20 
THE KENTUCKY FLYCATCHING- WARBLER. 
This species destroys great numbers of spiders, which it frequently obtains 
by turning over the withered leaves on the ground. The young males do 
not attain the full beauty of their plumage until the first spring, and resemble 
the mother during their stay with us the first season. Young and old 
associate together, and live in great harmony. I have not seen this species 
farther eastward than North Carolina. 
The branch on which two of these birds are represented, is that of the tree 
commonly called the white cucumber, a species of magnolia. It flowers as 
early in the season as the dog-wood. The flowers open before the leaves are 
expanded, and emit an odour resembling that of a lemon, but soon becoming 
disagreeable, as the blossom fades. This tree seldom grows to the height of 
thirty feet, and is consequently disregarded as a timber-tree. I have met 
with it only in the States of Mississippi and Louisiana, where it grows on the 
grounds preferred by the Kentucky Warbler during its stay in those States. 
Kentucky Warbler, Sylvia formosa, Wils. Amer. Orn., vol. iii. p. 85. 
Sylvia Formosa, Bonap. Syn., p. 34. 
Kentucky Warbler, Sylvia formosa , Aud. Orn. Biog., vol. i. p. 196. 
Third quill longest, second scarcely shorter, first longer than fourth, the 
outer three being nearly equal. Tail slightly emarginate and slightly rounded. 
Male with the upper part of the head and a band from the base of the upper 
mandible under the eye and down the side of the neck black ; a streak from 
the nostril over the eye, and all the lower parts bright yellow ; the upper 
parts yellowish-olive ; wings brown, the feathers margined with yellowish- 
olive ; tail light greenish-brown. Female similar, without the black brand 
on the cheek and neck, and the black of the head less extended. 
Male, 54, 8. 
Valley of the Mississippi, and Kentucky. Migratory. 
Magnolia auriculata, Wi/ld., Sp. PL, vol. ii. p. 1268. Pursch., Flor. Amer., 
vol. ii. p. 482. Mich., Arbr. Forest, de l’Amer. Septentr., vol. iii. p. 94. PI. 7. — 
PoLYANDIUA PoLYGYNIA, Linn. MAGNOLIA, JuSS. 
This species, which is remarkable for the beauty of its foliage, is known 
in America by the names of white cucumber tree, long-leaved cucumber tree, 
and Indian physic. The latter name it has obtained from the circumstance 
of its bark being used in intermittent fevers. It is characterized by its 
rhomboido-oboval acute leaves, which are narrowed and two-lobed at the 
base ; and its ovate acute petals. The flowers are greenish-white. 
