The plant on a twig of which two Nashville Warblers are represented, is usually called the Swamp Spice. It is a low bush, grows in the water, in swampy and muddy ground, and occurs from Georgia to New York. The berries, which are seldom eaten by birds, have little pulp, and consequently a large seed.
Sylvia rubricapilla, Ch. Bonaparte, Synops. of Birds of the United States, p. 87.
Sylvia rubricapilla, Nashville Warbler, Wils. Amer. Ornith. vol. iii. p. 120. Pl. 27. fig. 3.
Bill rather short, slender, tapering, nearly straight, as deep as broad at the base. Nostrils basal, lateral, elliptical, half-closed by a membrane. Head of ordinary size, neck short, body full. Feet of ordinary length, slender; tarsus longer than the middle toe, anteriorly scutellate; toes free, scutellate above; claws slender, compressed, acute, arched.
Adult Male. Plate LXXXIX. Fig. 1.
Plumage soft, blended, tufty. Wings short, curved, the first and second quills longest. Tail short, forked, of twelve rounded feathers.
Bill greenish-brown. Iris dark brown. Feet yellowish-green. Head and cheeks brownish-grey, the upper part of the head dark red. A circle of white round the eye. The general colour of the upper parts is brownish-green, of the under greenish-yellow, brighter on the throat and breast. Inner webs of the wing and tail-feathers dusky, the outer brownish-green, and of the primaries bright yellow.
Length 4½ inches, extent of wings 7; bill along the ridge ⅓, along the gap ½; tarsus ¾.
Adult Female. Plate LXXXIX. Fig. 2.
The female is much duller; the head and hind-neck dark brownish-grey, tinged with green, the former without the red patch, the under parts more mixed with grey, the sides olivaceous, and the yellow of the wings less pure.