CAPE MAY WABBLEB. 
of a single instance of the nests being found. The eggs of this and one or two other species 
of tree-building Warblers would form a desirable acquisition to our oological cabinets; therefore 
the honor of describing them awaits some enthusiastic ornithologist. 
The Black-throated Blue Warblers pass Massachusetts on their way north iu May, returning 
in September. They are much more abundant in the interior than near the sea, which may 
account for their scarcity in Florida. 
DENDECECA TIGRINA. 
Cape May Warbler. 
Dendrceca tigrina Baird, Birds of North America, 1858, 286. 
Perissoglossa tigrina Baird, Review of American Birds, 1864, 181. 
DESCRIPTION. 
Sr. Ch. Form, rather slender. Size, not large. Bill, not long, rather slender and acuminate. Wings and 
tail, moderate, the latter slightly emarginate. Sternum, quite stout, coracoid bones, a little shorter than the keel, 
which exceeds in length one-half of the width of the sternum. Tongue, rather thick at the base, where it is fleshy, 
but tapers suddenly into a thin, horny end which is also somewhat acuminate and deeply cleft; the end is provided 
with long coarse cilia which do not extend along the side beyond the divided portions. The cut is about 
ten-hundredths of an inch in depth in adult specimens, but in young birds it is some less. The cilia are about 
six-hundredths of an inch long. 
Color. Adult male. General color throughout, bright yellow, which becomes greenish on the back where 
each feather has a broad centre of black. The rump, however, is pure yellow. The top of the head is black with 
a few chestnut feathers intermingled. Wings and tail, brown, edged with greenish, with a patch of yellowish-white 
on the upper wing coverts. All the tail feathers, except the two central ones, have a spot of white on the inner 
webs which extends over nearly half the terminal length on the outer but does not quite reach the tip. There is a 
patch of chestnut on the sides of the head which includes the ear coverts, and extends around the eye; there is 
also sometimes a tinge of chestnut on the throat and breast. Spots before and behind the eye, black. Streaks and 
spots on the middle of the throat, across the breast, along the sides and flanks, black. Abdomen and under tail 
coverts, white, with the latter tinged with yellow. Clos'ed wing beneath, nearly white, which is caused by the 
feathers being edged with it. Under wing coverts, also white, but tinged with yellow. Edge of wing, yellow, 
mixed with black. 
Young male, similar to the adult but with the black of the head washed with greenish and merging gradually 
into the color of the back. There is much less white on the tail and only a trace of yellow on the edge of the wing. 
The yellow beneath is not as pure. 
Adult female, differs greatly from the male being of a rather pale olivaceous-green above and dirty white below, 
with the sides of the head, throat and breast tinged with yellow. There is also a superciliary line of brighter 
yellow over the eye, and the rump and upper tail coverts are quite yellow. There is no indication of any chestnut 
on the sides of the head, but the black stripes beneath are plainly distinguishable. The wings and tail are as in the 
young male, with the exception that the white is less extended. 
The young female is pale slaty above, especially on the head, but becomes slightly olivaceous on the back, then 
yellowish on the rump and upper tail coverts. The white spot on the wing is only barely perceptible and but four 
tail feathers are marked with it. Beneath, grayish-white without a trace of yellow, but the black stripes are 
tolerably well indicated. In the adult stages the feet and bill are black, but young birds have the basal portion of 
the under mandible, brown. 
OBSERVATIONS. 
This is a well marked species in the adult stages and will not be confounded with any other, but the young 
female bears a resemblance to the immature of D. palmarum, but may be distinguished from it by the pure 
grayish-white under tail coverts which in palmarum are always tinged with yellow. The young tigrina also 
resembles D. pina but the latter has no indications of stripes beneath, such as are always present in tigrina. 
The tongue of this species is singular, being more deeply cleft than that of any other warbler that I have ever 
seen. Helminthophaga perigrina, however, has a tongue of about the same form but not quite as deeply cloven. On 
account of this peculiar member, in connection with the acuminate bill, tigrina has been placed in a separate genus. 
But I do not consider these characters of sufficient value to raise the bird to a generic rank, for other species have 
similar slight peculiarities which have been rightly considered as only specific differences. The Cape May Warblers 
have a singular distribution inasmuch as they breed in Jamaica and in the more northern sections of the United 
States without being found in the intermediate localities. Winters in Key West and the West Indies. 
