Page:Ornithological biography, or an account of the habits of the birds of the United States of America, vol 2.djvu/239

Rh In the course of my voyages to the south-eastern extremity of the Peninsula of the Floridas, I frequently observed birds of many kinds flying either high or low over the sea. Of these the greater number were, like the present species, Sylviae which are never found in Georgia or the two Carolinas. Their course was a direct one, and such as led me to believe that the little voyagers were bound for Cape Hatteras. The meeting with many of the species to which I allude, along the shores of Mary- land, New Jersey, the eastern coast of Long Island, &c., and all along to the Bay of Fundy, has strengthened the idea ; but as I may not be cor- rect, I leave the matter to the determination of more experienced ob- servers. The subject appears to me to be one of the greatest importance, for the occurrence of plants in certain parts of a country and not in others may possibly be caused by the absence, during migration, of such birds as move by " short cuts" from one point of land to another.

Sylvia striata, Lath. Ind Ornith. vol. ii. p. 61 — Ch. Bonaparte, Synods, of Birds of the United States, p. 81.

Sylvicola striata, Swains, and Richards. Fauna Bor. Amer. part ii. p. 218.

Black-poll Warbler, Sylvia striata, Wils. Amer. Ornith. vol. iv. p. 40. pi. 30. fig. 3. Male ; and vol. vi. p. 10. pi. 49. fig. 4. Female — Nuttall, Manual, part i. p. 383.

Adult Male. Plate CXXXIII. Fig. 1, 1.

Bill shortish, nearly straight, subulato-conical, acute, nearly as deep as broad at the base, the edges sharp, with a slight notch near the tip, the gap line a little deflected at the base. Nostrils basal, elliptical, lateral, half-closed by a membrane. Head of ordinary size, neck short, general form slender. Feet of ordinary length, slender ; tarsus covered anteriorly by a few scutella, the uppermost long, sharp behind ; toes scutellate above, the inner free, the hind toe of moderate size ; claws arched, slender, extremely compressed, acute.

Plumage soft, blended, slightly glossed. Wings of ordinary length, the first quill longest. Tail of moderate length, emarginate.

Bill brownish-black above, pale beneath. Iris deep-brown. Feet pale yellowish-brown. Upper part of the head deep black. Hind neck, back, and tail- coverts, bluish-grey, each feather with a broad central stripe of deep black. Wing-coverts and secondary quills brownish-black, the latter margined, the secondary coverts margined and tipped, and the first row of small coverts broadly tipped with white, that colour form-