A Synopsis of the Birds of North America

by John James Audubon

76. 1. Sylvicola coronata, Lath. Yellow-crowned Wood-Warbler.—Yellow-crowned Warbler. Yellow-rump Warbler.

Second quill longest, third scarcely shorter, first longer than fourth; tail slightly emarginate. Male with the upper parts deep ash-grey, streaked with black; crown, rump, and a patch on the sides of the body, rich yellow: secondary coverts, and first row of small coverts tipped with white, which forms two bars on the wing; quills dark brown, margined with light greyish-brown; tail feathers brownish-black, margined with ash-grey, the outer three on each side with a white patch on the inner web near the end; a slender white line over the eye; feathers of the eyelids white; lore and cheek black; throat white; lower neck, fore part of breast and sides variegated with black, the tips of the feathers being white; the rest of the lower parts white. Female without the yellow spot on the crown, although the feathers there are tinged with that colour at the base; the upper parts tinged with light brown, the yellow spots on the sides and rump paler.

Male, 5¹/₄, 8¹/₂.

From Texas northward, and throughout the interior. Extremely common. Migratory.

Yellow-rump Warbler, Sylvia coronata, Wils. Amer. Orn. v. ii. p. 138.

Sylvia coronata, Bonap. Syn. p. 78.

Yellow-crowned Warbler, or Myrtle Bird, Sylvia coronata, Nutt. Man. v. i. p. 361.

Yellow-rump Warbler, Sylvia coronata, Aud. Orn. Biog. v. ii. p. 303.

77. 2. Sylvicola Auduboni, Townsend. Audubon's Wood-Warbler,—Audubon's Warbler.

Plate CCCXCV. Fig. 1. Male. Fig. 2. Female.

Outer four quills nearly equal, second longest; tail slightly emarginate. Male with the upper parts bluish ash-grey, streaked with black; crown, rump, upper part of throat, and a patch on the sides of the body, rich yellow; first row of small coverts largely tipped, and secondary coverts broadly margined and tipped with white, which thus forms a conspicuous patch on the wing; quills and tail brownish-black, narrowly margined with greyish-white; a patch of white on the inner webs of all the tail-feathers, but on the central reduced to a mere edging; a small white spot on each of the eyelids; loral space and cheek black; lower part of neck anteriorly, fore part of breast, and sides, variegated with black and white or ash-grey, the latter colours margining the feathers; the rest of the lower parts white. Female without the yellow spot on the crown, although the feathers there are tinged with that colour at the base; upper parts light brownish-grey, streaked with dusky; lower parts whitish, tinged with brown, and streaked with dusky; throat and rump yellow, but of a lighter tint than in the male, and but slight indications of the yellow patch on the sides; there is much less white on the wings, and the white patches on the tail-feathers are of less extent.

In size, form, and proportion, this species and Sylvicola coronata are almost precisely similar; and their colours are almost exactly alike, the only remarkable difference in this respect being, that the throat of the present species is yellow, while that of the former is white.