oes . ——E 
162 CHESTNUT-SIDED WARBLER. 
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CHESTNUT-SIDED WARBLER. —SYLVIA PENNSYLVANICA. 
—Fie. 62 e 
Hut dl 
Linn. Syst. 333, — Red-throated Elycatcher, Edw.. 301. — Bloody-side Warbler, 
rton, Syst. i. p. 596. — Le figuier apoitrine rouge, Buff. .v. 308 — Briss. Add 
105.— Lath. ii. 489. — Arct. Zeal. p. 405, No. 298.— Peale’s Museum, No. 7000. 
SYLVICOLA- ICTEROCEPHALA. — Swainson. 
Sylvia icterocephala, Bonap. ‘Synop, p. 80.—- The Chestnut-sided Warbler, Aud. 
: pl. 59. Orn. Biog. p. 306. - 
OF this bird I can give but little account. _ It is. one of those tran- 
sient visitors that pass through Pennsylvania, in April and May, on 
their way farther north to breed. During its stay here, which seldom 
exceeds a week or ten days, it appears actively engaged among the 
_ opening buds and young leaves, in search of insects. has no song but 
a feeble-chirp, or twitter, and is not numerous. As‘it leaves us early - 
in May, it probably breeds in Canada, or, perhaps, some parts of New 
England; though I have no certain knowledge of the fact. In a 
whole day’s excursion, it is rare to meet with more than one or two of 
these birds; though a thousand individuals of some species may be 
seen in the same time. Perhaps they may be more numerous on some 
‘other part of the continent. oa se oe 
The length of this species is five inches ; the extent, seven and three 
‘quarters. The frontline over the eye, and ear-feathers, are pure 
white; upper part of the ‘head,-brilliant yellow; the lores and space 
immediately below are marked with a triangular patch of black; the 
~ back and hind head are streaked with gray, dusky black, and dull yel- 
low; wings, black; primaries, edged with pale blue, the first and sec- 
ond row of coverts, broadly tipped with pale yellow; secondaries, 
broadly edged with the same ; tail; black, handsomely forked, exteriorly 
edged with aslr; the inner webs of the three exterior feathers with 
each aspot of white; from the extremity of the black at the lower 
mandible, on each side, a streak of deep reddish chestnut descends 
along the sides of the’ neck, and under the wings, to the root of the 
tail; the rest of the lower parts are pure white; legs and feet, ash; 
_ bill, black; irides, hazel, The female has the hind head much lighter, 
and the chestnut on the sides is considerably narrower, and not-of so 
‘deep a tint. ns eee: ‘ 
Turton, and some other writers, have bestowed on this little bird 
the' singular epithet of “ bloody-sided,” for which I was at a loss to 
‘know the reason, the color of that part being a plain chestnut; till, on 
examining Mr. Edwards’s colored figure of this bird in the public libra- 
ry of Philadelphia, I found its side tinged with a brilliant blood color 
Hence, I suppose, originated the name! 3 
