218 BIRDS—SYLVIIDZA. 
Polioptila cerulea, WHEATON, Ohio Agric. Rep. for 1860, 365; Reprint, 1861, 7; Food of 
Birds, ete., Ohio Agric. Rep. for 1874, 562; Reprint, 1875, 2—BarrD, BREWER, 
AND Ripaway, N. A. Birds, i, 1874, 78.—LANGDON, Cat. Birds of Cin., 1877, 3; Journ. 
Cin. Soc. Nat. Hist. i, 1878, 111; Reprint, 3; Revised List, Journ. Cin. Soc. Nat. Hist., 
i, 1879, 170; Reprint, 4. 
Metacilla coerulea, LINNAZUS, Syst. Nat., i, 1766, 337. 
Sylvia cerulea, LATHAM, Ind. Orn., ii, 1790, 540. 
Polioptila cerulea, SCLATER, Proc. Zool. Soc., 1855, 11. 
Above, ashy blue, bluer on the head, lighter on the rump. Forehead and line over 
eye black, wanting in the female. Ring around the eye and under parts whitish. Oater 
tail feather, except at base, two-thirds the second and tip of third, white, rest of tail 
black. Length 44, wing 2, tail 24. 
Habitat, United States north to Mass. 
than the Walnut Hills;” and Mr. Nuttall says, that they ‘‘ very rarely venture as far 
north as Pennsylvania.” I have in my possession a specimen that I shot on the banks 
of the Mahoning river, in Trumbull county, on the 5th of May, 1839; and during the 
last week in April of the present year, I killed three near the Cuyahoga river, three 
miles from Lake Erie. Early in July I saw an old one feeding her young on the banks 
of the Mahoning. They were two-thirds of their full size, and were perched on a small 
bush over the water. A full-grown individual was seen on the first of August on the 
shore of the Lake within the limits of the city. In every instance in which I have met 
with them, they seemed to have a strong predilection to the vicinity of water, and were 
generally engaged in capturing insects. 
The Sylvia rara is common in the woods about the banks of the Cuyahoga, during 
spring and summer. Its habits are accurately described by Audubon. 
The same locality is a favorite resort and breeding place for the purple breasted gross- 
beak (Fringilla ludoviciana). 
A flock of unusual birds, which I suppose to be the willow wrens, (Sylvia trochilus), 
was discovered in September, 1839, on the shore of the Lake, near this city. They made 
only a momentary stop, for on firing at one of their number as they were settling down 
- upon a bunch of thistles, the remainder suddenly darted away over the Lake and dis- 
appeared. The characters of the specimen taken, agree with the description of the 
Willow Wren. They are said to be far more common in Europe than in the United States. 
The Florida gallinule (Gallinula chloropus) is not described by ornithologists as a west- 
ern bird. Mr. Audubon says, ‘‘ none are to be seen in the western country.” Bonaparte 
informs his readers that ‘‘in the middle and southern United States it appears to be quite 
accidental ; for, although a few well authenticated instances are known of its having 
been seen and shot even as far north as Albany, in the State of New York, it has escaped 
the researches of Wilson, as well as my own.” 
Mr. Nuttall gives us to understand that ‘‘in the middle and northern States, it appears 
to be quite accidental.” Notwithstanding this weight of authority to the contrary, I am 
disposed to consider this bird as one of our annual visitors, and not as a mere straggler 
in these parts. : 
I have the best authority for saying that several pairs reared their young in a marsh 
not more than a mile from this city, during the last summer, and I know of at least 
half a dozen specimens that were shot there during the last spring. Broods of the young 
have been repeatedly seen during the summer. 
