74 BLACKBURNIAN WARBLER. 



loosely put together, and is lined with a few horse hairs and fine grass. 

 It measures three inches in external breadth, two internal, and is two 

 and a half inches deep externally, and two inside. The eggs are ex- 

 tremely beautiful, having on a crystal white ground dots and lines of 

 a reddish-brown, chiefly disposed at the larger end. They measure 

 eleven-sixteenths of an inch in length, by seventeen thirty-second parts 

 in breadth. They are in the shape of an abrupt cone, and at slight view 

 would seem to be oval. This is the only instance in which I have 

 known them breed in Massachusetts." 



The Female is here represented, I believe, for the first time. 



Sylvia BLACKBURNiiE, Lath. Ind. Ornith. vol. ii. p. 257 



Adult Female. Plate CCCXCIX. Fig. 3. 



The Male having been minutely described in the second volume, it is 

 unnecessary to give the proportions of the female, which are similar. 

 The bill and feet are of a lighter tint ; the general colour of the upper 

 parts is light olivaceous, each feather dusky in the centre, those on the 

 middle of the back and the upper tail-coverts with a more distinct 

 blackish patch, the former margined externally with white ; the wings 

 and tail are marked with white like those of the male, but are of a 

 lighter or dusky brown tint. There is a faint greenish-yellow spot 

 on the top of the head, the feathers on which part are tipped with 

 dusky ; the band over the eye is dull yellow, that on the lore and cheek 

 brown, the fore part of the neck is also yellow, tinged however with 

 orange ; the sides are less strongly streaked with black. 



Length, to end of tail, ^^^ inches ; bill along the ridge j| ; along 

 the edges of lower mandible || ; wing from flexure 2|t ; tail 2^^ ; 

 tarsus i*j ; hind toe /j, its claw || ; middle toe x^, its claw ||. 



