_Sylvia bachmani_, AUD. Orn. Biog. II, 1834, 483, pl. clxxxiii.
_Sylvicola b._ RICH. _Vermivora b._ BON. _Helinaia b._ AUD. Syn.
Birds Am. II, 1841, 93, pl. cviii.—LEMBEYE, Av. Cuba, 1850, 36,
pl. vi. fig. 1. _Helmitherus b._ BON. _Helminthophaga b._ CAB.
Jour. III, 1855, 475 (Cuba, in winter).—BAIRD, Birds N. Am. 1858,
255; Rev. 175.—GUNDLACH, Cab. Jour. 1861, 326 (Cuba, rare);
Repert. 65, 232.
SP. CHAR. Above olive-green, as also are the sides of the head and
neck. Hind head tinged with ash. A broad patch on the forehead,
bordered behind by black; chin, stripe from this along the side of the
throat, and the entire under parts, deep yellow. Throat and forepart
of breast black. A patch on the inner web of the outer two
tail-feathers near the end white. Length, 4.50; wing, 2.35; tail,
2.05. _Female_ with merely a patch of dusky on the jugulum, and with
the black bar on vertex obsolete.
HAB. Coast of South Carolina and Georgia; Cuba in winter.
HABITS. Bachman’s Warbler is a comparatively new and but little known
species of this interesting group. It was first discovered, July,
1833, by Rev. Dr. John Bachman, a few miles from Charleston, S. C.,
and in the same vicinity he afterwards discovered a few others of both
sexes. He described it as a lively, active bird, gliding among the
branches of the thick bushes, occasionally mounting on the wing and
seizing insects in the air, in the manner of a Flycatcher. The
individual first obtained was an old female which had, to all
appearances, just reared a brood of young. With this partial
exception, nothing is known in relation to its habits. As all the
species of this genus, without any at present known exception,
construct their nests upon the ground, it is a natural inference that
it probably nests in a similar situation.
The Smithsonian Institution possesses but a single specimen of this
bird, obtained near Charleston, S. C. It was not observed by any
naturalist of the several governmental exploring expeditions, and, so
far as we are at present informed, its only known places of abode are
South Carolina and Cuba, where it is extremely rare. Its nest and eggs
still remain unknown.
[Illustration: PLATE XI.
1. Helminthophaga pinus, _Linn._ ♂ Pa., 2229.
2. “ chrysoptera, _Linn._ ♂ 10156.
3. “ bachmani, _Aud._ ♂ S. C., 2903.
4. H. celata, _Say. var._ Cape St. Lucas, 16949.
5. “ _Say. var._ Rocky Mts.
6. “ _Say. var._ Florida.
7. H. ruficapilla, _Wils._ Pa., 2238.
8. “ _Wils. var._ Cal.
9. H. luciæ, _Cooper_. Cal., 31892.
10. H. peregrina, _Wils._ 19496. In spring.
11. “ _Wils._ In autumn.
12. H. virginiæ, _Bd._ Arizona, 58334.]
Helminthophaga pinus, BAIRD.