BLUE-WINGED YELLOW WARBLER.” 167 
lighter brown; the lower parts, brownish white, streaked laterally 
with dark brown; legs, yellow; claws, black, The female is an inch 
anda half longet, of a still deeper color, though marked nearly in 
the same manner, with the exception of some white on the hind head 
The femoral, or thigh feathers, in both are of a remarkable length, 
reaching nearly to the feet, and are also streaked, longitudinally with 
dark brown. ‘The irides of the eyes of this bird have been hitherto 
described as being of a brilliant yellow; but every specimen I have 
yet met with had the iris of a deep hazel. I must therefore follow 
nature, in opposition to very numerous and respectable authorities. 
I cannot, in imitation of European naturalists, embellish the history 
of this species with anecdotes of its exploits in falconry. This 
science, if it may be so called, is among the few that have never yet 
travelled across the Atlantic; neither does it appear that the idea of 
training our Hawks or Eagles to the chase, ever suggested itself to 
any of the Indian nations of North America. The Tartars, however, 
from whom, according to certain writers, many of these nations’ 
originated, have-long excelled in the practice of this’ sport, which is 
indeed better suited to an open country than to one covered with 
forest. Though once so honorable and so universal, it is now much 
disused in Europe, and in Britain is nearly extinct. Yet I cannot 
but consider it as a much more noble and princely amusement than 
horse-racing and cock-fighting, cultivated in certain states with so 
much care; or even than “pugilism, which is. still so highly patronized 
is some of those enlightened countries. ; 
e 
BLUE-WINGED YELLOW WARBLER. —SYLVIA SOLITARIA. 
— Fie. 67. 
E a e 
Parus aureus alis cceruleis, Bartram, p, 292. — Edw. pl. 277, upper figure. — F ne 
Warbler, Arct. Zool. p. 412, No. 318.— Peale’s Museum, No. 7307. 
VERMIVORA SOLITARIA, — Swainson. 
Sylvia solitaria; Bonap. Synop. p. 87. — The Blue-winged Yellow Warbler, 
Aud. pl. 20, Orn. Biog. i. 102. 
Tus bird has been mistaken for the Pine Creeper of Catesby. It 
is a very different species, It comes to us early in May from the 
south; haunts thickets and shrubberies, searching the branches for 
insects; is fond of visiting gardens, orchards, and willow-trees, of 
gleaning among blossoms and currant bushes; and is frequently found 
in very sequestered woods, where it generally builds its nest. This 
is fixed in a thick bunch or tussock of long grass, sometimes sheltered 
by a brier bush. It is built in the form of an inverted cone, or funnel, 
the bottom thickly bedded with dty beech leaves, the sides formed of 
the dry bark of strong weeds, lined within with fine, dry grass. These 
