PRAIRIE WARBLER. 77 



The plant on which a pair of Prairie Warblers are represented, is 

 connnonly called Buffalo Grass, and is found all along the edges of our ex- 

 tensive prairies, in the barrens of Kentucky, and in Louisiana, except- 

 ing in the swamps, it being more inclined to grow in dry soil and stiff 

 grounds. 



Sylvia discolor, Ch. Bonaparte, Synops. of Birds of the United States, p. 83. 

 Pbairie "Warbler, Sylvia minuta, WUs> Americ. Omith. voL iii. p. 87. PI. 25. 

 fig. 4. Male. 



Adult Male. Plate XIV. Fig. 1. 



Bill of ordinary length, slender, neai-ly straight, acute, as deep as 

 broad at the base, slightly declinate at the tip. Nostrils oval, basal, la- 

 teral, half closed by a membrane. Head rather small, elongated. Neck 

 and body slender. Feet of ordinary length, slender ; tarsus longer than 

 the middle toe, covered anteriorly by a few scutella, the upper long ; toes 

 scutellate above, the inner free, the hind toe of moderate size ; claws slen- 

 der, compressed, acute, arched. 



Plumage soft, blended, tufty. A few short bristles at the base of the 

 upper mandible. Wings of ordinary length, the second quill longest. 

 Tail longish, rounded. 



Bill brown, paler at the margin. Iris dark hazel. Feet and claws 

 dark brown. The upper parts are light olive, the back spotted with 

 brownish-red. The under parts, a line over the eye, and the cheeks, dull 

 ochrey yellow, the sides of the neck and breast spotted with brownish- 

 black. Lore, and a curved streak under the eye, black. Quills and tail- 

 feathers deep brown, the former margined with pale yellow ; larger co- 

 verts margined and tipped with the same, the second row almost entirely 

 yellow, the three outer tail-feathers with a broad oblique band of white. 



Length 5 inches, extent of wings 7 ; beak along the ridge ^, along 

 the gap I ; tarsus f , middle toe ^. 



Adult Female. Plate XIV. Fig. 2. 



The female is nearly of the same size, and is coloured in the same 

 manner, but wants the black markings about the eye, and has only two 

 of the lateral tail-feathers white in the middle. The spots on the sides of 

 the neck and breast are also much paler. 



Lenffth 4j. 



