PAETJLA. 119 



a. Cauda albo maculata. 



1. Pamla americana. 



Parus americanus, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 341 \ 



Sylvicola americana, Scl. P.Z. S. 1857, p. 202'. 



Pamla americana, Scl.fe Salv. Ibis, 1859, p. 10'; Baird, Rev. Am. B. i. p. 169*; Lawr. Ann. Lye. 



N. Y. ix. p. 200'; BuU. U.S. Nat. Mus. no. 4, p. 15^ Sumichrast, Mem. Bost. Soc. 



N. H. i. p. 546" ; Baird, Brew. & Ridgw. N. Am. B. i. p. 208 " ; Gundl. Om. Cub. p. 62 ° ; 



Sennett, Bull. U.S. Geol. Surv. iv. p. 11"; Merrill, Pr. U.S. Nat, Mus. i. p. 123"; Coues, 



B. Col. Vail. i. p. 208 '^ 



(? supra caenilesoenti-grisea, dorso medio olivaceo, loris nigris, macnilis cUiaribus albis, alls albo bifasciatis, 

 Cauda exfcus albo notata ; subtus gula et abdomiae antico flavis, pectore torque caeruleo-nigricante ornato, 

 abdomine postioo albo ; rostri maxiUa nigra, mandibula flava ; pedibus obscure coryUriis. Long, tota 4-5, 

 ala3 2-35, caudae 1-7, rostri a rictu 0'5, tarsi 0-7. (Descr. maris ex Washington, U. 8. Smiths. Inst. no. 

 28266. Mus. nostr.) 



$ supra undique olivaceo tincta, torque pectorali nuUo. (Descr. feminee ex Progreso, Yucatan. Mus. nostr.) 



Hob. Easteki^' Noeth America ^, westwards to the foot of the Eocky Mountains i^, 

 Texas ^*^ ^^. — Mexico, Tlacotalpam {Salle ^), Orizaba {Sumichrast ''), Santa Efigenia, 

 Tehuantepec {Sumichrast^), Merida, Yucatan (/ScAo^ 5), Progreso {Gaumer) ; Gua- 

 temala 3, Cohan {0. S.& F. D. G.). — Cuba ^ and Noethern Antilles *. 



Parula americana is the only strictly migratory species of its genus. It passes the 

 breeding-season in the more northern States and Canada, and the winter months in 

 Florida ^^, Mexico, Guatemala, and the Northern Antilles. In the intervening country 

 it is known as a bird of passage during its spring and autumn migrations. In Mexico 

 it touches the Pacific coast only in the extreme south, being absent from the western 

 coast generally. On the eastern side it appears in the vicinity of Orizaba and in 

 Northern Yucatan, and thence passes southwards to Cohan in Guatemala; the only 

 place in that country where we ever met with it. Here it was not uncommon 

 from November onwards through the winter ; and specimens used to be brought to us 

 by the Indian boys, shot by their blowpipes in the outskirts of the town. Full-plumaged 

 males, however, are seldom secured ; and the same is the case in Cuba — because, as 

 Dr. Gundlach says, they migrate at the period of assuming their breeding-dress. In 

 the Antilles, from Cuba to St. Thomas and St. Croix, P. americana is very abundant in 

 the winter months ; but' it does not pass southward of these islands, and is quite 

 unknown on the southern continent. 



The chief resort of this species is high woods, where it searches for its food amongst 

 the higher branches. Its song, according to some authorities, is barely worthy of the 

 name, as its notes are feeble and few ; others describe it as consisting of a varied and 

 pleasing series of notes ^. The nest is sometimes fastened to the trunk of a tree, but 

 is more usually suspended from a branch some six or eight feet from the ground and 



