PRAIRIE WARBLER. 
375 
PRAIRIE WARBLER.— SYLVIA MINUTA. 
Plate XXV. Fig. 4. 
Peale's Museum, No. 7784. 
SYL VICO LA t DISCOLOR. — Jardine.* 
Sylvia discolor, Vieill. pi. 98. (auct. Bonap .) — JBonap. Synop. p. 82. 
This pretty little species I first discovered in that singular 
tract of country in Kentucky, commonly called the Barrens. 
I shot several afterwards in the open woods of the Chactaw 
nation, where they were more numerous. They seem to 
prefer these open plains, and thinly wooded tracts ; and have 
this singularity in their manners, that they are not easily 
alarmed ; and search among the leaves the most leisurely of 
any of the tribe I have yet met with ; seeming to examine every 
blade of grass and every leaf ; uttering at short intervals a 
feeble chirr. I have observed one of these birds to sit on the 
lower branch of a tree for half an hour at a time, and allow 
me to come up nearly to the foot of the tree, without seeming 
to be in the least disturbed, or to discontinue the regularity of 
its occasional note. In activity it is the reverse of the pre- 
ceding species ; and is rather a scarce bird in the countries 
where I found it. Its food consists principally of small 
caterpillars and winged insects. 
The Prairie Warbler is four inches and a half long, and 
six inches and a half in extent ; the upper parts are olive, 
spotted on the back with reddish chestnut ; from the nostril 
over and under the eye, yellow ; lores, black ; a broad streak 
of black also passes beneath the yellow under the eye ; small 
pointed spots of black reach from a little below that along the 
side of the neck and under the wings ; throat, breast, and 
belly, rich yellow ; vent, cream coloured, tinged with yellow ; 
* Bonaparte is of opinion that this is the same with Vieillot’s Sylvia discolor. 
I have not had an opportunity of examining it. — Ed- 
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