CHANGE-CROWNED SWAMP-WARBLER. 101 



curved glidings. When ascending, however, it becomes as it were uncertain 

 and angular. 



The Orange-crowned Warbler breeds in the eastern parts of Maine, and in 

 the British provinces of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. Its nest is com- 

 posed of lichens detached from the trunks of trees, intermixed with short 

 bits of fine grass, and is lined with delicate fibrous roots and a proportionally 

 large quantity of feathers. The eggs, which are from four to six, are of a 

 pale green colour, sprinkled with small black spots. The nest is placed not 

 more than from three to five feet from the ground between the smaller forks 

 of some low fir tree. Only one brood is raised in the season, and the birds 

 commence their journey southward from the middle of August to the 

 beginning of September. 



In autumn, it nearly loses the orange spot on its head, there being then 

 merely a dull reddish patch, which is only seen on separating the feathers. 

 In the breeding season, the part in question becomes as bright as you see it 

 in the plate, in which are represented a pair of these birds, on a twig of the 

 great huckleberry. The young do not shew any orange on the head until 

 the following spring. 



Sylvia celata, Say, Long's Exped., vol. i. p'. 169. 



Sylvia celata, Bonap. Syn., p. 38. 



Orange-crowned Warbler, Sylvia celata, Bonap. Amer. Orn., vol. i. p. 45. 



Orange-crowned Warbler, Sylvia celata, Nutt. Man., vol. i. p. 413. 



Orange-crowned Warbler, Sylvia celata, Aud. Orn. Biog., vol. ii. p. 449. 



Adult Male. 



Bill longish, slender, straight, tapering to a very sharp point. Nostrils 

 basal, oval, feet of ordinary length, slender; tarsus compressed, covered 

 anteriorly with a few long scutella, sharp-edged behind, longer than the 

 middle-toe; toes scutellate above, free; claws arched, slender, compressed, 

 acute. 



Plumage blended, the feathers soft and tufty. Wings rather short, the 

 second and third quills longest. Tail slightly emarginate, of ordinary length, 

 the twelve feathers rather narrow, and tapering broadly to a point. 



Bill dusky above, pale greyish-blue beneath. Iris hazel. Feet and claws 

 dusky. The general colour of the plumage above is dull brownish-green, 

 the rump and tail-coverts light yellowish-green, the edge of the wing at the 

 flexure yellow. On the crown is a spot of bright reddish-orange, more 

 distinct when the feathers are raised. The under parts are of a dull 

 olivaceous yellow, the lower tail-coverts bright yellow. The quills and tail- 

 feathers dark brown, slightly margined with paler. 



Vol. II. 17 



