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THE BLACK AND YELLOW WARBLER. 



Sylvia maculosa, Lath. 



PLATE CXXIII. Male and Female. 



Few of our Warblers have a more varied plumage, or are more ani- 

 mated in their motions, than this beautiful little bird. In Louisiana it is 

 met with now and then as early as the middle of March, but there its 

 occurrence appears to be merely accidental, as is indeed the case in Ken- 

 tucky, Ohio, or any portion of the Middle States, through which a few 

 are to be seen on their passage to more northern regions. In autumn I 

 have seen them in great numbers near the Pocano Mountains, accompa- 

 nied by their young, proceeding southward, as I thought, along the di- 

 rection of that range. While in Maine, on my way to Labrador, in the 

 month of May, I observed them to be very abundant by the roads, in 

 the fields, the low woods, and even the orchards and gardens. In fact, 

 so numerous were those interesting birds, that you might have fancied that 

 an army of them had assembled to take possession of the country. Scarce 

 a leaf was yet expanded, large icicles hung along the rocky shores, and I 

 could not but feel surprised at the hardihood of the little adventurers. 

 At night they roosted in numbers in the small evergreen trees, and by 

 day they were to be seen flitting about wherever the sun shone. If the 

 morning was cold, you might catch them with the hand, and several spe- 

 cimens, procured in that manner by children, were brought to me. This 

 happened in the neighbourhood of Eastport. By the end of a fortnight, 

 the greater part of them had pushed farther north. I met them where- 

 ever I landed in the neighbouring islands, and along the shores of the 

 Bay of Fundy, as well as in the Straits of Cansso, the Magdeleihe Isles, 

 and Labrador. I have no doubt that the extraordinary congregation 

 which I saw near Eastport, was caused by the foresight of the tiny tra- 

 vellers, aware that they could not at so early a period proceed farther 

 without imminent danger. Many of these birds, however, remain and 

 breed in the State of Maine, and in the British Provinces. 



The Black and Yellow Warbler has a clear and sweetly modulated 

 song, surpassing that of many other birds of its tribe. It sings in the in- 

 terior of the low woods, to which it seems at all times to give a decided 

 VOL. II. „■ 



