SYLVIAD.E. 219 



the advance that Nature makes towards the genus Setophaga; since, in the 

 shortness of the bristles round the mouth, the length of the bill and of the first 

 quill feather, we have all the typical characters of Sylvicola. We find, accord- 

 ing! y, that Wilson, who looks more to its manners than to its structure, notices 

 this affinity in much more qualified terms than when he speaks of S. coronata. 

 " This bird," he remarks, " may be considered as occupying an intermediate 

 station between the Fly-catchers (Setophaga, Sw.) and the Warblers (Sylvicola, 

 Sw.), having the manners of the former, and the bill, partially, of the latter." 

 — Sw. 



DESCRIPTION 



Of a male, killed at Cumberland House, 25th May, 1827. 



Colour. — Upper aspect of the head velvet-black: a broad stripe of white from the lower 

 mandible covers the ears. Dorsal aspect of the neck, body, and tail coverts, bluish-grey, 

 with broad central stripes of pitch-black. The greater and lesser wing coverts and tertiaries 

 blackish-brown, the two former tipped with white, the latter edged with the same. Primaries 

 dark clove-brown, narrowly margined with pale, dull, greenish-yellow. Tail feathers blackish- 

 brown, the two exterior pairs with a large white spot near the tip of their inner webs : 

 those adjoining with a very narrow white border at the same place. The under plumage is 

 white ; but the sides of the chin, throat, breast, and body are thickly spotted with deep- 

 black. Bill brownish-black above, pale yellowish-brown below. Legs yellowish. 



Form. — Bill somewhat shorter, yet wider at the base and with a more acute ridge than 

 that of the Sylvicola coronata, and straighter than that of the Sylvicola maculosa : the basal 

 bristles do not exceed the length of the nostrils. Wings, when folded, more than an inch 

 short of the end of the tail. First quill feather the longest, second and third nearly a line 

 shorter in succession. All the tail feathers are of equal length ; but from their inner webs 

 being rounded off at the tip, the tail appears emarginated. 



DESCRIPTION 



Of a. female, from Mr. Swainson's museum. 



Colour. — Dorsal aspect of the head, neck, scapulars, and interscapulars, oil-green, with 

 narrow blackish-brown central stripes ; the posterior part of the back and shorter tail coverts 

 inclining to grey, the stripes less frequent. Quills and tail coloured nearly as in the male, 

 the bands on the wings, &c, being pale primrose-yellow, instead of white. The under plumage 

 pale buff-yellow, whiter down the middle ; sides of the neck, breast, and flanks spotted with 

 black. A yellow streak passes from the nostrils over the eyes. Length 5 inches ; of the tail, 

 2| inches ; of the folded wing, 2| inches ; and of the tarsus, j| inch. 



A young male, also in Mr. Swainson's collection, differs from the female only in the upper 



2 F 2 



