PALM WARBLER. 275 
it appears for a few days in the spring in Pennsylvania and 
New Jersey, and is found throughout summer in Maine; thus 
exhibiting the several gradations of change which the plumage 
undergoes. 
Naturalists cannot be too circumspect in receiving reports, 
even from the most respectable sources,—their own senses 
affording the only authentic testimony to be relied on. From 
information derived from Mr T. Peale, who had no opportu- 
nity for making comparisons, we erroneously stated in the first 
volume of this work that Sylvia celata (Say) was one of the 
most common birds in Florida during winter, keeping among 
the orange trees, &c. All this statement had reference to the 
present species ; and as soon as the specimens brought by Mr 
Peale as Sylvia celata were shown to us, the error was imme- 
diately perceived. We therefore hasten to correct this mis- 
take, which would be otherwise of more consequence, inasmuch 
as no one else could, for a long time, detect it. This species 
resembles, it is true, S. celata (whose range must remain 
limited to the Rocky Mountains), and perhaps still more S-. 
rubricapilla (Wilson), but it is not of the same subgenus, 
Dacnis, and it may readily be known by the white spots of the 
tail-feathers. 
When the genus Sylvia, containing upwards of two hundred 
and fifty species, shall have been properly studied, it will 
be found practicable to divide it into several more sections, 
subgenera, and even perhaps genera. This bird, along with 
many other North American species, will constitute a highly 
natural group, very distinct from the true Sylvia, of which S. 
atricapilla may be considered as the type. We presume that 
it is the group we have in view to which Mr Swainson has 
given the name of Sylvicola, in his “Synopsis of Mexican Birds.” 
Our species is erroneously placed by Buffon among his Demi- 
jins, corresponding to our Dacnis and Wilson’s Worm-eaters. 
