104 
SYLVIA CHRYSOPTERA. 
garniture of plumage. The distribution of markings is 
really 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 man- 
ners 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 Vieiliot 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, 
