow ; a patch of black be- 

 low the eye connects with a band of black streaks 

 that marks the breast ; lower parts, deep yellow. 

 A specimen before me, that proved by dissection 

 to be a female, has all the colors much paler, en- 

 tirely wanting the greenish patch on the back, 

 which Dr. DeKay considers as a peculiar and dis- 

 tinguishing characteristic of the female, and has 

 the black markings on the head and breast quite 

 obscure. Of four or five males that I have re- 

 cently examined, some had all the colors less deep 

 and pure than others, but all had the greenish 

 tinge on the back, and on some it was quite con- 

 spicuous. 



Two species of a genus formed by Prince C L. 

 Bonaparte, of a few species detached from Sylvi- 

 cola, and dedicated to the memory of the "great 

 pioneer in American Ornithology," are here in- 

 troduced, as they resemble the preceding in sev- 

 eral important characteristics. 



The Hooded Warbler, {Wilsonia mitrata, 

 Bonap.,) is an exceedingly rare species in New 

 England, but it is probably found here, as its hab- 

 itat is known to extend from Mexico to 52° north ; 

 but it seems to be rare to the northward of Ma- 

 ryland. In the Southern States it is abundant, 

 and seems partial to low situations, where there 

 is thick underwood ; and in the thick cane-braket. 



