_Motacilla chrysoptera_, LINN. S. Nat. I, 1766, 333. _Sylvia chr._
LATH.—WILS. Am. Orn. II, pl. xv. fig. 5.—BON. _Sylvicola chr._
BON. _Helinaia chr._ AUD. Birds Am. II, pl. cvii. _Helmitherus
chr._ BON.—SCLATER, P. Z. S. 1855, 143 (Bogota). _Helminthophaga
chrysoptera_, CAB. Mus. Hein.; Journ. f. Orn. 1860, 328 (Costa
Rica).—BAIRD, Birds N. Am. 1858, 255; Rev. 175.—SCLATER &
SALVIN, Ibis, II, 1860, 397 (Choctum, Guatemala).—SALVIN, 1867,
135.—DRESSER, Ibis, 1865, 477 (San Antonio).—LAWRENCE, Ann. N.
Y. Lyc. VII, 1861, 293 (Panama).—GUNDL. Cab. Journ. 1861, 326
(Cuba, rare). _Motacilla flavifrons_, GMELIN. _Sylvia flavifrons_,
LATH.
[Illustration: _Helminthophaga celata._]
SP. CHAR. Upper parts uniform bluish-gray; the head above and a large
patch on the wings yellow. A broad streak from the bill through and
behind the eye, with the chin, throat, and forepart of the breast,
black. The external edge of the yellow crown continuous with a broad
patch on the side of the occiput above the auriculars, a broad
maxillary stripe widening on the side of the neck, the under parts
generally, with most of the inner webs of the outer three
tail-feathers, white; the sides of the body pale ash-color. _Female_
similar, but duller. Length about 5 inches; wing, 2.65; tail, 2.25.
HAB. Eastern Province of United States, San Antonio (DRESSER); Cuba
(rare); Guatemala; Costa Rica; Panama; Bogota. Recorded in West Indies
from Cuba only; not from Mexico. Veragua; Chiriqui (SALVIN).
HABITS. So far as our present knowledge of this Warbler extends, it is
nowhere a common species, and is distributed over a comparatively
small extent of territory. Wilson met with it in Pennsylvania during
the last of April and the first of May, believing it to be only a
migrant species on its way to more northern regions. Nuttall was
sceptical of these conclusions, as he never met with the species in
the New England States. Audubon observed these birds in their
migrations through Louisiana, which State they entered from Texas in
the month of April. He procured several specimens in Louisiana and
Kentucky, and one in New Jersey. He knew nothing as to its breeding,
and seems to have accepted Wilson’s inferences in regard to its
northern migrations. He never met with this bird in the fall, when, if
a Northern species, it should be returning south, and thence inferred
that it migrated by night.
Professor Baird has obtained this bird near Carlisle, Penn., in July,
rendering probable its breeding in that vicinity. W. S. Wood met with
it near St. Louis, May 13, 1857, and two days previously in the same
year Mr. Kennicott procured an individual in Southern Illinois.
Occasionally specimens have been obtained in Massachusetts, and of
late these occurrences have become more frequent or more observed. It
was first noticed near Boston by J. Eliot Cabot, Esq., who shot one in
May, 1838, near Fresh Pond. This was, he thinks, on the 20th of that
month. Since then Mr. J. A. Allen has known of several specimens taken
within the State. Mr. Jillson has observed it spending the summer in
Bolton, and evidently breeding, as has also Mr. Allen at Springfield,
and Mr. Bennett at Holyoke. In the summer of 1870, Mr. Maynard
obtained its nest and eggs in Newton.
The late Dr. Gerhardt found it breeding among the high grounds of
Northern Georgia. It has also been taken at Racine, Wis., by Dr. Hoy,
and in Ohio. These data seem to show that it is sparingly found from
Georgia to Massachusetts, and from New Jersey to Missouri and
Wisconsin. Its western limits may be more extended. It was not met
with by any of the exploring parties beyond St. Louis, but its
retiring habits and its sparse distribution may account for this.
Dr. Samuel Cabot was the first naturalist to meet with the nest and
eggs of this bird. This was in May, 1837, in Greenbrier County, Va.
The nest was constructed in the midst of a low bush on high ground,
and contained four eggs.
The late Dr. Alexander Gerhardt found the nest and eggs of this
Warbler in the spring of 1859, in Whitfield County, Ga. It contained
four eggs, and was built on the ground. It was very large for the
bird, being five inches in height and four in diameter. The cavity was
also quite large and deep for so small a bird, exceeding three inches
both in depth and in diameter. The outer and under portions of this
nest were almost entirely composed of the dry leaves of several kinds
of deciduous trees. These were interwoven with and strongly bound
together by black vegetable roots, dry sedges, and fine strips of
pliant bark, and the whole lined with a close network of fine leaves,
dry grasses, and fibrous roots. Dr. Gerhardt informed me that these
birds usually build on or near the ground, under tussocks of grass, in
clumps of bushes, or pine-brush, and that they lay from four to five
eggs, from the 6th to the 15th of May.
The eggs of this species are of a beautiful, clear crystal-white, with
a few bright reddish-brown spots around the larger end. Eggs from
Racine, Wis., and from Northern Georgia, differ greatly in their
relative size. The former measure .70 of an inch in length and .53 in
breadth; the latter, .63 by .49.
A single specimen of this species was obtained by Mr. Salvin, at
Choctum, in Guatemala.
Helminthophaga bachmani, CABAN.