Part 74

DESCRIPTION AND TECHNICAL OBSERVATIONS.

Genus Sylvicola. Swainson. Faun. Bor. Am. Birds, p. 204. (1831.)

Size small; bill moderate, slightly curved, tapering gradually to the tip, slightly notched; wings rather long; second and third quills usually longest; tail moderate, or rather long, usually emarginate; legs rather long, slender. An American genus, embracing a large number of species, nearly all of which are of bright or gay colors.

Sylvicola Kirtlandii. Baird. Ann. Lyc. Nat. Hist., N. Y., V., p. 218. (1852.)

Form. About the size of S. coronata. Rather large for this genus; bill straight; wing moderate; third quill slightly longer than the second; tail rather long, emarginate; legs slender.

Dimensions. Total length (of skin) male, 5½ inches; wing 2¾; tail 2½ inches.

Colors. Entire upper part, bluish-ashy; on the head and back nearly every feather having a longitudinal line of black; front and space before and under the eye, black; quills dark-brown, paler on their outer edges; tail brownish-black, several of the outer feathers having a white spot each on their inner webs; entire under parts pale-yellow, with small spots of black most numerous on the breast and sides, and obsolete on the throat and middle of the abdomen; under tail coverts nearly white; bill and feet dark.

Hab. Northern Ohio.

This bird bears an evident relationship to Sylvicola coronata, and to S. Auduboni, from either of which it may at once be distinguished by the entire absence of the yellow rump which characterises both the species mentioned. It does not, however, resemble either of them to such extent as to render a minute statement of comparative characters necessary. The specimen above described is not in entirely mature plumage.

We most cordially concur in the justice of naming this handsome little bird in honor of our friend, Professor Jared P. Kirtland, M. D., of Cleveland, Ohio; a gentleman who, to a reputation in private life most exemplary and unexceptionable, adds high distinction as a naturalist and pioneer of the Zoological Sciences in the Western United States.

To our friend, Thomas M. Brewer, M. D., of Boston, we are indebted for much valuable information on the incubation and breeding places of many of the Warblers of the United States. This interesting department of Ornithology has been a special matter of research with Dr. Brewer for many years; and we are happy to learn that his great work on the Oology of North America is shortly to appear under the auspices of the Smithsonian Institution. We venture to say that no more valuable contribution to American Zoology has ever appeared.

SYLVICOLA OLIVACEA.—(Giraud.) The Orange-breasted Warbler. PLATE XLVIII. Adult.

Of this handsome and peculiar-looking Warbler, unfortunately we can say very little. It is known as a bird of Mexico, but has been noticed within the limits of the United States, as yet, in one instance only, having been received from Texas by our friend, Mr. Jacob P. Giraud, Jun., of New York. At the period of its receipt it was unknown to ornithologists, and it was accordingly described by Mr. Giraud, with other new and interesting species, in his “New Species of Birds of North America.”

Since the time of the discovery of this bird, we have looked for it, with constant interest, amongst the many new and little-known birds collected by American naturalists in Texas, but in vain. It has not yet appeared again, and is to be regarded as one of the now numerous birds of our country, of which the history remains to be written by the future naturalist.

The Baron Du Bus, an ornithologist of Belgium, has received this bird from Mexico; and specimens, also from that country, are in the collection of the Philadelphia Academy. The short notice of it by the author just mentioned in the Bulletin of the Royal Academy of Brussels, contains no account of its history or of its habits; nor have we any information from other sources. From the fact of its visiting Texas in the summer, however, we infer that it is a species of which the Southern range probably extends into Central or perhaps South America.

In general appearance, this bird somewhat resembles the Prothonotary Warbler (Helinaia protonotaria), of the United States, but is much darker colored, and it does not belong to the same group or sub-genus.

The figure in our plate is about two-thirds the natural size.

The plant represented is a species of Asclepias from Texas, raised from the seed by our friend, Mr. Kilvington.

DESCRIPTION AND TECHNICAL OBSERVATIONS.

Genus Sylvicola. Swainson. Faun. Bor. Am. Birds, p. 204. (1831.) Sylvicola olivacea. (Giraud.) Sylvia olivacea. Giraud. New species of N. A. Birds, p. 14, pl. 7, fig. 2. (1841.) Sylvia tæniata. Du Bus. Bull. Acad., Brussels, XIV., p. 104. (1847.)

Form. About the size of Sylvicola æstiva. Bill slender; wing rather long, pointed; second and third quills longest, and nearly equal; tail moderate, emarginate; tarsi long, slender.

Dimensions. Total length (of skin) about 4¾ inches; wing 3¼; tail 2¼ inches.

Colors. Entire head, neck, and breast, dark orange, inclining to rufous, lighter on the throat; through the eye to the ear, a band of black; back and rump ashy-olive; quills brownish-black, edged on their outer webs with yellowish-olive, and on their inner webs with white; tail brownish-black, the outer feathers with a spot of white on their inner webs near the end; wing coverts brownish-black tipped with white, forming two conspicuous bars on the wing; abdomen and under tail coverts, pale greenish-ashy, nearly white in the middle of the former; under wing coverts white, tinged with ashy; bill dark, lighter at base of under mandible; tarsi dark.

Hab. Texas. Mexico. Spec. in Mus. Acad. Philada.

This bird presents some affinities and resemblance to the Sylvicola protonotarius of the Southern United States, but is much darker colored, and may readily be distinguished from that or any other species with which we are acquainted.

DRYOTOMUS IMPERIALIS.—(Gould.) The Great-crested Woodpecker. PLATE XLIX. Adult Male.

Though not clearly made out as a bird entitled to a place in the ornithological fauna of the United States, we have given the plate now before the reader on grounds regarded as sufficient for the introduction of descriptions of this magnificent species into the works of other American authors, though it has never before been figured.

This is the largest of all known Woodpeckers, and is one of the most beautiful in plumage. It belongs strictly to the same group or genus as other large American species.