SYLVIAL\E. 217 



March, at which time it had partly assumed its slate-coloured dress, and was 

 informed that its change of colour was completed before it began its journey to 

 the north, in the beginning of April. About the twentieth of that month it 

 reappears in Pennsylvania, and remains for eight or ten days pursuing flies, 

 when it passes on to its breeding quarters in the north. Within the United 

 States this bird associates in considerable numbers ; but in the fur-countries it 

 is seen only in pairs. 



DESCRIPTION 



Of a specimen, killed at Cumberland House, 28th May, 1827*- 



Colour. — Dorsal aspect of the head, neck, back, tail coverts, and lesser wing coverts 

 bluish-grey, with a pitch-black oblong stripe in the middle of each feather, small towards 

 the head and large on the back. An oval patch of bright gamboge on the crown ; a 

 broad band of the same colour on the rump, and another on each side of the breast. Sides 

 of the head and ears pitch-black. A narrow white line from the nostrils over the eye, with 

 a smaller one beneath. Quills, greater coverts, and tail blackish-brown. Greater and 

 lesser coverts each tipped with a narrow greyish-white band ; quills narrowly edged with 

 the same ; tail feathers of a deeper tint than the quills, broadly margined with bluish-grey ; 

 the three exterior ones largely blotched with white near the tips of their inner webs. Under 

 surface. — Chin and upper part of the throat white. The lower part of the neck, breast, and 

 fore part of the belly and flanks pitch-black, with a few white edgings : middle of the breast 

 and all the posterior parts pure white. Bill and legs blackish-brown. 



Form.— _Bz7Z much shorter than that of S. cestiva, the bristles more like those of Setophaga 

 cucullata, Sw., and reaching to one half the length of the bill ; but it is less wide posteriorly, 

 and has a less acute ridge than that of the Sylvia maculosa. Wings an inch shorter than the 

 tail. The second and third quill feathers are the longest, the first is shorter than the fourth, 

 and this again is a line shorter than the third. The secondaries are truncated, and have an 

 obtuse notch at the end of their shafts. The tail is strongly emarginated in the middle, and 

 also slightly rounded, the third feather being the longest, the outer one half a line shorter, 

 and the middle pair about a line shorter : the ends of all these feathers are pointed. In 

 a very fine adult specimen, in Mr. Swainson's museum, the two outer pairs of tail feathers 

 are the longest. 



Dimensions. 



Inch. 



Lin. 





Inch. Lin. 



Inch. Lin. 



Length total . . .6 







Length of bill above . 



. 4f Length of middle claw 



. 2 



,, of tail . . 2 



5 



„ of tarsus 



8J ,, of hind toe 



3 



„ of folded wing . 2 



10^ 



„ of middle toe . 



.0 5| „ of hind claw . 



. 2| 



„ of bill from rictus 



7 







— R. 



• Although the sex of this spei 



;imen 



was not ascertained, it ag 



rees with Wilson's account of the male 



bird. The 



plumage of the female, he says, is less vivid. — R. 



2 F 



