_Motacilla tigrina_, GMELIN, Syn. Nat. I, 1788, 985. _Sylvia tig._
LATH. _Dendroica tig._ BAIRD, Birds N. Am. 1858, 286.—SCLATER,
Catal. 1861, 33, no. 198; P. Z. S. 1861, 71 (Jamaica,
April).—MARCH, Pr. An. Sc. 1863, 293 (Jamaica; breeds).—A. & E.
NEWTON, Ibis, 1859, 144 (St. Croix. Notes on anatomy of
tongue).—GUNDLACH, Cab. Jour. 1861, 326 (Cuba; not rare).—SAMUELS,
240. _Perissoglossa tigrina_, BAIRD, Rev. Am. Birds, 1864, 181.
_Sylvia maritima_, WILSON, Am. Orn. VI, 1812, 99, pl. liv, fig.
3.—BON.; NUTT.; AUD. Orn. Biog. V, pl. ccccxiv.—D’ORB. La Sagra’s
Cub. 1840, 70, pl. x. _Sylvicola mar._ JARD., BON., AUD. Birds Am.
II, pl. lxxxv. _Certhiola mar._ GOSSE, Birds Jam. 1847, 81.—IB.
Illust. _Rhimamphus mar._ CAB. Jour. III, 1855, 474 (Cuba.)
SP. CHAR. Bill very acute, conical, and decidedly curved. Bill and
feet black. Upper part of head dull black, some of the feathers
faintly margined with light yellowish-brown. Collar scarcely meeting
behind; rump and under parts generally rich yellow. Throat, forepart
of breast, and sides, streaked with black. Abdomen and lower
tail-coverts pale yellow, brighter about the vent. Ear-coverts light
reddish-chestnut. Back part of a yellow line from nostrils over the
eye of this same color; chin and throat tinged also with it. A black
line from commissure through the eye, and running into the chestnut of
the ear-coverts. Back, shoulder, edges of the wing and tail,
yellowish-olive; the former spotted with dusky. One row of small
coverts, and outer bases of the secondary coverts, form a large patch
of white, tinged with pale yellow. Tertials rather broadly edged with
brownish-white. Quills and tail dark brown, the three outer feathers
of the latter largely marked with white on the inner web; edge of the
outer web of the outer feathers white, more perceptible towards the
base. Length, 5.25; wing, 2.84; tail, 2.15.
_Female._ Above olivaceous-ash, most yellowish on rump; no black nor
chestnut on head. Wing-coverts inconspicuously edged with whitish.
Tail-spots very inconspicuous. Beneath dull white tinged with
yellowish on the breast, and streaked as in the male, but with dusky
grayish instead of black.
HAB. Eastern Province of United States, north to Lake Winnipeg and
Moose Factory; all the West Indies to St. Croix. Breeds in Jamaica.
Not recorded from Mexico or Central America.
The chestnut about the head in adult males varies in amount with the
individual; sometimes (as in 20,633, May, Moose Factory, Hudson’s Bay
Territory) there is an oblong spot of chestnut in the middle of the
crown, but generally this is absent. Very frequently the chestnut
tinges the throat. All variations in these respects appear, however,
to be individual, and not dependent at all on locality. West Indian
specimens appear to be absolutely identical with those from North
America.
Autumnal specimens are browner, the chestnut markings much obscured.
[Illustration: PLATE XII.
1. Perissoglossa tigrina, _Gm._ ♂ H. B. Ter., 20633.
2. “ “ “ ♀ Pa., 678.
3. “ carbonata, _Aud._ (Copied from Audubon).
4. Dendroica virens, _Gm._ ♂ Pa., 941.
5. “ occidentalis, _Towns._ ♂ Cal., 5518.
6. “ chrysopareia, _Scl. & Salv._ ♂.
7. “ townsendi, _Nutt._ ♂ Guat., 8017.
8. “ nigrescens, _Towns._ ♂ Ariz., 1908.
9. “ coronata, _Linn._ ♂ Pa., 8384.
10. “ cærulescens, _Linn._ ♂ Pa., 3419.
11. “ “ “ ♀ Pa., 2308.
12. “ coronata, _Linn._ ♀.]
HABITS. This somewhat rare species, so far as its history and
distribution are known with certainty, is migratory in the principal
portions of the United States, in the spring and fall passing to the
north of the 42d parallel to breed. The first specimen was obtained
near the extreme southern point of New Jersey by George Ord, in 1811,
and described and figured by Wilson. From this accidental circumstance
it derives its inappropriate name of Cape May Warbler. Wilson never
met with a second specimen, and Mr. Nuttall was wholly unacquainted
with it. Mr. Audubon also never met with a specimen in all his
wanderings, and was able to add nothing to its history. Those figured
by him were procured by Mr. Edward Harris, near Philadelphia, through
which region these birds appear to pass rapidly in their northern
migrations.
Mr. J. A. Allen obtained a specimen near Springfield, Mass., May 15,
1863, and specimens have also been procured at East Windsor Hill,
Conn., by Dr. Wood. It was not met with in Western Maine by Mr.
Verrill, but in Eastern Maine and in New Brunswick Mr. Boardman has
found it a not uncommon summer visitant, though of irregular
frequency. He has no doubt that they remain there to breed. They reach
Calais as early as the second week in May, or as early as their
appearance usually in the neighborhood of Philadelphia has been
noticed. Mr. Kumlien has also obtained specimens from year to year,
about the middle of May, in Southern Wisconsin, where they do not
remain to breed, and Mr. Ridgway has taken them in the beginning of
May in Southern Illinois.
It is also by no means uncommon in Cuba; was met by the Newtons as a
migrant in St. Croix, and is not only one of the birds of Jamaica, but
is resident and breeds in the highlands of that island. It is not
known to occur in Central America, Mexico, or west of the Mississippi
River. Specimens were procured at Moose Factory about May 28.
Its nests and eggs have not been, with certainty, obtained in the
United States, though an egg obtained in Coventry, Vt., in 1836, and
attributed at the time to this bird, closely resembles its identified
eggs from Jamaica. Specimens of the bird, as well as its nests and
eggs, have also been received from St. Domingo by Mr. Turnbull of
Philadelphia. In the summer of 1871 a nest of this species was found
by Mr. H. B. Bailey on the Richardson Lakes, in the extreme
northwestern part of Maine. The nest was in a low spruce-tree, less
than five feet from the ground, and when found contained only a single
egg. Unfortunately it was left until more eggs were deposited, and in
the mean while the tree was cut, and the nest and eggs were destroyed.
Mr. W. T. March of Jamaica, in his notes on the birds of that island,
states that this species may always be found, in its various changes
of plumage, about the mangrove swamps and river-banks. During the
summer months it was common about Healthshire and Great Salt Pond, and
at other times very generally distributed over the island. He also met
with several specimens of its nests and eggs, but their position was
not stated. The nests had apparently been taken from a bush or tree,
were three and one fourth inches in diameter by two and one half in
height, with cavities unusually large and deep for the size of the
nests. They were wrought almost entirely of long strips of thin
flexible bark, strongly and firmly interwoven. The outer portions
consisted of coarser and longer strips, the inner being much finer and
more delicate. With the outer portions were also interwoven bits of
mosses, lichens, and the outer bark of deciduous trees. The entire
fabric was a remarkable one.
The eggs measure .70 by .55 of an inch, have a pinkish-white ground,
blotched with purple and brown of various shades and tints. They are
disposed chiefly about the larger end, usually in a ring. The eggs are
oval in shape and slightly pointed at one end.
Perissoglossa carbonata, BAIRD.