282 YELLOW-RUMPED WARBLER. 



This species is five inches and a half long, and eight inches 

 broad ; whole back, tail-coverts, and hind head, a fine slate 

 colour streaked with black ; crown, sides of the breast, and 

 rump, rich yellow ; wings and tail, black, the former crossed 

 with two bars of white, the three exterior feathers of the latter 

 spotted with white ; cheeks and front, black ; chin, line over 

 and under the eye, white ; breast, light slate, streaked with 

 black extending under the wings ; belly and vent, white, the 

 latter spotted with black ; bill and legs, black. This is the 

 spring and summer dress of the male ; that of the female of 

 the same season differs but little, chiefly in the colours being 

 less vivid, and not so strongly marked with a tincture of 

 brownish on the back. 



In the month of October the slate colour has changed to 

 a brownish olive ; the streaks of black are also considerably 

 brown, and the white is stained with the same colour ; the 

 tail-coverts, however, still retain their slaty hue, the yellow 

 on the crown and sides of the breast becomes nearly obliterated. 

 Their only note is a kind of chip, occasionally repeated; their 

 motions are quick, and one can scarcely ever observe them 

 at rest. 



Though the form of the bill of this bird obliges me to 

 arrange him with the warblers, yet in his food and all his 

 motions he is decidedly a flycatcher. 



On again recurring to the descriptions in Pennant of the 

 " yellow-rump warbler," * " golden-crowned warbler," f and 

 "belted-warbler,"| I am persuaded that the whole three 

 have been drawn from the present species. 



* Arctic Zoology, p. 400, No. 188. 



f Ibid. No. 294," X Mid. No. 306. 



