SYLVIADiE. 225 



[54.] 2. Setophaga Bonapartii. (Swainson.) Bonaparte's Gnat-catcher. 



Sub-family, Parianae. Swains. Genus, Setophaga. Swains. 

 Muscieapa Canadensis. Wilson, iii., p. 100, pi. 26, f . 2 ? ? 

 Sylvia Pardalina. Bo nap. Syn., p. 79 ? ? 

 Muscieapa Bonapartii. Audubon*. Birds of America. 



Plate xlvii. Male. 



A single specimen of this bird was killed, in June, at Cumberland House. It 

 was observed, in a dense alder thicket, perched on a branch near the ground, and 

 uttering three or four loud, but very sweet notes. On our approach it retreated 

 from place to place of the thicket with much quickness, and we had some diffi- 

 culty in getting near enough to secure it as a specimen. From the time of year 

 in which it was seen, we have no doubt of its breeding in that quarter. — R. 



This interesting species demonstrates, in the most beautiful and unquestionable 

 manner, the lateral junction of the two groups Setophaga and Sylvicola, Its con- 

 nexion to the latter is so close, that the Prince of Musignano regards it as a 

 Warbler {Sylvicola, Sw.) ; while Wilson, adopting the opinion of all preceding 

 writers, considers it a Muscieapa (Setophaga, Sw.), since, as he observes, " it has 

 much of the Fly-catcher in its manners." Of the Setophaga mitrata, which the 

 Prince places immediately after this in his suite of species, Wilson thus writes : — 

 " Why this bird should have been arranged with the Warblers (Sylvicola) is to me 

 unaccountable, as few of the Muscicapie (Setophaga?) are more strongly marked. 

 It is perpetually in pursuit of winged insects." Here, then, the series is com- 

 pleted, even by the species noticed in the foregoing pages ; and this collateral 

 affinity is established both by the progressive and almost imperceptible change of 

 one form to the other, and by the nice and discriminating observations of one of 

 the most veracious writers on Ornithology that has ever existed. — Sw. 



DESCRIPTION 



Of a male, killed at Cumberland House, lat. 54°, June 6, 1827- 



Colour. — Head, neck, body, and lesser wing coverts, blackish-grey, glossed on the inter- 

 scapulary space with mountain-green : black central spots on the head feathers, crowded and 



* But for the opinion of our friend Mr. Audubon, who assures us this is his new species of Muscieapa, dedicated by 

 him to the Prince of Musignano, we should have had no hesitation in considering it as the Muscieapa Canadensis of 

 Wilson ; and even the high estimation in which we hold the practical knowledge of our friend, fails to remove our 

 suspicion on this head. We can perceive no character, either in the figure or the description of Wilson, which does 

 not accord with our bird. The specific name must, therefore, rest on Mr. Audubon's authority ; while, as regards the 

 generic, we consider the whole structure of the bird as obviously intermediate between the Sylvicola and the typical 

 Setophaga, although much more closely allied to the latter than to the former. — Sw. 



2 G 



