222 NORTHERN ZOOLOGY. 



pendent of colour, it has a much more lengthened bill. In all the essential 

 characters our bird is a true Vermivora; but the bill, when examined under a 

 lens, exhibits a slight notch, somewhat removed from the tip of the upper 

 mandible ; a character never seen in the typical Vermworce, but developed in 

 Zosterops, the tenuirostral type of the genus. The Zosterops Javanica (Sylvia 

 Javanica, Horsf.) so closely resembles Wilson's bird in plumage, that they might, 

 on a cursory examination, be thought the sexes of one species. Their colours 

 differ only on the breast and belly, S. peregrina having these parts nearly white, 

 while in Zosterops Javanica they are olive-yellow : their bills, of course, are 

 differently formed. — Sw. 



DESCRIPTION 



Of a specimen, killed at Cumberland House, lat. 54°, May 28, 1827. 



Colour. — Upper surface of the head and neck blackish-grey, crown darker. The whole 

 of the back, wing and tail coverts, margins of the secondaries, tertiaries, posterior primaries 

 and tail feathers greenish-yellow, deepest on the rump and tail coverts. Quills and pri- 

 mary coverts clove-brown ; the first five or six primaries edged exteriorly with pearl-grey. 

 Middle tail feathers glossed with greenish-yellow, the others edged with the same ; the three 

 outer pairs have a white spot on the ends of their inner webs, the spot being largest on the 

 exterior feather and very small on the third one. Under surface. — A streak, from the nos- 

 trils over the eye, the ears, and chin pale yellowish-grey ; throat, vent, under tail coverts, 

 axillary feathers, and inner wing coverts, all white, the latter tinged near the borders of 

 the wing with yellow ; breast, belly, and flanks tinged with oil-green. Bill dusky ; rictus and 

 base of the lower mandible paler. Legs pale. 



Form, &c. — Bill very like that of Vermivora rubricapilla, with the exception of the obso- 

 lete notches alluded to above, and in being rather stouter. The wings differ in the three 

 first feathers being equal and longest, while the fourth is nearly two lines shorter : in Verm, 

 rubricapilla the first is shorter than the fourth. The tail is slightly emarginated ; the feathers, 

 except the central pair, are strongly truncated on their inner webs, as in S. rubricapilla. 









Dimensions. 















Inch. 



Lin. 





Inch. 



Lin. 





Inch. 



Lin. 



Length total 



. 4 



7 



Length of bill from rictus 







6 



Length of middle nail 







2 



„ of tail 



1 



9 



„ of tarsus 



. 



8 



„ of hind toe 



. 



92 



„ of folded wing 



. 2 



C 



,, of middle toe 







5 



„ of hind claw 



. 



2 



„ of bill on the ridge 







41 



^4 















