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THE BLACKBURNIAN WOOD-WARBLER. 
Sylyicola Blackburns®, Lath . 
PLATE LXXXVII. — Male and Female. 
This charming and delicate W arbler passes through the United States in 
April and May. I have met with it at different times, although sparingly, 
in every part of the Union, more frequently in the southern districts in 
spring, and in the eastern in early autumn. In the State of Maine, on the 
north-eastern confines of the United States, it is not uncommon, and I have 
reason to think that it breeds in the vicinity of Mars Hill, and other places, 
along the banks of St. John’s river, where my sons and myself shot several 
individuals, in the month of September. While at Frederickton, New 
Brunswick, Sir Archibald Campbell kindly presented me with specimens. 
On the Magdeleine Islands, in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, which I visited in 
June, 1833, I found the Blackburnian Warbler in all the brilliancy of its 
spring plumage, and had the pleasure of hearing its sweet song, while it was 
engaged in pursuing its insect prey among the branches of a fir tree, moving 
along somewhat in the manner of the American Redstart. Its song, which 
consisted of five or six notes, was so much louder than could have been 
expected from the size of the bird, that it was not until I had fairly caught it 
in the act, that I felt satisfied as to its proceeding from my old acquaintance. 
My endeavours to discover its nest proved fruitless. In Labrador we saw 
several individuals of both sexes, and on the coast of Newfoundland, on our 
return westward, we again found it. 
To President MacCulloch of Dalhousie Cottage, Halifax, N. S., I am 
indebted for a nest and three eggs of this bird. While looking at his valu- 
able collection of the Birds of Nova Scotia, my attention was attracted by a 
case containing nests with eggs, among which was that of the Blackburnian 
Warbler. It was composed externally of different textures, and lined with 
silky fibres and thin delicate stripes of fine bark, over which lay a thick bed 
of feathers and horse-hair. The eggs were small, very conical towards the 
smaller end, pure white, with a few spots of light red towards the larger end. 
It was found in a small fork of a tree, five or six feet from the ground, near 
a brook. The Doctor informed me that it was the only nest he had seen, 
and that he considered this species of Warbler as rare in the district. 
My friend John Bachman has since informed me, that, in June 1833, he 
