Adult Female. Plate LXXXVIII. Fig 2.
The female resembles the male in external appearance.
Canoe Birch or Paper Birch.
Betula papyracea, Willd. Sp. Pl. vol. iv. p. 464. Pursh, Flor. Amer. vol. ii. p. 621. Mich. Arbr. Forest. de l'Amer. Sept. vol. ii. p. 133. Pl. 1.—Monœcia Polyandria, Linn. Amentaceæ, Juss.
Leaves ovate, acuminate, doubly serrated, the veins hairy beneath, the petiole smooth. The female catkins pedunculate, pendent. This tree is most abundant in the Northern States, where it sometimes attains a height of from seventy to eighty feet, and a diameter of three feet.
THE NASHVILLE WARBLER.
Sylvia rubricapilla, Wils.
PLATE LXXXIX. Male and Female.
I have shot only three or four birds of this species, and these were all that I ever met with. I found them in Louisiana and Kentucky. A few specimens belonging to Mr Titian Peale of Philadelphia, and which he, with his usual kindness, lent me for a few days, to compare their colouring with my drawings and notes, were the only others that I have seen. It is probable he had procured them in Pennsylvania, although I cannot now recollect if this was really the case.
The flight of this little bird is short, light, and entirely similar to that of the numerous species of Sylvia already described. Its food consists of insects and larvæ, which it procures by searching diligently and actively amongst the leaves and buds of low trees. It does not pursue insects on wing. With the exception of a few low, eagerly repeated, creaking notes, I have not heard any sounds from them. While uttering these notes, which are all the species seem to have in lieu of song, the male stands erect and still. I am not aware of its nest having been discovered or described by any naturalist.