Species XXXVI. SYLVIA MARIT1MA. 
CAPE-MAY WARBLER. 
[Plate LIV. Fig. 3, Male.] 
This new and beautiful little species was discovered in a maple swamp, 
in Cape May county, not far from the coast, by Mr. George Ord of this 
city, who accompanied me on a shooting excursion to that quarter in 
the month of May last. Through the zeal and activity of this gentle- 
man I succeeded in procuring many rare and elegant birds among the 
sea islands and extensive salt marshes that border that part of the 
Atlantic : and much interesting information relative to their nests, eggs, 
and particular habits. I have also at various times been favored with 
specimens of other birds from the same friend, for all which I return my 
grateful acknowledgments. 
The same swamp that furnished us with this elegant little stranger, 
and indeed several miles around it, were ransacked by us both, for 
another specimen of the same ; but without success. Fortunately it 
proved to be a male, and being in excellent plumage, enabled me to pre- 
serve a faithful portrait of the original. 
Whether this be a summer resident in the lower parts of New Jersey, 
or merely a transient passenger to a more northern climate, I cannot 
with certainty determine. The spring had been remarkably cold, with 
long and violent north-east storms, and many winter birds, as well as 
passengers from the south, still lingered in the woods as late as the 
twentieth of May, gleaning, in small companies, among the opening 
buds and infant leaves, and skipping nimbly from twig to twig, which 
was the case with the bird now before us when it was first observed. 
Of its notes, or particular history, I am ecpually uninformed. 
The length of this species is five inches and a half, extent eight and 
a half ; bill and legs black ; whole upper part of the head deep black ; 
line from the nostril over the eye, chin and sides of the neck rich 
yellow ; ear feathers orange, which also tints the back part of the yellow 
line over the eye ; at the anterior and posterior angle of the eye is a 
small touch of black ; hind head and whole back, rump and tail coverts 
yellow olive, thickly streaked with black ; the upper exterior edges of 
several of the greater wing coverts are pure white, forming a broad bar 
on the wing, the next superior row being also broadly tipped with white ; 
Vol. II.— 14 (209) 
