BLACK-POLL WARBLER. 203 



In the course of my voyages to the south-eastern extremity of the 

 Peninsula of the Floridas, I frequently observed birds of many kinds fly- 

 ing either high or low over the sea. Of these the greater number were, 

 like the present species, Sylviae which are never found in Georgia or the 

 two Carolinas. Their course was a direct one, and such as led me to be- 

 Heve that the little voyagers were bound for Cape Hatteras. The meet- 

 ing with many of the species to which I allude, along the shores of Mary- 

 land, New Jersey, the eastern coast of Long Island, &c., and all along to 

 the Bay of Fundy, has strengthened the idea ; but as I may not be cor- 

 rect, I leave the matter to the determination of more experienced ob- 

 servers. The subject appears to me to be one of the greatest importance, 

 for the occurrence of plants in certain parts of a country and not in others 

 may possibly be caused by the absence, during migration, of such birds 

 as move by " short cuts" from one point of land to another. 



Sylvia striata, Lath. Ind Ornith. vol. ii. p. 61 — Ch. Bonaparte, Synods, of Birds of 



the United States, p. 81. 

 Sylvicola striata, Swains, and Richards. Fauna Bor. Amer. part ii. p. 218. 

 Black-poll Warbler, Sylvia striata, Wils. Amer. Ornith. vol. iv. p. 40. pi. 30. 



fig. 3. Male ; and vol. vi. p. 10. pi. 49. fig. 4. Female — Nuttall, Manual, part i. 



p. 383. 



Adult Male. Plate CXXXIII. Fig. 1, 1. 



Bill shortish, nearly straight, subulato-conical, acute, nearly as deep 

 as broad at the base, the edges sharp, with a slight notch near the tip, 

 the gap line a little deflected at the base. Nostrils basal, elliptical, lateral, 

 half-closed by a membrane. Head of ordinary size, neck short, general 

 form slender. Feet of ordinary length, slender ; tarsus covered anteriorly 

 by a few scutella, the uppermost long, sharp behind ; toes scutellate above, 

 the inner free, the hind toe of moderate size ; claws arched, slender, ex- 

 tremely compressed, acute. 



Plumage soft, blended, slightly glossed. Wings of ordinary length, 

 the first quill longest. Tail of moderate length, emarginate. 



Bill brownish-black above, pale beneath. Iris deep-brown. Feet 

 pale yellowish-brown. Upper part of the head deep black. Hind neck, 

 back, and tail- coverts, bluish-grey, each feather with a broad central 

 stripe of deep black. Wing-coverts and secondary quills brownish- 

 black, the latter margined, the secondary coverts margined and tipped, and 

 the first row of small coverts broadly tipped with white, that colour form- 



