84 SWA'NSON'S SWAMP-WARBLER. 



Drummond, and others, who w ,h a zeal equalled only by that of Wilson 

 himself, have crossed the broad Atlantic, and made discoveries in ornithology 

 in portions of North America ne er before visited, in which they have met 

 with species that, although previously unknown to us, have since been found 

 to traverse the whole extent of our wide territories. Then, reader, will you 

 not agree with me in believing that even now, discoveries remain to be made 

 in a region so vast that no individual, whatever might have been his exer- 

 tions, could truly say of it that he had explored it all? 



The bird represented in the plate before you was discovered by my friend 

 Jc n Bachjvian, near Charleston in South Carolina, while I was in another 

 part of our continent, searching for the knowledge necessary to render my 

 ornithological biographies as interesting as possible to you: — it was in the 

 spring of 1832, when I was rambling over the rugged country of Labrador, 

 that my southern friend found the first specimen of this bird, near the banks 

 of the Edisto river. I have been favoured by him with the following 

 account of it. 



"I was first attracted by the novelty of its notes, four or five in number, 

 repeated at intervals of five . or six minutes apart. These notes were loud, 

 clear, and more like a whistle than a song. They resembled the sounds of 

 some extraordinary ventriloquist in such a degree, that I supposed the bird 

 much farther from me than it really was; for after some trouble caused by 

 these fictitious notes, I perceived it near to me, and soon shot it. 



"The form of its bill I observed at once to differ from all other known 

 birds of our country, and was pleased at its discovery. On dissection it 

 proved to be a male, and in the course of the same spring, I obtained two 

 other males, of which the markings were precisely similar. In the middle 

 of August of that year, I saw an old female accompanied with four young. 

 One of the latter I obtained: it did not differ materally from the old ones. 

 Another specimen was sent to me alive, having been caught in a trap. I 

 have invariably found them in swampy muddy places, usually covered with 

 more or less water. The birds which I opened had their gizzards filled with 

 the fragments of coleopterous insects, as well as some small green worms 

 that are found on water plants, such as the pond lily (Nymphaea odor at a) 

 and the Nelumbium (Cyamus flavicomtis). The manner of this species 

 resemble those of the Prothonotary Warbler, as it skips among the low 

 bushes growing about ponds and other watery places, seldom ascending high 

 trees. It retires southward at the close of summer." 



The Azalea and Butterfly accompanying the figure of this species were 

 drawn by my friend's sister, Miss Martin, to whom I offer my sincere 

 thanks. 



Dr. T. M. Brewer informs me that a specimen of Swainson's Warbler 



