PALM WARBLER. 
in Maine; thus exhibiting the several gradations of change which 
the plumage undergoes. 
Naturalists cannot be too circumspect in receiving reports even 
from the most respectable sources, their own senses affording the 
only authentic testimony to be relied on. From information 
derived from Mr. T. Peale, who had no opportunity for making 
comparisons, we erroneously stated in the first volume of this 
work, that Sylvia celata, Say, was one of the most common birds 
in Florida during winter, keeping among the orange-trees, &c. 
All this statement had reference to the present species; and as 
soon as the specimens brought by Mr. Peale as Sylvia celata , were 
shown to us, the error was immediately perceived. We therefore 
hasten to correct this mistake, which would be otherwise of more 
consequence, inasmuch as no one else could for a long time detect 
it. This species resembles, it is true, S. celata, (whose range must 
remain limited to the Rocky Mountains,) and perhaps still more 
S. rubricapilla, Wilson, but it is not of the same subgenus, Dacnis, 
and it may readily be known by the white spots of the tail- 
feathers. 
When the genus Sylvia, containing upwards of two hundred and 
fifty species, shall have been properly studied, it will be found 
practicable to divide it into several more sections, subgenera, and 
even perhaps genera. This bird, along with many other North 
American species, will constitute a highly natural group, very 
distinct from the true Sylvia, of which S. atricapilla may be con¬ 
sidered as the type. We presume that it is the group we have in 
view, to which Mr. Swainson has given the name of Sylvicola, in 
his Synopsis of Mexican birds. Our species is erroneously placed 
by Buffon among his Demi-fins, corresponding to our Dacnis, and 
Wilson’s Worm-eaters. 
VOL. II.—E 
