292 
FEMALE CAPE MAY WARBLER. 
Judging by the analogical rules of our science, this bird is 
no other than the female of Wilson’s Cape May warbler. Its 
appearance is so different from the male he described, that the 
specific identity is not recognised at first sight ; but, by care- 
fully comparing the two specimens, a correspondence in the 
least variable characters may readily be perceived, especially 
in the remarkable slenderness of the bill, which distinguishes 
the Cape May from all other resembling species of North 
American warblers. 
Wilson has given no information relative to the history and 
habits of this species, having never procured more than a male 
specimen ; and we have equally to regret, that, having obtained 
but a single female, we are unable to supply the deficiency, 
even in regard to its song. 
The female Cape May warbler is four inches and three quar- 
ters long, and more than eight in extent. The bill is slender, 
delicate, and slightly curved, being black, as well as the feet. 
The irides are dark brown ; the upper part of the head, olive 
cinereous, each feather having a small blackish spot on the mid- 
dle. A yellow line extends from the bill over the eye, and is pro- 
longed in an obsolete trace around the auditory region, thence 
returning to the corner of the mouth. A blackish line passes 
through the eye, which is circumscribed by a whitish circle ; the 
cheeks are dull cinereous, with very small pale spots ; the upper 
parts of the neck and of the body are olive cinereous, tinged with 
more cinereous on the neck, and with yellow olive on the rump. 
The chin is whitish ; the throat, breast, and flanks are whitish, 
slightly tinged with yellowish, each feather having a blackish 
spot on the middle ; the belly is immaculate ; the vent and in- 
ferior tail-coverts are shaded in the middle of each feather 
with dusky. The smaller wing-coverts are dull olive green, 
blackish in the centre ; the middling wing-coverts are black, 
margined exteriorly, and tipped with pure white ; the greater 
wing-coverts are blackish, margined with olive white ; the pri- 
maries are dusky, finely edged with bright olive green on the 
exterior web, obsolete on that of the first primary, which is of 
