_Parula Americana._
_Parus Americanus_, +Linn.+
_Sylvia Americana_, +Lath.+—Aud. pl. 15.
_Sylvia pusilla_, +Wils.+
_Parula Americana_, +Bonap.+
[35] Length 4¹⁄₂ inches, expanse 7, flexure 2¹⁄₄, tail 1⁶⁄₁₀,
rictus ⁵⁄₁₀, tarsus ³⁄₄, middle toe ⁴⁄₁₀.
This pretty little species, so much in habits and appearance like the
European Tits, arrives in Jamaica early in September, and retires
late in April, for we last saw it on the 20th. During the autumn and
winter it was among the most common of our warblers. In the morasses,
especially, they were to be seen in numbers, yet not in company, making
the sombre mangrove-woods lively, if not vocal. They are active and
restless, hopping perpendicularly up the slender boles, and about the
twigs, peeping into the bases of the leaves, and crevices of the bark,
for insects.
The female, identified by dissection, has all the colours paler, but
agrees with the male in their variety and distribution. Individuals,
however, were found in September, which had the blue plumage of the
head and of the rump, tipped with yellow, imparting a green tinge to
those parts.