FEMALE GOLDEN- WINGED WARBLER. 
273 
similar in both sexes ; but in the female the colours are paler^ 
and green prevails on those parts which, in the male, are of a 
dark slate colour. 
The female of the golden-winged warbler is four and a half 
inches long. The bill is blackish, straight, entire, rounded, and 
gradually tapering to a sharp point. The feet are brownish 
ash ; the irides, dark brown. The front is golden yellow ; the 
top of the head, bright olive yellow ; the back of the head, and 
superior parts of the neck and body, are of a pale plumbeous 
hue, the feathers being tipped with yellow olive, more particu- 
larly on the rump ; the superior tail-coverts are pure pale 
plumbeous. A wide slate-coloured stripe passes through the 
eye from the bill, and dilates on the cheeks ; this is margined 
by a white line above the eye, and by a wider one on each side 
of the throat. The throat is of a pale slate colour, becoming still 
paler on the breast. The remaining under parts are whitish, 
occasionally tinged with yellow, and with slate colour on the 
flanks. The wings are of the same colour as the back, but 
somewhat darker, and are crossed by two wide bands of bright 
yellow, formed by the tips of the first and second rows of wing- 
coverts. The primaries are dusky, margined on the exterior 
web with pale, and on the inner broadly with white. The 
secondaries are broadly margined with yellow olive on the 
outer web, and with white on the inner web. The tail is nearly 
even at tip, of a dusky plumbeous colour; the three lateral 
feathers have a large pure white spot on the inner web. 
This last essential character also exists in the male, though 
Wilson has not mentioned it. As to the manners and habits 
of the species, he has given us no information, except that it 
is rare, and remains only a few days in Pennsylvania. He 
says nothing of the female, and Vieillot never saw it. 
We regret that we are unacquainted with the form of its 
nest, and the peculiarity of its song. We can only state, that 
during its short stay in Pennsylvania, it is solitary and silent, 
gleaning amongst the branches of trees, and creeping much 
after the manner of the titmouse, with its head frequently 
VOL. III. s 
