76 



MOURNING GROUND-WARBLER. 



Tkichas Philadelphia, Wils. 

 PLATE CI.— Male. 



Although this beautiful species has been met with in various portions of 

 our eastern maritime districts, it cannot be said to be an abundant one; and 

 no one has, as yet, been able to discover its nest. Several of my ornitholo- 

 gical friends have supplied me with specimens procured in the neighbour- 

 hood of New York, Philadelphia, and in the mountainous parts of Vermont; 

 all these were found during the spring and summer months, none having 

 been seen during the autumn; where, on the contrary, the Connecticut War- 

 bler is plentiful. 



The habits of the Mourning Warbler resemble, considerably, those of the 

 Maryland Yellow-throat, and other birds of the genus trichas, keeping in 

 low thickets, among the branches of which it hops, as well as on the ground. 

 Its flight also resembles that of the bird above mentioned. So curiously and 

 cautiously does it pass from south to north, and from north to south, that its 

 migratory movements have eluded the most attentive observers. My friend 

 the Rev. John Bachman never has seen it in South Carolina; and in one 

 instance only, have I met with it in Louisiana. The figure represents a fine 

 adult male in perfect plumage. 



Mourning Warbler, Sylvia Philadelphia, Wils. Amer. Orn., vol. ii. p. 101. 

 Sylvia Philadelphia, Bonap. Syn., p. 85. 



Mourning Warbler, Sylvia Philadelphia, Nutt. Man., vol. i. p. 404. 

 Mourning Wareler, Sylvia Philadelphia, Aud. Orn. Biog., vol. v. p. 79. 



Bill short, straight, conico-subulate, compressed toward the end, acute; 

 upper mandible with the dorsal line declinate, straight, a little convex at the 

 end, the ridge narrow, the sides convex, the edges direct and overlapping, 

 with a slight notch, the tip narrow; lower mandible with the angle of mode- 

 rate length and narrow, the dorsal line ascending and slightly convex, the 

 sides rounded, the edges inflected, the tip acute; the gape-line straight. 

 Nostrils basal, lateral, operculate, exposed. 



Head of moderate size, ovato-oblong; neck short; body rather slender; 

 feet rather long; tarsus slender, longer than the middle toe, much compress- 

 ed, covered before with seven scutella, behind with two longitudinal plates 



