AND AMERICAN RURAL SPORTS. 
61 
pieces of post oak, or white ash. Yet I have seen the fields 
of several habitations, in the environs of Augusta, in Geor- 
gia, of which the fences were, in part, made of Willow 
Oak; but they last, at most, eight or nine years, while 
those made of chesnut white oak last fourteen or fifteen. 
The Willow Oak yields but very indifferent fire-wood; 
and, when felled for this purpose, is always ranked with 
what is sold at the lowest price. 
From the foregoing remarks, it may be considered, that 
this tree, with respect to the advantages which arts and 
trade can derive from it, cannot much interest Europeans, 
nor even the inhabitants of the United States, who, in clear- 
ing their lands, ought not to take any care for its preser- 
vation. — Michaux. 
C H E S N U T-S I D E D WARBLER. 
SYLVIA PENNSYLVANIA. 
[Plate VI. Vol. 3.] 
Linn. Syst. 333. — Bed-throated Flycatcher, Edw. 301. — 
Bloody-side Warbler, Turton, Syst. i. p. 596. — La 
Jiguier a poitrine rouge, Buff. v. 308. — Briss. App. 
105. — Lath. ii. 490. — Arct. Zool. p. 405. No. 298. — 
Motacilla icterocephala, Linn. Syst. i. p. 325. — Gmel. 
Syst. i. p. 980. — Sylvia icterocephala, Lath. Ind. Orn. 
ii. p. 538. — Vieil. Ois. del' Am. Sept.pl. 90. — Sylvia 
Pennsylvanica, Gmel. Syst. i. p. 971. — Lath. Ind. 
Orn. ii. p. 540. — Ficedula Canadensis icterocephalas, 
Briss. hi. p. 517, 64, t. 27, f. 2. — Id. 8vo. i. p. 451. — 
Ficedula Pennsylvanica icterocephalas, Briss. App. p. 
105. — Id. 8vo. i. p. 458, 78. — Collection of L. J. Sa- 
laignac, Esq. 
Of this bird I can give but little account. It is one of 
those transient visitors that pass through Pennsylvania in 
April and May, on their way farther north to breed. 
During its stay here, which seldom exceeds a week or ten 
days, it appears actively engaged among the opening buds 
and young leaves, in search of insects; has no song but a 
feeble chirp or twitter, and is not numerous. As it leaves 
us early in May, it probably breeds in Canada, or perhaps 
some parts of New-England, though I have no certain 
knowledge of the fact. In a whole day’s excursion, it is 
rare to meet with more than one or two of these birds, 
though a thousand individuals of some species may be seen 
Q 
in the same time. Perhaps they may be more numerous 
in some other parts of the continent. 
The length of this species is five inches, the extent 
seven and three quarters. The front, line over the eye, 
and ear feathers, are pure white; upper part of the head 
brilliant yellow; the lores, and space immediately below, 
is marked with a triangular patch of black; the back, and 
hind head, is streaked with gray, dusky, black, and dull 
yellow; wings black, primaries edged with pale blue, the 
first and second row of coverts broadly tipt with pale yel- 
low, secondaries broadly edged with the same; tail black, 
exteriorly edged with ash, the inner webs of the three ex- 
terior feathers with each a spot of white; from the extre- 
mity of the black at the lower mandible on each side, a 
streak of deep reddish chesnut descends along the sides of 
the neck, and under the wings to the root of the tail; the 
rest of the lower parts are pure white; legs and feet ash; 
bill black; irides hazel. The female has the hind head 
much lighter, and the chesnut on the sides is considera- 
bly narrower and not of so deep a tint. 
Turton, and some other writers, have bestowed on this 
little bird the singular epithet of bloody-sided, for which I 
was at a loss to know the reason, the colour of that part 
being a plain chesnut; till on examining Mr. Edwards’s 
coloured figure uf this bird in the public library of this 
city, I found its side tinged with a brilliant blood colour. 
Hence, I suppose, originated the name! — Wilson. 
BALTIMORE ORIOLE. 
ICTERUS BALTIMORUS. 
[Plate VI. Vol. 3.] 
Linn. Syst. i. p. 162, 10. — Icterus minor, Briss. ii. p. 
109,7?/. fig • !• — Le Baltimore, Bitff. hi. p. 231. 
PI. Enl. 506, fig. 1. — Baltimore Bird, Catesb. Car. 
1, 48. — Arct. Zool. ii. p. 142. — Lath. Syn. ii. p. 432, 
19, Bartram, p. 290. — Collection of L. J. Salaignac, 
Esq. 
This is a bird of passage, arriving in Pennsylvania, 
from the south, about the beginning of May, and departing 
towards the latter end of August, or beginning of Septem- 
ber. From the singularity of its colours, the construction 
of its nest, and its preferring the apple-trees, weeping- 
willows, walnut and tulip-trees, adjoining the farm-house, 
to build on, it is generally known, and, as usual, honored 
with a variety of names, such as Hang-nest, Hanging-bird, 
Golden Robin, Fire-bird, (from the bright orange seen 
