Species XXX. 
SYLVIA PETECHIA. 
YELLOW RED-POLL WARBLER. 
[Plate XXVIII. Fig. 4.] 
Red-headed Warbler, Turton, i., 605.* 
This delicate little bird arrives in Pennsylvania early in April, while 
the maples are yet in blossom, among the branches of which it may 
generally be found feeding on the stamina of the flowers, and on small 
winged insects. Low swampy thickets are its favorite places of resort. 
It is not numerous, and its notes are undeserving the name of song. 
It remains with us all summer ; but its nest has hitherto escaped me. 
It leaves us late in September. Some of them probably winter in 
Georgia, having myself shot several late in February, on the borders 
of the Savannah river. 
Length of the yellow Red-poll five inches, extent eight ; line over the 
eye, and whole lower parts, rich yellow ; breast streaked with dull red ; 
upper part of the head reddish chestnut, which it loses in winter ; back 
yellow olive, streaked with dusky ; rump and tail coverts greenish yel- 
low ; wings deep blackish brown, exteriorly edged with olive ; tail 
slightly forked, and of the same color as the wings. 
The female wants the red cap ; and the yellow of the lower parts is 
less brilliant ; the streaks of red on the breast are also fewer and less 
distinct. 
* Motacilla petechia, Linn. Syst. i., p. 334. — Gmel. Syst. r., p. 983. — Sylvia pete- 
chia, Lath. Ind. Orn. n., p. 535. — Vieill. Ois. de V Am. Sept. pi. 91. — Ficedula 
Pensylvanica erythroeephalos, Briss. hi., p. 488, 49. — Figuier d tete rouge de Pen- 
sylvanie, Buff. Ois. v., p. 286. — Red-headed Warbler, Penn. Arct. Zool. a., No. 
289.— Lath. Syn. iv., p. 479, 39. 
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