FEMALE CAPE MAY WARBLER. 189 
FEMALE CAPE MAY WARBLER. (Sylvia maritima.) 
PLATE III.—Fic. 3. 
My Collection. 
SYLVICOLA MARITIMA.—Swartnson. 
Sylvia maritima, Bonap. Synop. p. 79. 
I was so fortunate as to obtain this undescribed little warbler 
in a small wood near Bordentown, New Jersey, on the 14th of 
May, at which season ornithologists would do well to be on 
the alert to detect the passenger warblers, whose stay in this 
vicinity is frequently limited to a very few days. 
Judging by the analogical rules of our science, this bird is 
no other than the female of Wilson’s Cape May warbler. Its 
appearance is so different from the male he described, that the 
specific identity is not recognised at first sight ; but, by care- 
fully comparing the two specimens, a correspondence in the 
least. variable characters may readily be perceived, especially 
in the remarkable slenderness of the bill, which distinguishes 
the Cape May from all other resembling species of North Ame- 
rican warblers. 
Wilson has given no information relative to the history and 
habits of this species, having never procured more than a male 
specimen ; and we have equally to regret that, having obtained 
but a single female, we are unable to supply the deficiency, 
even in regard to its song. 
The female Cape May warbler is four inches and three- 
quarters long, and more than eight in extent. The bill is 
slender, delicate, and slightly curved, being black, as well as 
the feet. The irides are dark brown; the upper part of the 
head, olive cinereous, each feather having a small blackish spot 
on the middle. A yellow line extends from the bill over the 
eye, and is prolonged in an obsolete trace around the audi- 
tory region, thence returning to the corner of the mouth. A 
blackish line passes through the eye, which is circumscribed 
by a whitish circle; the cheeks are dull cinereous, with very 
