Happening to shoot several of these birds on a large Chinquapin tree, growing on the edge of a hill close to a swamp, I have put a male on one of its twigs, which is furnished with a few fruits quite ripe and ready to leave their husks. In the Southern States this tree is rare. It generally prefers elevated places, and rocky declivities, with an arid soil. The wood resembles that of the Chestnut, but the trees being generally small, little use is made of it as timber. The fruit is eaten by children. This tree is abundant along the greater part of the range of the Alleghanies and its branches.
Sylvia pensilis, Lath. Ind. Ornith. vol. ii. p. 520.—Ch. Bonaparte, Synops. of Birds of the United States, p. 79.
Pensile Warbler, Lath. Synops. vol. iv. p. 441.
Yellow-throated Warbler, Sylvia flavicollis, Wils. Amer. Ornith. vol. ii. p. 64. Pl. 4. fig. 6.
Adult Male. Plate LXXXV.
Bill shortish, nearly straight, subulato-conical, acute, as deep as broad at the base, the edges acute, the gap line a little deflected at the base. Nostrils basal, elliptical, lateral, half-closed by a membrane. Head rather small. Neck short. Body slender. Feet of ordinary length, slender; tarsus longer than the middle toe, covered anteriorly by a few scutella, the uppermost long; toes scutellate above, the inner free, the hind toe of moderate size; claws slender, compressed, acute, arched.
Plumage soft, blended, tufty. Wings of ordinary length, acute, the second quill longest. Tail longish, slightly emarginate.
Bill brownish-black. Iris dark-brown. Feet yellowish-brown. The general colour of the upper parts is light greyish-blue, the head darker. A white line from the base of the upper mandible over the eye. Forehead, loral space, a line behind the eye, and a patch including the ear-coverts, descending along the neck, and terminating acutely, black. Under eyelid white. Wing-coverts dusky, tipped with white. Quills blackish, externally margined with light greyish-green. Tail-feathers black, the middle ones edged with greenish-blue, the outer white along the outer margin, and with the next two having a white patch on the inner web towards the end. Throat and fore-neck bright yellow, as is a spot before the eye. The rest of the under parts white, the sides mottled with dusky.
Length 5½ inches, extent of wings 8½; bill along the ridge nearly ½, along the gap 7⁄12; tarsus ⅚, middle toe ⅔.
The female is similar to the male, but has the colours somewhat duller.