THE YELLOW-THROATED WOOD-WARBLER. 33 



The song of the Yellow-throated Warbler would please you, kind reader. 

 Of this I have not a doubt, as it is soft and loud, and is continued for two or 

 three minutes at a time, not unlike that of the Painted Finch, or Indigo Bird. 

 As it is heard in all parts of our most dismal cypress swamps, it contributes 

 to soothe the mind of a person whose occupation may lead him to such places. 

 I never saw this species on the ground. The male and the female are nearly 

 alike in plumage, but the young birds, which hunt for insects in company, in 

 the manner of Creepers or Titmice, do not acquire the yellow on the throat, 

 nor the full brilliancy of their plumage, until the first spring. 



These birds confine themselves to the Southern States, seldom moving far- 

 ther towards the Middle Districts than North Carolina. They do not even 

 ascend the Mississippi farther than the Walnut Hills. They are abundant in 

 the neighbourhood of the Red River, and probably do not go farther south 

 than Mexico, during their short absence from the United States. 



Happening to shoot several of these birds on a large chinquapin tree, grow- 

 ing on the edge of a hill close to a swamp, I have put a male on one of its 

 twigs, which is furnished with a few fruits quite ripe and ready to leave their 

 husks. In the Southern States this tree is rare. It generally prefers elevat- 

 ed places, and rocky declivities, with an arid soil. The wood resembles that 

 of the chestnut, but the trees being generally small, little use is made of it as 

 timber. The fruit is eaten by children. This tree is abundant along the 

 greater part of the range of the Alleghanies and its branches. 



Yellow-throated Warbler, Sylvia flavicollis, Wils. Amer. Orn., vol. ii. p. 64. 



Sylvia pensilis, Bonap. Syn., p. 79. 



Yellow-throated Warbler, Sylvia pensilis, Aud. Orn. Biog., vol. i. p. 434. 



Outer three quills almost equal, second quill longest, fourth shorter than 

 first; tail slightly emarginate. Male with the upper parts light greyish-blue; 

 the forehead black, the crown spotted with the same; a white line over the 

 eye; secondary coverts and first row of small coverts largely tipped with 

 white; quills greyish-black, margined with light greyish-blue; tail-feathers 

 of the same colour, the outer three with a patch of white on the inner web at 

 the end; loral space, a band under the eye, ear-coverts, a band down the side 

 of the neck, and numerous oblong spots on the sides of the body, black; 

 throat bright yellow; rest of lower parts white. Female similar, but with 

 the tints paler. 



Male, 51, 8-1-. 



From Texas to New Jersey. In the interior along the Mississippi to Nat- 

 chez. Common. Migratory. 



