_Sylvia swainsoni_, AUD. Orn. Biog. II, 1834, 563, pl. cxcviii.
_Sylvicola sw._ RICH. _Vermivora sw._ BON. _Helinaia sw._ AUD.
Birds Am. II, 1841, pl. civ (type of genus). _Helmitherus sw._
BON.; CAB.; BAIRD, Birds N. Am. 1858, 252; Rev. 180.
SP. CHAR. Bill as long as the head. Upper parts dull olive-green,
tinged with reddish-brown on the wings, and still more on the crown
and nape; a superciliary stripe and the under parts of the body are
white, tinged with yellow, but palest on the tail-coverts; the sides
pale olive-brown. There is an obscure indication of a median yellowish
stripe on the forehead. The lores are dusky. No spots nor bands on
wings or tail. Length, 5.60; wing, 2.85; tail, 2.20.
HAB. Coast of South Carolina and Georgia; Cuba (very rare).
A young bird (No. 32,241 Liberty Co., Georgia) is very similar to the
adult described, but differs in the following respects: the lower
parts have a decided soiled, sulphur-yellow tinge, while the brown of
the upper parts is much more reddish, there being no difference in
tint between the crown and back; also the superciliary stripe is more
sharply defined.
HABITS. This species is comparatively rare, and, so far as is known,
has a very restricted distribution. It was first discovered by Rev.
Dr. Bachman, in the vicinity of Charleston, S. C., near the banks of
the Edisto River. This was in the spring of 1832. He was first
attracted by the novelty of its notes, which were four or five in
number and repeated at intervals of a few minutes. These notes were
loud and clear, and more like a whistle than a song. They resembled
the sounds of some extraordinary ventriloquist,—so much so that he at
first supposed the bird to be much farther off than it really was. He
was so fortunate as to secure it. The shape of the bill he at once
noticed as being different from that of any other American bird then
known to him. In the course of that season he obtained two other
specimens. Toward the close of the same season he saw an old female,
accompanied by its four young. One of the latter, which he procured,
did not differ materially from the old birds.
He met with them only in swampy and muddy places, and when opened, he
always found their stomachs filled with fragments of coleopterous
insects, as well as small green worms, such as are common on
water-plants. The habits of this species most resemble those of the
Prothonotary Warbler, as the latter skips among the low bushes growing
about ponds or in marshy places. It is seldom seen on high trees.
Nothing is known as to their nesting or eggs.