Ornithological Biography/Volume 1/Black-and-yellow Warbler

801131Ornithological Biography — The Black-and-yellow WarblerJohn James Audubon

THE BLACK AND YELLOW WARBLER.

Sylvia maculosa, Lath.

PLATE L. Young Male.


This little bird was by mistake engraved, and named after my friend W. Swainson, Esq., during my absence from London, one drawing having been accidentally substituted for another. It is in reality the young of the Black and Yellow Warbler, and was intended to form part of the Plate which will represent the adult male and female of that species. My good friend will, I know, excuse this mistake, as I have honoured a beautiful new species with his name.

It being more consistent with my present arrangement to give a full account of each species, as it is represented in the Plate allotted to it, and its different states of plumage, as much as this object can be attained, you will permit me, kind reader, to postpone the habits of this species until you see the whole group together. In the mean time, I shall confine myself to a description of the immature state of plumage as represented in my illustrations.



Sylvia maculosa, Lath. Ind. Ornith. vol. ii p. 536.—Ch. Bonaparte, Synops. of Birds of the United States, p. 78.

Yellow-rumped Warbler, Lath. Synops. vol. iv. p. 481.

Black and Yellow warbler, Sylvia magnolia, Wils. Americ. Ornith. vol. iii. p. 63. Pl 23, Male.


Young Male. Plate L.

Bill brown above, brownish-yellow beneath. Iris dark hazel. Feet brownish-yellow, claws yellow. Head and hind-neck light greyish-blue, blending into yellowish-green on the back, the lower part of which is spotted with black; a broad band across the rump yellow, the upper tail-coverts black. Wings bluish-grey when closed, the outer webs being of that colour, the inner brownish-black; tips of the two larger rows of coverts white, forming two bands of that colour. Tail black, with a broad band of white in the middle, on the inner webs, excepting on the two middle feathers, which are margined with blue, the outer webs of the other feathers being bluish-white; the under parts are ochre-yellow, the posterior part of the breast and sides spotted with black. Length 5 inches, extent of wings 7¼.




The White Oak.


quercus prinus, Willd. Sp. PI. vol. iv. p. 439. Pursh, Fl. Amer. vol. ii. p. 633—quercus prinus palustris, Mich. Arbi. Forest, de l'Amer. Sept. vol. ii. p. 51. PL 7—moncecia polyandria, Lint. Amentacæ, Juss.


Leaves oblongo-oval, acute, largely toothed, the teeth nearly equal, dilated, and callous at the tip; cupule craterate, attenuated at the base; acorn ovate. This species grows in low shady woods, and along the margins of rivers, from Pennsylvania to Florida. The wood is porous, and of inferior quality.